Surprised to see no one has mentioned Green Days new album, 21st Century Breakdown....I got it today, along with a Blu-Ray version of Bullet in a Bible (awesome on Blu Ray) from Best Buy.
Green Day has always been one of my favorite bands and one of the few (Tool and Pearl Jam are others) of which a new album is an automatic buy for me....What I've always liked about them is that they always seem to grow and change without losing what made them so good to begin with.
21st Century Breakdown is another example. It's big and sweeping much like American Idiot, and like AI another concept album, though after only two listens I can't comment about the concept idea.
Where it differs from American Idiot is that it has a significantly higher number of slower songs, and the band clearly delved more into harmony...People who want to hear Dookie, or only even the rougher edged type songs from American Idiot are probably going to be somewhat disappointed with this album.
The political charge in 21st Century Breakdown is less obvious than on American Idiot, but it's clearly there...The album demands that you pay attention to the lyrics for this aspect if you're interested, as there are fewer in your face lines of outright political commentary.
Billie Joe has become a better singer over the years, and this album, I think, really highlights this. Overall, the album is heavier on piano and synthesizer than any prior Green Day effort to date, and though this is a personal quirk of mine, automatically more pompous due to a repeated use of strings....which are ok by me if used sparingly by a rock band, but easy to over do.
For those who like Green Day's harder, more punk leaning than pop sound, the album doesn't really start to cook until the 8th or 9th song and is never really sustained with slower, more melodious tunes stopping 21st Century Breakdown from ever really gathering up a full head of steam the way some fans would probably prefer.
For me though, what makes them different from album to album is what makes them so good...rock bands are most interesting in my opinion, when they're experimenting and growing as artists.
Green Day has always been one of my favorite bands and one of the few (Tool and Pearl Jam are others) of which a new album is an automatic buy for me....What I've always liked about them is that they always seem to grow and change without losing what made them so good to begin with.
21st Century Breakdown is another example. It's big and sweeping much like American Idiot, and like AI another concept album, though after only two listens I can't comment about the concept idea.
Where it differs from American Idiot is that it has a significantly higher number of slower songs, and the band clearly delved more into harmony...People who want to hear Dookie, or only even the rougher edged type songs from American Idiot are probably going to be somewhat disappointed with this album.
The political charge in 21st Century Breakdown is less obvious than on American Idiot, but it's clearly there...The album demands that you pay attention to the lyrics for this aspect if you're interested, as there are fewer in your face lines of outright political commentary.
Billie Joe has become a better singer over the years, and this album, I think, really highlights this. Overall, the album is heavier on piano and synthesizer than any prior Green Day effort to date, and though this is a personal quirk of mine, automatically more pompous due to a repeated use of strings....which are ok by me if used sparingly by a rock band, but easy to over do.
For those who like Green Day's harder, more punk leaning than pop sound, the album doesn't really start to cook until the 8th or 9th song and is never really sustained with slower, more melodious tunes stopping 21st Century Breakdown from ever really gathering up a full head of steam the way some fans would probably prefer.
For me though, what makes them different from album to album is what makes them so good...rock bands are most interesting in my opinion, when they're experimenting and growing as artists.
