Does anyone actually listen to Dos! ?

[BRA1N_ST3W]

Dos, the second album of the Uno! Dos! Tre! (no, not tres) trilogy. I've seen this album get a lot of hate for no reason, or people label it as the least popular album. Sure, there's better albums, (OPINION!!) But I don't think its a necessarily 'bad' album. the song 'f*ck time' is..... catchy.. and I know for a fact the BJA stans appreciate that one ;-). Any thoughts? I like to know!

[Rumpelstiltskin2000]

I didn't listen to the Trilogy in general for a while because I overplayed it so much back when it came out. However it's back on the playlist again now and I'm really enjoying it, including the songs from Dos. 

Stop when the red lights flash live was absolutely incredible and in my mind I can still remember seeing and hearing the band playing it at Emirates Stadium. 

[Little Boy Named Booze]

When I was partying, iDos! was playing a lot in my phone. idk why but iDos! really felt like a party album. Getting fucked and stoned and having the biggest hangover the next morning.
For my hangover I was listening to either iTré! or 21stCB.

[nowshesgone]

imo i feel like ever since i stopped caring about Nightlife and Fuck Time's various issues its actually managed to grow on me

besides, it has Lazy Bones and Amy, what else could you really ask for

[jengd]

I agree with you but only until Amy, think it’s their worst song by a long way, rest of the album is a bop.

[Montclare]

My favorite trilogy album.

[nopride84]

2 hours ago, BRA1N_ST3W said:

Dos, the second album of the Uno! Dos! Tre! (no, not tres) trilogy. I've seen this album get a lot of hate for no reason, or people label it as the least popular album. Sure, there's better albums, (OPINION!!) But I don't think its a necessarily 'bad' album. the song 'f*ck time' is..... catchy.. and I know for a fact the BJA stans appreciate that one ;-). Any thoughts? I like to know!

Thanks for explaining what dos is  and that its tre not tres on this green day forum 😂 

[Yosuke Hanamura]

Stray Heart, Stop When The Red Lights Flash, Fuck Time. and Makeout Party on occasion.

[Gwen Stacy]

I tend to only listen to it when I'm doing a full listen through of the trilogy, but it's been a while and I don't have anything else going on this Friday evening, so fuck it - let's get stoned and listen to ¡Dos!

Ooops, looks like I have ¡Dos! thoughts and this ended up being a whole thing so long essay/review/whatever in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Pitched as the garage rock album of the trilogy and a spiritual sequel to Stop, Drop, and Roll!!! I don't think it quite hits the mark there. The trilogy overall did not do as good of a job as it needed to in making the albums sound distinct enough to justify the triple album concept. To its' credit ¡Dos! does sound a little dirtier than the squeaky clean sounding ¡Uno! and the... varied tone of ¡Tré! but I wish they had taken it further, maybe actually record it on 8 Track tape like they did on the Tubbies album.

See You Tonight is a great way to open the album, it doesn't overstay its welcome and sets the stage in an intriguing way. I always like it when Billie writes these short vignette type songs a la Song of the Century or Ballad of Wilhelm Fink. The coin operating sound to open it is really clever as a way to open an album and contextualizes the wind-up style of the song. The line "The colder it gets you won't see me anymore" adds to the seasonal feel of these records. Released in early November ¡Dos! is most assuredly a autumn album. Well done, no complaints.

In trying to follow up Stop, Drop, and Roll!!!, an odd case occurs with Fuck Time. Or is it It's Fuck Time? It was a song they started playing as the Foxboro Hottubs on gigs during gaps on the 21st Century Breakdown tour so it migrated into being a Green Day song. Sonically it sounds great, showing off the AC/DC influence they were trying to capture in this era. BUT choosing it as the first real song on the album, the dry heave moaning, and having it on the same side as Makeout Party gives off a real 'dirty old man' vibe that I don't think suits Billie well. He's laughing during the song and I know the context so I can take it as a little tongue in cheek but for the average lister who knows them from Dookie and American Idiot who's checking out the new album must have been like 'what the fuck is this shit'?. In a live, intimate gig context it works as a fun party song but on record it just comes off as odd if we're being charitable.

Especially when you could have just gone straight into Stop When The Red Lights Flash! Ho. Ly. Shit. The word banger gets applied a little carelessly these days but this song gets it and then some. Hooky, ear wormy, catchy, rocking, this is everything I could want in a Green Day song. Yes the lyrics don't mean a goddamn thing but listen to this and try not to bounce up and down. This is one of a handful of trilogy songs I would beg and plead for them to put back on the live setlist. Those woos before the slow section feel earned. What a bop. 10/10.

