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GREEN DAY
1,039
SMOOTHED OUT SLAPPY HOUR (1991)
RATING: 5
PLAY THESE: AT THE LIBRARY, PAPER LANTERNS, DRY ICE
SKIP THESE: DON'T LEAVE ME, REST
The debut indie-released album from Green Day, 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours is a heckuva lot better than I expected. The album is actually a slap-dash nineteen track CD consisting of the group's first full-length 1991 album, 39/Smooth, as well as a couple of the band's early EP's, 1,000 Hours (1989) and Slappy (1990). It is also interesting to listen to the band's original lineup in action, as little-known drummer John Kiffmeyer pounds the skins on each the LP's 19 tracks (he would stay onboard until the release of the band's second album, Kerplunk!, in 1991). He's definitely nowhere near as good as Tre Cool, the star drummer who would later replace him, but he's not all that bad either, supplying the group with enough aggressive, nervy energy to pull off each of these punkish tracks.
Of course, Kiffmeyer's playing is overshadowed by the snotty, happy-go-lucky vocals/guitar of Billy Joe Armstrong (he actually plays some guitar solos on a couple of tracks, which are quite rare in the Green Day catalogue), not to mention the bass playing and harmony vocals of Mike Dirnt. The duo already have their Ramones-meet-pop metal sound down pat on this album, and all of the compositions are solid as well, with more hooks than you can shake a stick at. Unfortunately, the overall sound is very "budget," as the record bears the low-fi sonic markings of a typical late 1980's indie release, but if you can get past the rudimentary production and focus on the songs and energetic performances, you'll more than likely enjoy this one.
Tracks 1 through 10 are from the 39/Smooth album, and all of them are pretty decent. The album kicks off with the ultra-catchy 'At The Library,' which has an infectious youthful innocence - and a great hook to boot. However, by the second track it becomes clear that every song is going to sound the same, as every track is a full speed pop punk rocker propelled by guitar, bass, and drums. The main culprit, however, is Kiffmeyer's drumming, as the dude plays exactly the same drum beat on every single damn song, and even duplicates his (one!) signature drum fill on each and every track as well. Still, there are some classic tracks to be found. Kiffmeyer's own composition 'I Was There' is a great little punk pop tune, '16' sounds different enough to be interesting, and 'Green Day' leaves (no pun intended) little doubt that the band enjoys smoking weed all day, every day. The other major highlight is the high octane 'Road To Acceptance,' which more than hints at the excellence that was to follow for the band.
The next section of the album (tracks 11-14) is comprised of the 1990 EP, Slappy. Surprisingly, these four tracks are stronger than the previous album material, as they feature catchy songs, more interesting arrangements, and more stylistic variation - plus the recordings sound more professional. The snot-nosed rocker 'Paper Lanterns' is an all-time Green Day classic that measures up to just about anything the group has ever came up with, and '409 In Your Coffeemaker' is good, harmless fun as well. The group even throws in an enjoyable cover of fellow Bay area punk band Operation Ivy's 'Knowledge,' which is quite good. It's inane, yes, and completely retarded, but it's all in good fun.
The album ends with the contents of the 1989 EP 1,000 Hours, the band's debut release (although the band's name was actually Sweet Children at the time). The poppy 'Dry Ice' is one of the group's best-ever songs, and 'The One I Want' could have been a Dookie-era hit single. This material is easily the strongest part of the entire 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours album, showing a young, hungry band with a lot of promise hammering out some pretty solid songs. In the end, 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours is an essential purchase for Green Day fans. If you want to see where these guys came from, and why they eventually ended up on the apex of the music business, then this album is where it's at.
RATING: 6
PLAY THESE: 2000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY, WELCOME TO PARADISE, 80
SKIP THESE: CHRISTIE ROAD, NO ONE KNOWS, MY GENERATION
With the departure of drummer John Kiffmeyer and the addition of the miles-better Tre Cool, Green Day embarked upon its quest for world domination with 1992's Kerplunk! Unfortunately, the world wasn't quite ready for the band's distinctive brand of pop punk, and Green Day would remain a cult band with a small-but-rabid following for the time being, albeit it one that was picking up momentum. This was the first Green Day album that I was introduced to, although the first song I heard was actually the group's horrid cover of 'My Generation,' a track originally released on 1989's Sweet Children EP (the contents of which were later tacked on to the end of the CD release of Kerplunk!). Needless to say, I was less than impressed, and wrote off the band as a bunch of crappy indie Who-wannabes until I heard Dookie, and was won over by the group once and for all. Later on, I got a hold of a copy of this album and really got into it in a big way for a little while...but then I forgot about it after a little while....until now, that is.
