Bad Religion Recipe For Hate CD

Bad Religion: Greg Graffin (vocals); Brett Gurewitz, Greg Hetson (guitar, background vocals); Jay Bentley (bass, background vocals); Bobby Schayer (drums).
Additional personnel: Jon Wahl, Chris Bagarozzi, Joe Pecerillo (guitar); Greg Leisz (slide guitar).
Recorded at Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, California. Originally released on Epitaph [4577 86420].
Personnel: Greg Graffin (vocals, harmonica); Greg Leisz (guitar, slide guitar); Chris Bagarozzi, Jonette, Greg Hetson, Eddie Hedges, Oozin Aahs, Joe Peccerillo, Jon Wahl, Brett Gurewitz (guitar); Jay Bentley (bass guitar); Bobby Schayer (drums).
Audio Mixer: Paul DuGre.
Recording information: Westbeach Recorders, Hollywood, CA.
Photographer: Alison Dyer.
Punk veterans Bad Religion don't rely on bankrupt laurels, nostalgia, or a facade of long-expired cool. LP after LP, they just set vicious hooks, a blitzkrieg attack, and potent lyrics to soaring singer Greg Graffin's piledriving passion. It's easy to take them for granted, to view Recipe as just another red-hot LP (ho hum) by the last and best band to survive the '80s L.A. punk explosion. And on first listen, it's tarnished by their previous mild malaise: everything sounds alike, and some exit the boat here too quickly. But then the beautiful sonic smack starts to sink in, and the luxurious melodies introduce erudite parables. Their hometown's riots inspired the gut responses of "Recipe for Hate" and "Don't Pray On Me" ("everybody's equal, just don't measure it"), but they think too clearly to grandstand. Rather, from the epic, anti-military sneer of "All Good Soldiers" to the introspective nausea of "Struck a Nerve" and "Looking In" ("our evolution is our demise"), Bad Religion issue more warnings about our unquestioned ways than Rachel Carson or Michael Crichton could shake a stick at. Warning who? Die-hard punks remain their core audience, but with the co-optation of that carcass into mainstream nirvana, this band is ambushing the slackers. Accordingly, they ripened out of the rapid-fire detonations of 1988's Suffer, 1989's No Control, and 1990's Against the Grain into 1992's more methodical Generator. Recipe's saner speeds and better variety should further inveigle any upstanding gormandizer of killer tunes and dive-bomb chord changes. And in any real taste test, Bad Religion is the alternative to alternative. Smug, silly, ironic '70s retro bands feign danger and detachment, but this band's urgency, lyrical contentiousness, and wicked crunch crush that au courant crap flat. ~ Jack Rabid
Although longtime Bad Religion fans may disagree, the band's 1993 release, RECIPE FOR HATE, is arguably one of their finest releases. Although they'd been around for years, age had not dulled the band's attack in the slightest. Included are guest spots by such alt-rock notables as Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, as the band thrash their way through such standouts as "Lookin' In," "My Poor Friend Me," and "American Jesus."Melody Maker (8/7/93, p.31) - "...On RECIPE FOR HATE the guitars deliver a venomous bite, but the melodies are often sweet and succulent...this creation of [Bad Religion] may have taken longer than six days, but it's pretty damn near immaculate..."
Musician (11/93, p.91) - "...Imagine Social Distortion without the Johnny Cash fixation, and you'll have a sense of Bad Religion's sound. Add politicized songwriting that's as interested in good hooks as in making a point, and you'll know why this is a must-hear album...."