Then it transitions into Lazy Bones, another highlight of the album. In retrospect it feels like a bit of a cry for help and at this point we knew what had been going on behind the scenes. Billie Joe is at his best when he's being honest and autobiographical, much like Lennon. The pathos really comes through in the lyrics. The fact that he's able to channel that into a song this groovy but hard hitting is nothing short of a testament to Armstrong as a musician. Mike gets a major shoutout here as this song lives or dies on that baseline. 

The energy on side one dips a little bit with Wild One. It's alright but it definitely wouldn't be B-side material for most other Green Day projects. The line "she gave up on Jesus for living on Venus" always makes me giggle but the fact that it sounds too much like Creep by Radiohead really detracts from the song for me, much like One Eyed Bastard and So What by P!nk. I do like the whispery backing vocals in the chorus though. And the guitar solo is a rare instance of it being a central feature of a song in the Green Day cannon. All that being said, I know who this song makes me think of. I think we all have someone like that in our lives. 

Makeout Party is the nadir of the album for me. I like the riff but the whole 'dirty old man' thing really becomes a problem. This is the point where better judgement from Billie Joe or a bit of a stronger hand by Rob Cavallo would have helped. It's too bad too because like Fuck Time the instrumentation and Billie's rough vocal take hits right. Tre is on fire on the drum fills, Mike is killing it during the breakdown, the guitar solo is one of their best, the band is tight. But man oh, man those lyrics. Maybe if they kept in the slide whistle solo.

Fortunately it's quickly washed out by Stray Heart in another good song transition on the album. The baseline once again is the beating heart (pun entirely intended) of the song and Mike never misses a beat. The lyrics give a sentimental slant to the protagonist and it's sweet despite the subject matter being kind of icky. Reading between the lines, it definitely could be read as Billie apologizing to 80 for stepping out, but that is pure speculation. I love how the song kind of shuffles along. One of the hidden gems of the trilogy for sure, I'll be humming this later. A late addition to ¡Dos! it traded places with Drama Queen at the last moment. Which was the right tonal call but it was so last minute that the vinyl editions still have Drama Queen on them, and on ¡Tré! too! Great way to end side one. 

Turning the record over side two hits you in the face with Ashley. Apparently it's about Amanda, but there's already a song called Amanda in this project so Amanda- Ashley! it is. I can't speak from personal experience on this one but it sounds like one out of the bucket of songs on the trilogy that work better live than on the record. Like Sugar Youth it has a high tempo groove that keeps up throughout. However, this goes with most of the ¡Dos! tracks that I prefer the Demolicious version. The lyrics are a little messy here but I think it also shares floating lyrics with a song called Gabriella so it makes sense, but more time in the oven could have benefited here. That happened a lot on the trilogy. I'm not sure if feeling the pressure exacerbated that tendency or what but it does peek through.

Ashley and Baby Eyes always kind of meld together in my mind so I kinda view them as an unintentional medley with that intro. Between the two of them I prefer Baby Eyes. It ends up a bit softer with that poppy woah vocal, but once again the Demolicious version rocks a bit harder so you can listen to your taste. It's a fun if inconsequential number. "I am the cherub in the Arab Spring" was "I feel like a cello lost somewhere over the rainbow" before it was cool. Sometimes Billie's meaningless sayings work and sometimes they come off as a little goofy. 

And then we come to the Lady Cobra of it all. I was lucky enough to see The Mystic Knights of the Cobra open for Green Day in Austin during the trilogy secret show mini tour. A lot of what ¡Dos! represents in the trilogy I believe goes back to that gig. Looking at the lyrics and knowing Billie's emotional state at the time I don't think it would be too far to stretch to believe something happened between the two of them. I don't know what and I'm not asserting anything, but it would kind of make sense, right? 