It's been at least twelve years since I've heard anything on this CD apart from '2000 Light Years Away,' so I was a little bit surprised at just how much of the album I remembered when I popped it into the stereo earlier today. The CD shows a band that has developed tenfold since 1991's 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, as the new rhythm section has gelled, while singer/guitarist Billy Joe Armstrong has grown exponentially as a songwriter. The selections are more varied than in the past, while the band's playing has gotten tighter, and Armstrong's snotty-assed-punk vocals are more confident. Witness the aforementioned '2000 Light Years From Home,' a must-hear gem from the group's underappreciated pre-Dookie catalogue that is just about the most perfect power pop song you'll ever hear. It's all there: the aggressive guitar riffing, the yearning, innocent lyrics, top-notch drumming, and, best of all, hooks galore. Other highlights include the go-for-broke 'One For The Razorbacks,' as well as '80,' which is displays the group's growing musical maturity. There's also an early version of 'Welcome To Paradise,' a song that would later surface on Dookie - this version is pretty good too, although it lacks the polish that the newer, more produced version possesses. Fans of the group's distinctive brand of potty humour will also appreciate 'Dominated Love Slave,' which features a hilariously obnoxious Tre Cool on vocals.
Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and roses. The sluggish tempo on both 'Christie Road' and 'No One Knows' suggest that the group was completely wasted when they recorded these tracks, ruining otherwise impressive compositions with lackluster, derelict performances. Plus, the low-fi Sweet Children EP tracks sound quite out of place on the CD, inadvertently showing just how far the band had come since the songs were first released back in 1989. Still, Kerplunk! is a must-own for Green Day fans, and is one of the better indie releases I've ever heard.
RATING: 7
PLAY THESE: LONGVIEW, BASKETCASE, WHEN I COME AROUND
SKIP THESE: HAVING A BLAST, CHUMP, F.O.D. / ALL BY MYSELF
I hadn't listened to this album for almost a decade until I decided to review it, and I must say that the music brought back a ton of memories. I can still picture it like it was yesterday: I, the eagerly aimless young mill worker with a grunge wannabe haircut resembling a 17th century Italian aristocrat, driving in my blue '93 Geo Metro with the exciting sounds of Dookie reverberating through my tinny car stereo. Smoking illicit cigarettes and laughing uproariously at my own fart jokes with my friends, I would spend hours driving down the main street of my crappy hometown looking half-heartedly for something - anything - to do.
Thankfully, those days are now over, and while the long hair is gone (although, strangely enough, the trusty Geo isn't!), and I've since moved to the city, I am thankful that I still have a copy of this album. I'd honestly forgotten how good it is. It's also easy to forget just how influential - for better and for worse - this album was (and still is). You see, Green Day spearheaded the punk revival movement in the early 1990's, and in so doing influenced a whole new generation of punk rockers. Sure, nobody should be thrilled about the current success of lame punk wanksters like Good Charlotte, but then again Green Day shouldn't be blamed for the existence of similar punk also-rans. On the contrary, Green Day should be applauded for making music fun again in an era dominated by dreary, depressing grunge rock.
Pared down to essentials, Dookie reveals a new, exciting band with a knack for coming up with catchy, energetic power pop tunes. I mean, what's not to like about 'When I Come Around,' or 'Basketcase?' And who but the most joyless of individuals would find fault in tracks like 'She' or 'Longview?' Yes, the endless stream of masturbation jokes aren't quite as funny as they were when you were 18 (especially on the stupid "hidden track"), but overall this album is a lot of fun. The CD probably would likely benefit from 4 or so fewer tracks, but then again this is just nit-picking - it's certainly good enough as is. All in all, it's a great debut, and as such I probably won't wait another decade before I dust it off again.
