Credits:
Guitar, Vocals: Billie Joe Armstrong
Bass, Vocals: Mike Dirnt
Drums: John Kriftmeyer
"1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours". Green Day's first full length album was released in 1990, on the now well-recognized California indie label "Lookout Records". "Lookout" also hosted one of Billie Joe's favorite bands, Operation Ivy. Operation Ivy was a catchy but short lived ska project, still a great group nontheless...Green Day covered one of their songs on this album.
Now that you're a bit more familiar with "Slappy Hour's" background, let us get to the actual album: Which begins with the quick riffs of "At The Library". This song was written about a girl that Billie Joe would occasionaly see at the library (hence the name), whom he actually thought was ugly, but tried to ask her out because he thought she would date him. This attempt ended in failure, and caused Billie to write the song, which is actually one of the highlights of the CD; it sports great sounding vocals and thumping drums, which guide along the short but sweet guitar parts and the bass (which isn't very noticable). This awesome opener paves the way for the rest of the album, Which includes true must-listens like "I Was There", "Dissapearing Boy", and "The Judge's Daughter". The first ten tracks of this album are similar in almost every way...The vocals sound alike in every song, but interestingly enough, never get boring. The drums can become quite repetetive after a while, though. Try to stick around long enough to hear "Judge's Daughter", "16", and "Green Day". These three are IMO the first half's highlights, not including "At The Library".
So begins the second half. The gritty sounding guitar saws it's way into "Paper Lanterns", then followed by very upbeat drums and a good bass backup. "Lanterns" is an instant classic, with it's very catchy and memorable vocals sticking in your head alongside the constant pounding of the drums...This song's sound really defines the rest of the album, not including the cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge". Quick guitars just blaze through these last 8 GD originals, and speaking of guitars...The last few tracks show Billie Joe's talent with the fretboard; though not jaw-droppingly impressive solos, they still provide a great hook to keep the songs in motion after the chorus's end. Reccommended songs here are of course "Paper Lanterns", "409 in Your Coffemaker", "1,000 Hours", and "Dry Ice". "Knowledge" will also not refuse to give a few interesting sounds here and there.
For the most part this album is littered with catchy riffs and vocals, impossible to miss drums and great bass backup. Filler can be seen on occasion, but the larger percent of the album is defenitly not. I think this is more than worth picking up, and will probably stay in your head for weeks after the first listen.
