Band: Greenday, Billie-Joe Armstrong (Guitars/vocals/lyrics (except J.A.R.))
Mike Dirnt (bass/backing vocals/lyrics on J.A.R.)
Tré Cool (Drums)
This album is the Greenday "Best Of". It includes two previously unavailable tracks. The complete track listing is as follows...
The album opens with a little dialogue, then hits you with a strong bit of chord work along with the normal lyrics filled with references.
Maria is a political song. There is a nice guitar solo about one and a half minutes into the song, and in the unusualy simple chorus (Maria, Maria, Maria/ Where did you go?) Billie-Joe takes the opportunity to show off all his singing skills.
Poprocks and coke is either a sweet song for your girlfriend, about how you will stand by them at all times. The drums are simple, and the song is simple in terms of style. Lyrically it sounds slightly stalkerish as well, but I know if were to play a set of songs dedicated to a girlfriend this one would be there.
Greenday show a slight lapse in maturity here.
Longview is a song about masturbation, however, unlike their partners-in-crime, Blink 182, they do a good job of this one. There are no major clues to what the song is about, the biggest clue coming from the chorus: "Bite my lip and close my eyes/ Take me away to paradise/ Some say 'quit or I'll go blind'/ But it's just a myth". There are also parts about the state of society, etc...Listen out for the bit just after he sings "Call me what you will", you can here someone in the background yell "You What you Will!"
Welcome to paradise sticks out for on the album. This is a comparitively punk song. Its about living in the ghetto, having left home. Mike does an excellent job of the punk-style backing through the chorus, and the bitter irony emphasized by the staccato-then-silence in the guitar on the title line. Mike also does a really cool bass solo after the second chorus, which builds up very nicely into the final verse. Great song.
For those of you who don't know, a
Basketcase is a device put over the head of a metal patient to restrain them. The song has been reviewed as in Guitar Buyer as the definitive Greenday song with chunky powerchords, and lots of downstrokes. This song is huge fun to play, like most Greenday songs. Its lyrically forthright, and fills the space well (although the line "I went to whore, HE said my lifes a bore" worries me on Billie-Joe's girlfriend's behalf...)
When I come around is a much slower song. It features the same powerchords as the rest of the album, the bass is prominent as always, but this song gets a bit too repetitive for my liking. Billie-Joe's normal mastery of rhythm is slightly lacking. The singing is done well, but the slower pace of this song as compared to the rest of the album leaves it feeling slightly out of place. Guitar interlude...I could swear Box Car Racer or Blink 182 stole it...
She catches straight away with a line that sounds like a paradox, but yet makes perfect sense it seems "She screams in silence" (like a lot of Billie-Joe's songwriting. The bass doesn't come in until the pre-chorus, and as always it works well. This song is also slower then normal, and has elements of what comes through more prominently on Warning. The chorus is also very cool, summing up what the song is about
: putting up with someone elses tendancy to lose their temper, where most songwriters would write about how they want it to stop, Billie-Joe writes about putting up with it...genius. "Scream at me until my ears bleed/ I'm taking heed just for you"
J.A.R. was written by Mike Dirnt and it shows. The lyrics sound weak next to Billie-Joe's. Despite this, they are still strong on their own, and have their moments. The song is normally a skip track for me.
Geek Stink Breath is a welcome follow to J.A.R. The melody is one we've all head stuck in our head, and the rhythm is very toe-tappy, good tune, listen to it.
Next is a song about insomnia called
Brain Stew. Skip it...its not worth listening to, unless you have insomnia and need something ultra boring to cure you and can't find a maths teacher.
A song about going to work, something I'm not sure Billie-Joe knows that much about. I like the upbeat tempo of
Jaded, even if the lyrics are hard to make out, my only fault to this. I love the lines "Count down from 9 to 5/ Hooray we're all gonna die!/ Blessed into our extintion"
The next three songs,
Walking Contradiction, Stuck With Me and
Hitchin' A Ride start to get a bit wearing in the sound, a bit samey. If you're listening closely to the album you'll find yourself getting bored here, great for background listening though, as the high quality is still there. However, before too long you get one of the greatest songs ever...
Good Riddance is the ironic title given to
Time Of Your Life. This is a beautiful song for any occasion, finishing a set with. I wish I wrote this song (Billie-Joe, you bastard) It has no bass or drums, its just Billie-Joe on vocals, acoustic guitar and violin. This song remains one of my favourite songs ever to play since I learnt it nearly two years ago. It is a song about how its impossible to stop the changes in life, but that, for better for worse, you can make the most of them, and don't forget to look back to the past, and cherish the memories we have. As it puts it in the song "It [life]'s something unpredictable/ But in the end is right/ I hope you had the time of your life"
Redundant brings back the more familier style. More downbeat then previously, its about not knowing what to say. The lyricss are fair, not as well written as usual, but they contain a very powerful and profound truth behind them. Its worth reading along with this song.
The next song has one of the strangest video's ever, but thats not the point.
Nice Guys Finish Last is about. I won't say much on this one, because it goes against my beliefs, and therefore I'm biased against it. Prefer this song to most for those "i'm bitter against the whole world" moments.
Minority is good the first time you hear it, the hard/soft dynamic works very well at the start. However, the chorus is repetive as it is, and playing 4 times is a bit much, leaving me thinking "When will you end the **** song", but its nice and easy, and the interlude is soo much fun to play. More downstrokes, Billie-Joe sacrifices the 3rd on his usual barre majors to give plain old power chords for this song, which detract from it a little.
Warning: you will find yourself humming track 19:
Warning. The bass led riff and acoustic guitar are very catchy, however the rhythm is lacking slightly. The verses are very good, filled with puns, it is well sung, and is a good song, although it does wear thin more easily then most.
Waiting...pretty similar to Minority and Warning, actually...nice hard/soft at the end, but again, wears thin very fast.
If you put this album on just before you go to bed, you'll find yourself trying to stay awake to hear
Macy's Day Parade A beautiful, sad song about what exactly? Its actually about capitalisation, the song is a kind of funeral song for those driven out of business by major corperations...very serious song, now I know that I see this as more of a joke song. It is very, very good though, and has a beautiful organ/strings (can't tell which) played very high endish, the song is a near perfect way to end the album (Good Riddance would have been better). The singing is imaculate, Billie-Joe puts in a slight wobble which makes it sound like he's fighting tears.
3.75/5 :)