RATING: 5
PLAY THESE: ARMITAGE SHANKS, GEEK STINK BREATH, BRAIN STEW
SKIP THESE: none
Pfft! Yes, the oft-reviled Insomniac is a weak, fart-like follow-up to the worldwide smash hit Dookie, although it should be remembered that the band was in a bit of a catch-22 situation at the time. Crappy or not, any new Green Day album would be unlikely to come even remotely close to matching Dookie in terms of sales, and the group was in danger of losing its original indie punk rock fan base. Indeed, longtime Green Day fans were accusing Billy Joe and the boys of "selling out," and there was a strong sense that the band needed to prove that they weren't a bunch of corporate whores (this issue is directly addressed in the song '86' on this album). Of course, all of this was pure nonsense. Anyone familiar with Green Day's early albums can attest that they were always a punk-influenced pop-rock band with catchy, commercial tunes, and not an actual punk band. They were never anything remotely close to hard-core, even if their music is derived from punk. Period. Full stop (or whatever it is the English say when they want to emphasize a point). It wasn't so much that Green Day changed their sound on Dookie to achieve success - it was more case of the band perfecting their shtick, and that music fans were finally given an opportunity to embrace it.
Unfortunately, the band appears to have lost their collective nerve on Insomniac, and seems bent on proving that they are still an indie band. They want to prove they are "edgy," and that they are "punk." How do they attempt to achieve this? Well, by recording a bunch of fast, punky songs with no melodies that all sound the same, as well as a few tracks with a lot of minor chords that are supposed to make the band sound "aggressive" and "serious." In a very real sense, Insomniac is actually the sell-out Green Day album, since the band is obviously trying to make music that both critics and hard-core fans will embrace. Of course, nobody was fooled by this ruse, and the album was deservedly a gigantic flop. Yes, it did go on to sell eight million copies worldwide, but it didn't come close to equally Dookie in terms of sales and staying power.
You know, it's funny, but I had never listened to this album in its entirety until earlier this week. This, in spite of the fact that I was already a huge fan of Dookie, and had compulsively bought just about every major new rock CD release in the mid-90's. I just remember hearing the first couple of singles from the album, and being extremely unimpressed, and reasoning that if these were the best tracks on the album, the rest must be complete shite. And, you know what? I was right. Without even hearing the whole album, I was 100% correct. Apart from a few of the stronger tracks ('Armitage Shanks,' 'Geek Stink Breath,' and 'Brain Stew'), none of the songs leave any sort of a lasting impression, and they all sound the same. None of these songs are bad (in fact, they are all more than listenable), but they are extremely unremarkable in every regard. They are so similar-sounding that it would be a complete waste of time to analyze any of these tracks, so I will refrain and simply end the review by making a giant farting sound. Pffft!!!!!!
BOWLING
BOWLING BOWLING PARKING PARKING [EP]
(1996)
RATING: 4
PLAY THESE: none
SKIP THESE: none
A seven song live compilation EP consisting of songs recorded between 1994 and 1996, Bowling Bowling Bowling Parking Parking is a so-so Green Day product so unremarkable that it is currently out of print. Featuring four songs from Insomniac ('Armitage Shanks,' 'Brain Stew,' 'Jaded,' and 'Walking Contradiction'), as well as a couple of classics from Dookie ('Basketcase' and 'She'), the album is decent enough, but lacks purpose and ultimately sounds like a record company cash-in. Although the band is energetic and the performances sound convincing enough, the sound is murky, and generally sounds like it was recorded on a ghetto blaster out in the audience. The best performance is the group's cover of the punk classic 'Knowledge,' which originally appeared on the 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour album. The playing is passionate, and the audience really gets into the song, which makes for a good listening experience. In conclusion, stay away from this EP unless you are a really big Green Day fan with money to burn on expensive imports CD's.
RATING: 6
PLAY THESE: HITCHIN' A RIDE, REDUNDANT, GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)
SKIP THESE: ALL THE TIME, TAKE BACK, PLATYPUS (I HATE YOU)
First off, eighteen songs is WAY TOO FRIGGIN' MANY. Why Green Day would decide to put almost twenty songs on Nimrod when there are only about six or seven memorable songs on the album is anyone's guess, but as far as I'm concerned it's a FRIGGING WASTE OF MY VALUABLE TIME WHEN I COULD BE LISTENING TO/ REVIEWING ANOTHER MID-PERIOD PINK FLOYD ALBUM. Look, Billy Joe, I don't care if you can fit 70 minutes of music on a CD - if all you've got is thirty minutes of good music, then just give me the good stuff. I won't feel ripped off. I promise.
