¡UNO! Album

[dudley dawson]

I respect everyone's opinions but I to me Rusty James isn't that great. I guess I just expected a song that used to be called Last Gang In Town to be really punk. Oh well. Uno is pretty great. Not as good as Kerplunk, Warning or AI imo but beats 21st and 1039 and Dookie again imo. Also even though I know Quatro is the dvd, how awesome would it be if it was actually an album for songs that didn't make the trilogy?

Uno better than Dookie?!? No way, not better than 1039 either, but it is damn good and I think better than AI and 21CB.

[Femme Gauche]

personally, i fucking love songs on UNO!, but it is not a good green day album. The guitars are just to clean and pretty sounding. I was pleased with the album until Thursday when i had heard UNO just a few too many times, so i listened to 21st Century Breakdown. Holy shit. The sounds and lyrics on Breakdown just make UNO! look like a Weezer album. There are some fine songs on UNO!, but it just lacks punch, powerful lyrics, and passion that the previous two albums contained.

I think the clean guitar sound is great! It's something a little different for them, but they're still playing the same kind of songs so it's interesting. I disagree about the powerful lyrics and definitely about the passion, though. I don't think they could be more passionate than they are in this stuff, it's just at the top. But because it is more straight-up pop-sounding, it just might throw off someone who is equating anger / hardness of the sound with passion. (Not criticizing that thought, just saying).

[Jace Peterson]

I think the clean guitar sound is great! It's something a little different for them, but they're still playing the same kind of songs so it's interesting. I disagree about the powerful lyrics and definitely about the passion, though. I don't think they could be more passionate than they are in this stuff, it's just at the top. But because it is more straight-up pop-sounding, it just might throw off someone who is equating anger / hardness of the sound with passion. (Not criticizing that thought, just saying).

i get that it is a refreshing change, but each song follows the Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Solo ChorusX2. Breakdown was just a little more musically intersting IMO

[Femme Gauche]

i get that it is a refreshing change, but each song follows the Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Solo ChorusX2. Breakdown was just a little more musically intersting IMO

Of course! I love 21st Century Breakdown. But if you're looking for "Green Day" sound... this album is it. I love how ... succinct these songs are . They just get straight to the point, whatever that point is.

[Slave To The Network]

I love every single song on this album! It is indescribably amazing! Green Day has out done themselves yet again!

Also, has anyone noticed that there are some of these songs have striking similarities to older Green Day songs? For instance, I think part of the melody of "Angel Blue" sounds a lot like the Foxboro Hot Tubs song "She's A Saint Not A Celebrity" and "Sweet 16" is very reminiscent of "Only of You" in some places. I love the mix of their old and new sounds! Green Day is the best without a doubt!

[Dalya]

@ PaulS

iDos! and iTre! will have a lot more variety than iUno!.

iDos! will have a fresh and different sound than past GD records and include acoustic songs (See You Tonight and Drama Queen) and probably their most experimental song since Misery (Nightlife). iTre! will have balads, old school Green Day songs, mini epics etc. iUno! seems to be the only album that's straight forward with mostly just one sound with little variety. iDos! will be better received than iUno! and iTre! seems like it'll be the most acclaimed of the 3. iUno! will be the least mentioned when it comes to the triolgy.

totally agree with you!

[heart on a noose]

Still no signs of Uno for me. I went to local music shop several times last week and they said they are doing the best to get the album for me..

btw. Angel Blue is constantly on repeat.

[DannyDirnt]

Uno better than Dookie?!? No way, not better than 1039 either, but it is damn good and I think better than AI and 21CB.

For me this album is way better than Dookie, 1039 and 21CB and keeps up with AI.

[Sleeper Agent.]

Who'd want to buy the clean version anyway? It's like basing a church on the capacity on Christmas

[GuitarPunk94]

on iTunes UNO has ~39 plays (some songs with ~30 repeats and some with >50) ^^ and i still cant get enough of this sound

[BlackBaboon]

After listening to UNO! many more times through I think I have to revise my previous review, and unfortunately, not for the better. I think what did it for me was popping in Shenanigans on a long drive and just having a listen to it in full for the first time in a long while. It blows UNO! away. But don't just take my word for it. If you have both CD's or the songs on your iPod or access to Youtube, check them both out side by side. Now the songs on Shenanigans are B-Sides from earlier albums and singles which means, at the very least, the songs on UNO! should have a leg up on them, but instead it's the other way around. If you listened without knowing, I'd be willing to bet most people would figure UNO! would be the B-Side compilation. There are a few reasons for this.

Lyrics-- There is absolutely no competition. Just listen for yourself. No I do realize that Shenanigans has three covers and one instrumental, but even excluding those numbers the lyrics on the album are so much more genuine. It doesn't feel like someone trying to fit a mold. UNO! on the other hand? Well let's just compare. These lines both appear in separate songs, "You're a princess, I'm a fucking clown" "I'm a mess and your a work of art" Neither one feels at all honest. It's like something a sixth grader without the experience or capacity for love writes in a letter to the girl he has a crush on. We have the cliche "Carpe Diem, a battle cry" chorus, the cringe worthy, "I'd rather get punched in the face" or "Always fuck-fucking with my head now" then there's "The bullet that you asked for killing you to death" or "I woke up in a pool of sweat, a first I thought that I pissed the bed" the nondescript caricature of insane lyrics 'We're all crazy, you're all crazy now' or even "and all the losers can't even win for losing." These are just some of the slew of bad lyrics that come to mind when considering UNO!

Now let's compare to Shenanigans-- From Sick of Me we have "Like a dog that just pissed on your barbecue, sick of me." and really, that's the only huge misstep I can see. Already it feels to me like Billie took more time to write these old B-sides than he did to craft or revise anything on UNO! But then we get to the music.