"Well I met a girl named Lady Cobra
Her black heart beats crimson and clover
She gives me chills and fever blisters
She's serving spells and voodoo shakes

Well she just wants to get me high
Stick a needle in my eye
Reeks like hell lost in temptation
Rubbing on my inner demons

I don't want a suicide
I don't want this to end
I just want to be your friend

Cuddle up with me real tight
Talk to me by candlelight
Do you want to play a game of Twister?
Like a dirty old man with a babysitter

I don't want a suicide
I don't want this to end
I just want to be your friend

Well I don't want to make you cry
Cross my heart and hope to die
Drawing blood and lonely stars
Drinking piss for cheap guitars

I don't want a suicide
I don't want this to end
I just want to be your friend

Ah, I need a friend"

I'd be more inclined to read this in the 'they're exaggerating themselves as characters for drama in the story of the album' way if A. these albums had more of a concrete story more than a loose pre-during-post party concept that as we know from the Stray Heart/Drama Queen thing, was in flux up to the last minute and B. Songs like Lazy Bones and Restless Heart Syndrome didn't appear to be much more real than we understood at the time. Even when Billie was writing in the characters like Jesus of Suburbia and Christian and Gloria, they're still vehicles for him. Listening to the Homecoming demo from the American Idiot 20th Anniversary, you hear how much of the East. 12th Street section especially was about Billie and then not much was changed for the story of American Idiot. You write what you know. Monica Painter aka Lady Cobra is a beautiful and charismatic woman, it'd be tough not to have a crush on her. I was going to bold the relevant lyrics to prove my point but then I realized it'd be like the whole song. It's possible to read this other ways but I dunno. Anyway, here's Nightlife.

It's tough not to listen to a Green Day song strongly influenced by hip-hop and not read it as them buckling toward dominant industry trends. I'd be more impressed if they got a qualified hip-hop producer to get their hands on it and it could've been a real moment in the vein of the experimentalist Nimrod to try new sounds. But this doesn't work. It's a bunch of 40 something rock guys trying to make a rap/rock mash that wasn't Nu Metal and it just doesn't work. I've come to embrace its cheesy charm at this point and there are still Green Day songs that I think are worse (looking at you Here Comes The Shock) but Nightlife was not a success. Sorry boys. Stupid Fun/10

For me Wow! That's Loud is the absolute standout of the record. It's not everyone's favorite, but I think it succeeds in what it goes for magnificently. One of the all time greatest hooks they've ever made that really does sound like neon bagpipes capable of shattering windows at the right volume. Energetic, propulsive, and dynamic. I'm always a sucker for a song that slows down only to come roaring back and the long fadeout at the end really does capture the feel of a party that has taken a bad tilt. And they only played it live one time. It really did capture the feeling of that Austin show, alive, living on the edge, anything could happen. We were 33 songs, several hours, and no glasses of water into this gig. I could barely stay on my feet, collapsing on the person in front of me. We all smelled like shit. Somehow a GDC member got hoisted on stage (I had nothing to do with it, I swear!).The trilogy was supposed to be Green Day's Exile on Main Street and I think this gets the closest the that feeling of a dirty grimy late night gig or jam session that could go off the rails but instead... rock and roll.

In the story of ¡Dos! things don't end well. The final song is a touching and memorable tribute to the late, great Amy Winehouse. Once again knowing how not in control of his sobriety at the time Billie was, it's heartbreaking how much of himself he saw in her. The lonely guitar riff fits the haunting nature of the song well and is a fitting end to the album musically and thematically. 'Nuff said.

Overall the album is uneven. It has lots of good ideas and I think with more time and polish it could have executed on them well it could have become a really strong record. I've always said that the trilogy is a great double album stretched across three albums. ¡Dos! ends up being the weakest of the bunch but I really do think they work best as one long listening experience. In that context its faults are more forgivable but as an album on its own, it doesn't quite stand up, despite having a number of outstanding songs. Following through more on the garage rock concept, having a different approach to the production, and giving the lyrics more attention would have been the thing to do but Billie Joe especially was feeling the pressure to follow up 21st Century Breakdown with something even bigger. It had been a long 3 years in the culture since Breakdown came out, rock was continuing to lose relevance in mainstream popular music, and the trilogy was a casualty of the times and the lack of a solid direction. 

Standout tracks: Stop When The Red Lights Flash, Lazy Bones, Stray Heart, Wow! That's Loud, Amy. 

[Robbie1039]

I’ve always liked DOS! the most out of the 3 albums that make up the trilogy.  I love the transition from the super soft intro to the Fuck Time drum beat (although I think they could’ve left this song in the Foxboro Hottubs universe).  And then the stretch to Stray Heart is one of my favorite sections of any Green Day album.  I stand with DOS! until I DIE.  
 

Oh and Wow, That’s Loud! has one of their best song breakdowns of all time.  Love the guitar harmonics and the drum fill that brings the song back into gear at the end of it.  
 

Overall, though I think there are better songs in the trilogy that aren’t on this album (Brutal Love comes to mind), I think this album did the best at keeping me interested as a fan.  I think UNO! was a bit one note and TRE! has songs that may go on too long or don’t have enough immediacy.  I do love them all though.  
 

