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| Bad Religion - The New America Band: Bad Religion Tracks: - You've Got A Chance - It's A Long Way To The Promised Land - A World Without Melody - New America - 1000 Memories - A Streetkid Named Desire - Whisper In Time - Believe It - I Love My Computer - The Hopeless Housewife - There Will Be A Way - Let It Burn - Don't Sell Me Short BR's Best Work. Definately the most well-written Bad Religion album. I just can't stop listening to this. I've been into BR for a while now, and I own all of their albums. I Love Suffer, No Control, etc., and even though this isn't their fastest one, it's definately the heaviest. This is mostly because of the heavy guitar riffs, and Bobby's amazing drumming, but what really stands out on this album is Greg's voice. It's stronger than ever, and really gets you going! All of the songs stand out for me, especially A Streetkid Named Desire (I had that mp3 a month before the album came out, and I still can't stop listening to it), You've Got A Chance, New America (We Are The New America, Wa-oh, Wa-oh!), 1000 Memories, which holds a lot of meaning to me, Believe It, which Brett co-wrote and played guitar in, The Hopeless Housewife with an amazingly explosive chorus, and Don't Sell Me Short, which is probably BR's most upbeat and heaviest song, it's simply 4 minutes of thrashing, head-through-the-ceiling punk. I listen to a lot of different music, and this album is probably the best one I've ever heard. Triumphant, Greg Graffin style intelligent lyrics that get you thinking, but, for a change, in a less-depressing way. I've been listening to this album non-stop for a week now..JUST BUY IT ALREADY! What a surprise... To be honest, I wasn't even going to buy this album - that's how disgusted the last three Bad Religion albums (the half-rotten "The Grey Race", the wretched Live album "Tested" and the self-reviewing "No Substance") had made me. Fortunately, a friend of mine snagged me a copy and I gave it a spin. What an improvement. While it's true that this is more in the vein of their newer stuff than, say, "No Control", the difference here comes down to one word: songwriting. These thirteen tracks are far better thought-out and more developed than anything they've done since "Stranger than Fiction." The obvious highlight is "Believe It", the band's first collaboration with Brett Gurewitz since he left The Band in '94, and it recreates every bit of the Rush and roar of BR's peak stuff. To Greg Graffin's credit, however, several of his songs ("The Hopeless Housewife", "Whisper in Time", "There Will Be A Way", and "1000 Memories") are not far behind "Believe It" in quality. Then there's the lyrics. Truth be told, I've always found the "thesaurus rock" lyrics of older BR to be fairly silly. (Plus, they don't always use those big words correctly...) Thus, I like the more straightforward style Graffin sticks to for this album: it's more directly compelling and far less pretentious. Some of his ideas are still a bit muddled (the gender-politics of "The Hopeless Housewife" couldn't be any more cliched if they tried), but on the whole Graffin's lyrics here show more growth and optimism than ever before. In short, I'm stunned to be saying this after Five years of lousy records, but "The New America" is a fine comeback. Still going Strong There are a few certainties in life death, taxes and Bad Religion. Since the early '80s, they've led the charge with inspired lyrics and fast, punchy music. They have a pile of albums under their belt, and they've done it all in the world of punk rock. So how are they carrying on in the year 2000 with their latest, The New America? Surprisingly well. The album was recorded in Hawaii of all places, by '70s rock icon Todd Rundgren of all people. Rundgren's production is a Change from past BR works, but it sounds great. It's similar to the heavy production on Blink-182's Enema of the State, with lots of echo on the vocals and instruments. Musically, it's very similar to the band's last album, No Substance. Except, there's a few very melodic, poppy elements to a few songs here to keep things interesting. Greg Graffin is still going Strong as the creative driving force behind the group. His vocals get a little smoother and clearer with each album. Jay Bentley's basslines stay pretty straightforward here, although he does some nice riffs when needed. Brian Baker and Greg Hetson, two punk rock veterans on guitar, trade off on lead parts which have never sounded better on a BR album. Really. Also, Bobby Schayer seems to be playing with more energy here on drums than in the recent past. You've Got A Chance is the first song, and it's one of the better ones. It's got the classic minor key verse with a quick beat, but the chorus switches to a really melodic, slower part. The song's lyrics look at American society today in a very intelligent way, good job by Graffin. The second song has one of those long titles It's A Long Way To The Promise Land. It's got some interesting effects by Rundgren, and even a synthesized drumbeat for part of a verse (I'm not kidding). The title track, The New America, is supposed to be the single off the album. I think it can make an impression. The song has an instant classic melody, and great guitar parts. The vocal harmonies on the chorus will impress even the biggest Bad Religion Haters out there. This song blows me away, that's all there is to it. 1000 Memories is a bitter look back at a failed relationship (I'm pretty sure it's Graffin's take on his recent divorce, which he went into detail about on his solo album, American Lesion). This song has great "whoa's" on the chorus, and great fast drumming by Schayer. Whisper In Time is a short, quiet song which reminds me of the lullabye type song from Stranger Than Fiction. Believe It was a song that I was excited to hear. It has a solo by, and was co-written by former bandmember Brett Gurewitz. Now, My Favorite BR songs are ones like Don't Pray On Me, Hooray For Me and Walk Away, all of which Gurewitz wrote. Here, I expected a lot. The song didn't let me down, but it didn't b Buy Bad Religion The New America at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.comJamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! |
