This was a while back, but I'll rank openers and closers. Openers: Nice Guys Finish Last American Idiot Burnout Armatage Shanks Somewhere Now Brutal Love 21st Century Breakdown 2000 Light Years Away Warning Nuclear Family At the Library See You Tonight Closers: Whatsername Oh Love Prosthetic Head Macy's Day Parade F.O.D. Walking Contradiction The Forgotten Words I Might Have Ate See the Light Ordinary World The Judge's Daughter Amy
Here's how I would describe this album to someone: Nimrod mixed with Warning, with traces of the past few albums mixed in. Still haven't gotten into the final song (feels like there should be one more song after it) and "Outlaws" is really only good for the last minute-and-a-half. I really enjoy the rest though and still find myself putting this on in-between listening to other recent releases.
Feels more like American Idiot's middle section than anything before that to me but just...not as good.
I've had a bit of time with this now, and they announced their Australian tour this morning (fuck yeah!), so I'm getting on a bit of a GD kick overall. Really loving 'Too Dumb To Die'. Still don't love the album as an overall, we'll see after another week or so.
I was really hoping to be proven wrong, but Green Day keep free falling off my favorites list. It sucks to say it because they were one of the bands that got me into music and I still think American Idiot is one of the best records of the last decade. I recognize this is a tad better than the trilogy (maybe it would be other way around if I got to choose a best of from those three albums) as the songs are more developed and well-arranged. It doesn't feel like they simply regurgitated a huge amount of material with no direction or care. Still, this record is just a much worse version of everything they have already done. "Forever Now" is the only track I'd consider top tier Green Day. "Bang Bang", "Still Breathing" and "Ordinary World" are pretty good as well. Sadly that's it and the latter two suffer from bad and generic lyricism, which is an overall problem. What happened to Billie Joe's way with words? While I either liked a lot or loved everything from Dookie to 21st Century Breakdown, at this point I believe they need to reinvent themselves once again. Revolution Radio settled that to me.
Excellent review. We pretty much feel the exact same way about this album. Really glad to have Green Day back.
Maybe it clicks for me at some point but the first half really does absolutely nothing for me, I kept zoning out (while doing nothing else but listening to this.) Then I love Still Breathing and really like every song the rest of the album. That's my first impression anyways.
Album is a nice surprise.. I had really low expectations, but I enjoy this more than I thought I would
Pleasantly surprised by it. Was an enjoyable listen on the first run through, exciting to return to it later today.
I really wasnt/still am not hugely hopeful of this album but I've just stuck in on. Solid opener. Now on to Bang Bang which i still can't dig. I'm giving the album a chance though.
Honestly, I'm a huge Blink fan (though I hate it when they are compared to GD as they may both fall into pop punk but come from entirely different influences). I'm probably more of an Alkaline Trio fan these days so was crazy pumped for California. It really just did not interest me after a couple of listens and I never bothered to go back to it again. On this. I'm now on track 4 which I am digging. Sometimes it edges a little too much into pre-teen anarchist but the songwriting is definitely an improvement over the trilogy. Let's put it this way, I'm digging this enough to want to put it on a second time so far.
Ended up just buying this at Best Buy. They had a Bang Bang single for $2 which included a coupon for $2 off of Revolution Radio. Essentially, the single was free!
Third run through and it's still crap. Really, really crap. A heap of really turgid songs, with barely any signs of life. I mean for goodness' sake, how many songs start with a distant-sounding vocal effect and thin guitar tone, before 'kicking in'? I'd have Green Day's discography over Blink-182's any day but the new Blink album absolutely wipes the floor with this.
The final 5 song stretch is so good. Still not fully sold on "Somewhere Now," not lyrically, something about the melody doesn't sit right with me.
Idk I just don't like this band for a lot of reasons. Still like American Idiot enough I guess, but the rest of their discography does nothing for me.