Now that I've got that rant out of the way, here are some of the positives. First off, I must say that I'm awfully glad that the band stopped worrying about losing its "street cred" (after all, it's hard to lose something you've never had) and started doing what it does best once again - catchy power pop. The songs are better, catchier, and more upbeat than almost anything on Insomniac, and the band seems more comfortable just being themselves again. It's a refreshing change.
The other thing that I like a lot is the fact that many of the songs are plagiarized. And no, I'm not being sarcastic. You see, Green Day is finally starting to branch out and diversify its sound, emulating other band's styles in an admirable attempt to re-invent themselves. That's why I don't mind the fact that 'Hitchin' A Ride' rips off the Sesame Street theme song, or that 'Scattered' shamelessly nicks the melody from Warrant's 1989 hair metal ballad 'Heaven' in the verse. I also don't care that the highly entertaining 'King For A Day' is a blatant steal from the old R & B classic 'Shout' (in case you're not familiar with it, it's a song that was covered by every single 1960's British act from the Beatles to The Who). I also am happy to report that 'Prosthetic Head' is a nearly note-for-note copy of U2's 'Dirty Day,' which is one of my favorite selections from 1993's Zooropa. So my point is? The band is taking baby steps, and making some blunders, but they're finally on the right path. Give it a bit of time, and the plagiarism won't be as obvious, and the band will develop its own unique - and diverse - sound.
Oh, and I should mention that the massive hit 'Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life') is one great little pop tune. Many rock fans turned up their noses at the strings and acoustic guitar, but it's the perfect power ballad, and the lyrics are quite insightful as well. I'm also quite fond of 'The Grouch,' which seems to be written about me, and 'Redundant' puts a modern spin on the Revolver-era Beatles sound, right down to the chord changes and Leslie speaker effect on the guitar. The power chord and drum fill-driven 'Haushinka' sounds a lot like The Who, which is a good thing, and the quirky instrumental 'Last Ride In' even sounds like Billy Joe had been listening to Pet Sounds quite a bit.
Unfortunately, for every good song on the album we get an equal number of crappy tunes. When Billy Joe sings about "wasting time down a bum f*** road" on 'All The Time,' it just makes me wonder what sort of places he likes to visit. What are those lyrics supposed to mean? Oh wait, I do know, and it's not pretty. That being said, there are more than enough good bits on this album to make it worthwhile even for most causal fans, so I guess that it's a six out of ten for this sometimes brilliant, sometimes frustrating collection of songs.
RATING: 8
PLAY THESE: MINORITY, WAITING, MACY'S DAY PARADE
SKIP THESE: none
By the time Warning was released in late 2000, Green Day were in true danger of becoming has-beens. Record sales were down, and even though 'Good Riddance' had given them the biggest hit single of their career only a couple of year prior, there was a definite lack of interest in Green Day within the rock community, as bratty, watered down pop punk bands like Blink 182 were the flavor of the week. Unfortunately, Warning did little to reverse this situation. Yes, three of the album's singles did receive significant airplay ('Minority,' 'Warning,' and 'Waiting'), but radio and MTV was definitely losing interest in the band, and album sales dipped once again (although it should be remembered that 3 million units worldwide is still very respectable). But in spite of its commercial failings, Warning did give the band a well-needed dose of musical credibility, setting the stage for their breathtaking career resurrection with American Idiot in 2004.
The album is very solid, as Billy Joe and company continue to diversify its sound here - and the songwriting is stellar. Thankfully, there are precious few songs that aspire to be "punk,' as the band now clearly understand that their true strengths lie in the realm of pop, with varied instrumentation and clever arrangements becoming the rule of the day. Warning also displays the band's burgeoning political sensibilities, as the songs like the marching band-driven pop jewel 'Minority' and The Kinks rip-off 'Warning' (which boldly lifts the main riff from 'Picture Book') give a middle finger salute to the so-called "moral majority" of right wing crackpots that masquerade themselves as the Republican Party. It's songs like these that ensure the survival of the group, as few of their contemporaries would even dare to offend a segment of their audience in such a manner, such is the sorry state of music in the 21st century. The album also boasts a couple of affecting ballads, the best of which is 'Waiting,' a song of yearning with impressive dynamics and a killer melody, as well as 'Macy's Day Parade,' which is probably the band's most underappreciated song.
In the end, Minority is a solid album with little filler that actually says something - a rare feat in today's bland, conservative musical climate.
