The Vinyl Files

With a newly acquired USB Record Player I can now take my records and put them on iTunes. The first part of this endeavor is my Bad Religion discography, I was gifted their Box Set last fall, which contains all 15 Studio Albums on Vinyl, even the ones that have been (and remain) out of print in any other format.

Since ripping Vinyl is done in real time - you can't just him "Import" and walk away for two minutes, I'll only be importing 1-2 records a week from my collection.

Starting with Bad Religion, going from their opening salvo to their latest endeavor (skipping, naturally, the ones I do own on CD and have already added).

How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
Released: 1982
Short, sweet, to the point - right out of the gates Bad Religion joins the ranks of the established American Hardcore scene, and shoots to the top. SoCal punk rock was no holds barred music. Bad Religion came out with smart lyrics, Greg Graffin is also an outstanding vocalist. Everything here is good, and is still available on CD.

With that release, how could hell be any worse indeed?

Into The Unknown
Released: 1983
Well, for starters Bad Religion could immediately abandon hardcore and come out with what is the absolute worst punk rock record ever made. It's not even punk rock. It's an entire album of Flock Of Seagulls B-Sides and Rejected Tracks, that's what it is. Prog-Rock disaster.

Mercifully out of print for 25 years, only available either when you run across one of the original pressings (some 10,000 were made, some of those may even still exist) or through their 30 Years Vinyl Box Set - which is how I ended up with it. The lyrics are Bad Religion smart all the way, cutting and well sung. It's the synthesizer that kills me, really and truly. Just fucking awful.

Luckily, they put out an EP "Back To The Known" soon after going back to punk, and promptly broke up. Until a few more years had passed and they all got back together and put out the album "Suffer" in 1988 - which tore off the listeners face and shoved broken glass into the establishment's eye.