Green Day/ Saviors



BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

Green Day/ Saviors 

Genre: Punk-rock

Label: Reprise Recotds 

Rating: ****

After the phenomenal success of their 2004 concept album American Idiot, every subsequent album by Green Day has provoked comparison. They tried a similar formula five years later on 21st Century Breakdown, but couldn't match the predecessor. Today, most fans would agree that they won't ever repeat the brilliance of that record, or probably match the classic 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams' or 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'.

So where does that leave Saviors, the Californian punk-rock band's latest and 14th studio outing? Without getting into comparison mode, let's suffice it to say that it's a very consistent record, with vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong again proving why he's one of the top rock vocalists of his generation. His guitars have that mastery too, and with bassist Mike Drint and drummer Tre Cool, we have a skin-tight power trio.

Rather than talk of war, terror or Iraq, the songs cater to a wider set of emotions, from unfulfilled dreams and hatred to broken relationships and even paternal feelings. Armstrong gets right into form with 'The American Dream Is Killing Me', singing, "The American dream is killing me, all double-talk of conspiracy". The song starts off in punk-rock mode, but the transition is reminiscent of later-day Beatles.

Continuing with 'Look Ma, No Brains', which talks of a boy accepting his mental health issues, Green Day settle into more melodic territory on 'Bobby Sox' . Here, Armstrong sings, "Do you wanna be my girlfriend? I'll take you to a movie that we've already seen, or sit at home and watch re-runs, there's no other place I wanna be".

Over 46 minutes, the album fits in 15 songs. 'One-Eyed Bastard' spews with hatred, and 'Goodnight Adeline' is about pain - "I'm sick in bed again, my head's under the pillow, my spirit's broken, and my face is in the gutter singing Goodnight Adeline". There’s also this interesting track 'Corvette Summer', a rock n' roll track about how listening to records can reduce pain.

Of the two best cuts, 'Suzie Chapstick' has a beautiful hook, and post-break-up lines like, "Will I ever see your face again, not just photos from an Instagram?" And there's the moving and intense 'Father To A Son' - "Well I made a few mistakes, but I'll never break your heart, I promise, father to a son". Easily one of the.best songs the band has written. Finally, there's the title track, a straight-ahead rocker with a singalong concert appeal.

Once again, the band works with the amazing producer Rob Cavallo, also known for his work with rock band Goo Goo Dolls. And while Armstrong holds fort, coming up with clever lines, Drint's backing vocals are an essential part of the mix. As for drummer Tre Cool, he's on another level. Quite simply summed up, Saviors is Dookie-grade, the reference being to their path-breaking 1994 album.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gig review/ Deep Purple in Bengaluru

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Deep Purple at Bandland  Genre : Rock Details : Bandland rock festival, Embassy International Riding School, Bengaluru, December 17 Organisers : BookMyShow Live  Rating : **** 1/2 We all came out to Bandland, on a Bengaluru riding ground, to shoot videos on a mobile, yeah, capture the classic rock sound. Ian Gillan and the Purples, were at the best place around, space-truckin' on a black night, we danced on dusty ground.. singing, Smoke On The Water, drones in the sky, Smoke On The Water... taan taan taan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan... Three days after British rockers Deep Purple enchanted the crowd at the Bandland rock festival in Bengaluru, the gooseflesh lingers like the whiff of cologne. For many, they have been college heroes, cocktail companions, the kings of melodic power, the epitome of hard rock. Older-generation fans or youngsters, they knew many of these songs by heart. Every word, every instrumental passage, every back-up vocal lin
Read more

Gig review/ Sting @ Lollapalooza

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR   Sting @   Lollapalooza   Genre : Rock/ pop-rock Details : Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, January 28 Rating : **** You'll forget the sun in its jealous sky, as we walk on fields of gold... The sun had set a long ago, and the walk had been tiring and endless. But everything changed around 8.20 pm when Gordon Sumner aka Sting marched on to the Budweiser stage with a message in a bottle. For the next 85 minutes, every little thing the Englishman in Mumbai did was magic. The green carpet in front of the stage had been converted into fields of gold. The hardcore Sting fans should get those puns, and there were plenty of them who watched his concluding act at the two-day Lollapalooza music festival at the Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, on Sunday. Some had attended his shows abroad, some were seeing him for the first time, and others had been present at Mumbai's Rang Bhavan in 1980, when he played with his band The Police, or at the Amnesty International festiv
Read more

Gig review/ L. Shankar

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Artiste : L Shankar & Group Concert : Aditya Birla Group Masters of Music  Genre : Fusion/ Carnatic  Details : June 16, Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Mumbai  Rating : ***** The sudden excitement was palpable when violinist L. Shankar announced that he and his group would play many Shakti tunes at Sunday's concert in Mumbai. He had already opened the evening with a dazzling rendition of Carnatic composer Muthuswamy Dikshitar's 'Vathapi Ganapathim', and if one thought he would focus on classical fare, that was not to be. Five of the remaining six pieces belonged to the repertoire of the original Shakti line-up, comprising him, guitarist John McLaughlin, tabla genius Zakir Hussain and ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram. Together, they had pioneered the Indo-jazz fusion sound in the 1970s, before going different paths over a decade later. Playing those old Shakti classics had a major issue though, at least for fans. They had originally been written for two mel
Read more