INTERNATIONAL
SUPERHITS! (2001)
RATING: 8
PLAY THESE: MINORITY, BASKETCASE, GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)
SKIP THESE: none
The first Green Day compilation to ever hit the shelves, International Superhits is a pretty decent overview of the band's career that (mostly) focuses on the band's many hit singles. Of course, any Green Day fan with even a brief acquaintance with the band's CDs will know that it's missing many of their key album tracks, but this is pretty small criticism. Actually, the biggest problem with the collection is that it completely ignores the band's pre-Dookie output, which means that early indie songs like '2000 Light Years From Home' don't make an appearance. Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I would much rather hear a couple of early classics rather than the two new songs ('Maria' and 'Poprocks and Coke'), both of which are good but not great. One of the album's primary selling points is the inclusion of 'J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva),' which makes its first appearance on a Green Cay CD, as it was originally released on the Angus soundtrack. Apparently, the track is a tribute to a childhood friend of bassist Mike Dirnt, who died in a car accident when he was in his late teens. It's a good song, and a welcome addition to the collection. So, to make a long story short, this album is a good starting point for the new Green Day fan, but diehards may find it to be somewhat redundant and incomplete. That being said, International Superhits makes it clear that Green Day is one of the best bands that has along in the last fifteen years, and that they deserve every hit they've ever had.
RATING: 6
PLAY THESE: SUFFOCATE, DESENSITIZED, HA HA YOU'RE DEAD
SKIP THESE: none
The obligatory companion piece to any self-respecting greatest hits package, Shenanigans is - yup, you guessed it - a collection of Green Day b-sides and rarities. Anyone expecting a b-compilation of Oasis-quality b-sides need not apply though - there are only a couple of truly great recordings here, and even those ones aren't exactly classic material. The collection is pretty solid, and the very effective track sequencing almost makes this one play out like a real album, albeit it one with a lot of average tracks on it.
That being said, Shenanigans is a heckuva lot better than a couple of Green Day albums, in particular Insomniac (speaking of which, why wasn't 'Don't Want To Fall In Love' not on that album? It's great here). There are several good covers, as the boys run through songs by the likes of The Ramones ('Outsider'), Fang ('I Want To Be On TV'), and The Kinks ('Tired Of Waiting For You'), the latter of which proves suspicions that Warning was heavily influenced by Ray Davies. Also fun is the 60's superhero TV opening song spoof 'Espionage,' which even has horns and a surf-rock guitar hook. The two best moments, however, are the hilarious Mike Dirnt-penned 'Ha Ha You're Dead' and 'Suffocate,' which is the only song on here that realistically could have been a hit single for the band. Other than that, it's all typically fast Green Day three-chord rockers, and a couple of semi-ballads that almost sound like hits, but not quite. In other words, this is not an album you will listen to very often, but it's something that will hit the spot if you're in the right mood.
RATING: 10
PLAY THESE: AMERICAN IDIOT, JESUS OF SUBURBIA MEDLEY, BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
SKIP THESE: none
It been a long, unforeseen journey from juvenile fart jokes to artsy rock opera, but Green Day has finally come of age with American Idiot, a full-fledged concept album that has struck such a deep chord with so many people. Part narrative and part social commentary, American Idiot effectively articulates the paranoiac, fatalistic atmosphere of post-9/11 America, as well as the deep divisions that currently engulf American society. Few mainstream musicians have been willing to look critically at the post-September 11th American landscape (or at least reflect it in their music), so it's encouraging to see a rock band stand up and speak some hard truths for a change. In so doing, Green Day carries on in punk's politicized heritage, in effect carrying on the work that their forbearers (i.e. The Clash) began in the 1970's.
