16 April 2013 (Day 106) – Uno, Dos, Tre ……..

We woke up this morning to the news of the explosions at the Boston Marathon.  “M” and I barely touched our breakfasts as we took in the news.  But we had to go to work, speculating about the likelihood of terrorism as we went.  The prospect of another frantic day at work basically banished all thoughts of the attack.  I needed shortish albums to accompany my endeavours and I'd taken Green Day’s recent trilogy with me.

I’ve been an on/off Green Day fan over the years.  I was impressed by the youthful brand of punk on Dookie which led me back to a couple of their predecessors.  Whilst they hadn’t attempted anything particularly new, they did so with a verve and style that was admirable.  I then lost track until the release of American Idiot which is a truly great album and one which has possibly not reaped the full range of critical plaudits it deserved.  But, once again, I lost track with subsequent albums until now. 

I have “M”’s teenage niece to thank for reconnecting me to the band.  She had bought the recent albums and, in a moment of bravado whilst listening to her lament a likely inability to see them in concert, I promised to take her to their next gig here.  This will almost certainly be towards the end of this year but dates have yet to be announced. 

And I have a bit to catch up on.   Three albums in a few months by the same act is a reasonably rare occurrence although there have been a number of acts – Guns ‘n’ Roses, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and Lamchop among others – that have released two albums on the same day.  Personally, I’m not sure why the acts simply didn’t release double albums  - I could discern a justifiable musical distinction between the two Springsteen and Cave discs but not the others -  but I’m pretty sure record company “logic” has something to do with this.  And so to Green Day starting, naturally, with;

(# 287) Green Day – Uno! (2012)

If this album had been released immediately after Dookie, critics would have complained that this was the sound of a band repeating a successful formula.  Since it’s come out more than 15 years later, it can be safely regarded as welcome throwback to less carefree days.  Nuclear Family, Let Yourself Go and Troublemaker are all classic Dookie era sounding Green Day tunes, the band simply thrashing out for the sheer enjoyment of it.  Great pop/punk hybrids like Stay The Night and Oh Love complete the package.

(# 288) Green Day – Dos! (2012)

The best and most ambitious of the tree albums, Dos employs a wide variety of styles.  Wild One and Makeout Party are great straight ahead punk numbers; Baby Eyes contains echoes of The Stray Cats buried just beneath the surface and Wow! That’s Loud contains psychedelic touches of the type that adorns The Hoodoo Gurus best work.  Amy is a nice pop tune to end matters.

(# 289) Green Day – Tre! (2012)

The final album sounds like an outtakes album of the tracks not considered for inclusion in the first two.  Walkaway and Dirty Rotten Bastards are OK.  On the whole it feels slighter in tone and sounds slightly tinnier to the others, suggesting either that it wasn’t fussed over that much.

Now that I’ve finished this posting, I’m going to switch on the television and reconnect with Boston.