Record #428: Journey –  Escape (1981)

Journey gets some hate among punk, metal, and hipster circles (note: these are all of my circles).
Nearly all of that hate is due to one song: “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which is the opening track of this album.
But that’s all misdirected. Hate the cultural obsession and Glee  version all you want. But the track itself is still solid gold. And there’s only more where that came from.

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Record #425: Brand New – Science Fiction (2017)

Last week, my friend Dan texted me. “Jesse Lacey, man.”
I didn’t need to try very hard to figure out what had happened. The fallout from the #metoo movement has gone Scorched Earth on the entertainment world. It was easy to put two and two together.
The next day, I got an email: my vinyl preorder of Brand New’s newest album had finally shipped. I had been eagerly awaiting it, but now, it sort of tied my stomach in knots.
But at the same time, I still really wanted to listen to it. I enjoyed it enough to buy it, after all.

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