Admittedly, Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong's politics may be more subtle and less divisive than Joe Strummer's, but they are often just as insightful - sometimes even more so. Apart from the hilarious Dubya-baiting "seig heil to the president gasman" line in 'Holiday,' there's little in the way of deliberately inflammatory polemics on American Idiot. However, there are some very insightful lyrics on this album, as Armstrong pulls no punches in tackling many of the problems faced by America and, by extension, the world. You see, George W. Bush may not have been born stupid - he's actually somewhat intelligent, believe it or not - but he has the unfortunate tendency to pride himself on acting like an idiot. His behavior is no accident - his arrogant, boastful, and ignorant ways are a well-thought strategy. By saying and doing stupid things, he appeals to the idiotic segment of the American population - you know, the flag-blinded patriots who think that terrorists lurk behind every wall and are willing to turn the entire world upside down in order to feel a bit safer. Admittedly, America is not unique this regard, as all nation-states have roughly the same proportion of idiots within its borders, but what makes America's current paranoiac, irrational psyche so scary is the fact that it's overwhelming military/economic/cultural power has absolutely no precedent in history. In an era when the idiots are winning, the picture looks very bleak indeed for all of us. Don't get me wrong - I'm by no means Anti-American (I think Americans on a personal level are among the most friendly, well-intentioned people on earth), but there are some major problems in America that need to be addressed. All American Idiot is trying to do is to try to get the thinking-but-apathetic segment of the population to stand up and fight against the idiots.
Now back to the music....American Idiot is a solid listen from start to finish, a consistently good album that is one of the best in recent years. There is a rather loose storyline that revolves around a central character, St. Jimmy, but the overall imagery and social commentary is far more important than the actual plot. Green Day's style is still mainstream punk, but the addition of acoustic guitars, piano, tabla samples, drum loops, and even tubular bells have given the band's sound far more depth than it ever had before. As has always been the case with Green Day, the new album's greatest strength lies in Billy Joe Armstrong's uncanny ability to come up with simple-yet-catchy pop hooks, as well as overall strong melodies that easily get implanted in the listener's brain.
One of the most striking features on American Idiot is the presence of two excellent medleys that bookend the album. Ok, ok, it isn't exactly the second half of Abbey Road or anything, but they are really, really good, especially the first 'Jesus of Suburbia' medley, which is very reminiscent of The Who's mini-opera 'A Quick One While He's Away' in terms of it's format and sound (even though the catchy shout-along 'City of the Damned' section is a blatant rip-off of 'All The Young Dudes). The medley itself describes the vapid culture of American suburban life, sneering at the ubiquitous teenage diet of "soda pop and Ritalin" among other such meaningless entities. It's rare to see such musical ambition in today's music, and it's great that Green Day pulled it off so effortlessly.
In terms of other highlights, the title track is also quite excellent, as it brags a strong hook and some rather memorable lines ("don't want to be an American idiot/ don't want a nation under the new mania/ can you hear the sound of hysteria?/the subliminal mind-f*** America"). The top ten single 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' is a mid-tempo power ballad of the highest quality, with strong chorus and some great dynamics; that menacing descending riff that closes the song is a nice touch too. The sing-along 'Are We The Waiting' is also a strong track, as is the full-fledged power ballad 'Wake Me Up When September Ends,' which will undoubtedly be released as a single in the coming months.
Overall, American Idiot is a great listen, and if you've lost all faith in rock 'n roll as a vital cultural force, I would suggest that you pick up a copy of this album. It just might change your mind.
Note: I've just upgraded the rating from a nine to a ten. This album simply stands up to just about anything that any of the great rock bands have produced over the past forty years, so I believe it deserves a higher rating. I'm actually pretty tempted to give it a 10+ rating, but I'll revisit the album a year from now to see how it feels then.
RATING: 9
PLAY THESE: JESUS OF SUBURBIA (MEDLEY), MINORITY, WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS
SKIP THESE: none
When a band completes an album/tour as successful and career defining as the
one Green Day had with American Idiot, they earn the right to release a
live album souvenir. But this isn't just your average, run-of-the-mill live CD.
Recorded at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes during their 2005 British tour,
this album proves beyond a shadow of a doubt why they are the best band on the
planet at this moment, why they've stuck around for so damn long. This is
simply arena rock at its best. The performances are nervy and energetic,
the song selection is excellent, and the crowd is clearly giving the group the
boost it needs to elevate the music to a higher level of transcendence.
It's difficult to pick the best tracks, because all of them are so good, but
suffice to say you won't be hitting the skip button very often. Most of the
songs are from American Idiot, but the band digs up a few treasures from its
past, including classics like 'Longview,' 'Basketcase,' 'Minority,' and 'Good
Riddance.' The CD is packaged with a corresponding live DVD, which adds a
necessary visual component to the performances. In summary, this is one of the
best live CD's ever made, and a necessary purchase for old and new Green Day
fans alike. All I can say is that I'm an idiot for not seeing them play
here in Vancouver on this tour. They played here twice. I am a
moron. Shoot me now.