Recently, I haven’t listened to DOS! much, but I’ve relistened to the entire trilogy a few months ago.  It’s nice to revisit them as a package.  

[greenalert997x]

I do really like Dos, and Trilogy in general. I find 2 major problems with Trilogy, all can be narrowed to 2 points.

1. From a marketing perspective, releasing three albums was a bad idea - among others: casual fans got overwhelmed.

2. Mixing/mastering - guitars and vocals are over-polished, sterile. 

 

I've appreciated Trilogy after some time, I must admin I like most of these songs. My favorites: Lazy Bones, The Forgotten, SD&V, DRB. 

As we all noticed that everyone has their own favorites and it so much differs. On that case creating a top songs list is impossible. I wouldn't place X-Kid and Carpe Diem as best but I know lot of fans love it. Too me they are just mediocre. I love The Forgotten but it's never been 2nd 21 Guns. The Forgotten is listed as half-decent, an easy listening ballad.

DOS is certainly an interesting and worth attention, something fresh in GD discography. Like it or not, they'd never before put such direct Rock and Roll songs like Makeout party, Fck Time, Lady Cobra. 

[Christian's Inferno!]

kworb.net/spotify/artist/7oPftvlwr6VrsViSDV7fJY_albums.html

Based on this, Dos is listened to more than FOAM and Tré. Some tracks get played more than others and the lowest streamed tracks on Dos have less daily streams than all of the FOAMF tracks and most of Tré. Stray Heart is the clear biggest track from this album. The 2nd biggest track of the whole trilogy in terms of total streams (after Oh Love) and the biggest track in terms of current daily streams

Personally, Dos is my favourite of the trilogy and I really appreciate the trilogy as a whole despite its flaws. Regarding Dos specifically, I think it's thematically the most important album of the trilogy. I've gone into this on the Green Day subreddit so I'll just copy/paste what I said there.

On the surface Dos is just a "fun party album" but it really delves into the problems with constant partying, drinking and sex in a dark way. Fuck Time at the start of the album is intentionally just a fun party song but quickly the narrator starts to see warning signs "Stop When the Red Lights Flash" but ignores them. Lazy Bones is about the narrator's depression and addiction. Stray Heart is about infidelity.

Ashley is about a girl who was able to manipulate the narrator with her beauty until he begins to see who she has become. An addict who "looks like hell". Following songs like Lady Cobra and Nightlife are also about sexual desire and infatuation. And the album ends with Amy, a tale about how continuing to live this life will result in your demise.

Part of the reason why Dos is my favourite trilogy album is because Billie, although he wasn't in his right mind at the time, was really trying to do something here and a lot of people didn't really get what he was trying to say with this album. Obviously there are missteps here, but the album is not the dumpster fire that a lot of people act like it is.

[Dingle]

For me I like to listen to Trilogy albums one after other. Like an event really.

I start with the demos from Demolicious. Get the feel of studio.

Then on to the video Quatro. Following GD in the studio and on stage making the Trilogy. Almost feel there with them whilst they are recording. Love the part in room, with a board in three parts and each song on cards. The band are deciding which song should be allocated to each album. Billie Joe is holding I think is the last song and throws it at the board to see where it ends up. lol.

Then listen to all the songs in sequence as the band decided.

It's easy I suppose in hindsight to suggest it could have been released differently, not necessarily a trilogy. But it was the band's choice. 

Listening to the Trilogy this way, takes my mind back, and to the time of Billie Joe's struggles and illness. I remember seeing a photo somewhere, showing Billie Joe in a hospital bed with Adrienne by his side. He had a smile on his face. I felt so sorry for him. All I could do is pray for his speedy recovery and Iight a candle for him in church.

And he did thankfully and came through it, and of course we got to hear more amazing songs for many more years.

It's what was happening to them as a band and individually at that time, I don't think I would want to change it.

I know this is from Uno not Dos, but it's my fav video of band performing in studio, "Stay the Night" He looks really happy there ❤️

 

 

[Clockwise]

Dos rocks!

[Reverend Strychnine Twitch]

Baby Eyes and Makeout Party is great.

[That Dude]

I do, but I'll admit that's it's rarely a front to back listen.   Lazy Bones is perfect.  Ashley is a rager and like Mumbles, I think I know EXACTLY which Ashley's he's talking about, haha.  Amy's heartfelt and saving the best for last, Nighlife could explore my vocal chords any time it wants to.