Maybe it is just the clean guitar sound that a few people are complaining about but I think it has more to do with Green Day trying to recreate an old sound. Everything on Shenanigans feels natural. It doesn't feel like a regression for the band. It feels just like B-sides should. Like outtakes that you can place at certain points in the band's history. UNO! is a musical mess for the most part. I will concede that Nuclear Family, Kill the DJ, and Troublemaker are fun and experimental, but they're also about the only three tracks I really have any urge to replay or hear again. Stay the Night sounds like something that definitely should have been cut in the early going if only for its drawn out structure and meaningless lyrics. Carpe Diem feels like a hasty rewrite from 21st Century Breakdown, Let Yourself Go proves why snottiness just doesn't work at forty. Fell for You seems like it wants to fit on Green Day's early EP's, but it doesn't even measure up to the energy of those, same goes for Angel Blue. I don't know what the point of Loss of Control is. It's painstakingly generic. Sweet 16 is a nice, genuine love song, but it's nothing to write home about. Rusty James I'm still on the fence about because it has the passion that some of the other numbers lack, but it just hasn't fully grown on me yet. Oh Love is another dive into the lyrically devoid. The point I'm making is, Green Day should not have done a record of power pop punk whatever label you want to give it because they haven't been that in a long time and they're not good at it anymore. Obviously, there is a chance that DOS! and TRE! will have enough good material to justify releasing three albums, but if we only actually get three or four decent songs per record, I'm not going to fully understand the whole trilogy concept.

New rating: 3/10. I can't go any higher when your own B-side compilation blows away the opening to your 'epic' trilogy.

[michael1989]

Edit: I just checked, and KYE hit #28 and 21 Guns hit #22 on the Hot 100, despite us saying that promo for 21CB was complete shit, and promo for Uno has been overwhelming, Oh Love only hit #97. It's kind of curious. I wouldn't blame the song itself, either.

From what I remember, 21 Guns did far better than KYE. KYE peaked when it was first released then quickly dropped off. 21 Guns had much more longevity. I remember it stayed in the top 30 for ages. But that's probably because a) it was a better song and b) it had more promo.

And 21 Guns peaked at No. 3 on the NZ charts, so strange that the new album isn't doing as well there.

If a listening party is when you hang out with your friends and listen to the whole album, I'm going to do it tomorrow! we are also going to listen to the new album of Muse

Bit OT, but I was pretty disappointed with the new Muse album. Nothing on their other albums. Couple good songs, though.

[Kayfabe]

For Green Day standards, this is a disappointing release. The entire first half of the album is *fart noise*, and kind of makes it seem like they forgot how to write inspired songs without some huge concept behind it - which they've proved they can do many a time with Nimrod, their several B side releases and the Foxboro Hot Tubs. "Loss of Control" wakes you up, that is a good track and one that is going to end up blasting on a loop some time down the line.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to echo our friend Jay's thoughts on the closing track:: "I've heard more interesting noises come out of dinner ladies' fannies".

i get that it is a refreshing change, but each song follows the Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Solo ChorusX2. Breakdown was just a little more musically intersting IMO

Oh and this.

New rating: 3/10. I can't go any higher when your own B-side compilation blows away the opening to your 'epic' trilogy.

You can go higher, because doing it like this is doing a rating relative to Green Day, as opposed to being relative to all music. IMO, Green Day's average is everyone else's good, for example,and you're using the "If Dookie is a ten" rule of thumb.

It's early days for star ratings, but if I'm ranking this among all Green Day, it'd be somewhere around 1039/SOSH, maybe a spot below Insomniac. The first album in a long time that I can say is average or worse.

Uno better than Dookie?!? No way, not better than 1039 either, but it is damn good and I think better than AI and 21CB.

Nope, not on your life.

[Femme Gauche]

Not as good as Kerplunk, Warning or AI imo but beats 21st and 1039 and Dookie again imo.

Uno better than Dookie?!? No way, not better than 1039 either, but it is damn good and I think better than AI and 21CB.

For me this album is way better than Dookie, 1039 and 21CB and keeps up with AI.

See... This is why it means nothing to me when people say "X album is better than Y album" because... everyone has such different opinions about each album it's not a very good gauge at all.

[Milo Goes To Pasalacqua]

My deluxe copy hasn't been delivered yet. Better not be lost in the post. I am still Uno-less, even several days after its release. I'm wasting away here.

[DannyDirnt]

I just hate how ¡Uno! isn't doing that good. Why? It's much better than 21CB. By now I blame the high expectatives AI had set and the low ones 21CB set. So many people abough 21CB thinking it would be as epic as AI and some people decided not to buy ¡Uno! because they thought it would be like 21CB. Well, both expectatives were wrong.

[bjrules]

As much as I love Dookie, I think people forget that it is full of filler. I mean, it could quite easily have been cut down to 10 tracks, no question. Drop Coming Clean, Emenius Sleepus, In the End and Chump, and you still have an amazing album. And when you remember that Welcome to Paradise was originally on Kerplunk, you realise that there are really only 9 original killer tracks on that album.

On that note, Nimrod, is also really fillerish. The Grouch, All the Time, Platypus, Last Ride In, Jinx and Take Back could all have been left off the album, and it wouldn't really have made much difference imo.

So basically, the point I'm trying to make is that most Green Day albums, including 2 of the most loved by fans, have tracks that aren't up to standard with other songs, yet people never seem to complain, yet they still expect every track on the trilogy to be amazing. I really think that Green Day's most consistent albums were Kerplunk and AI, as they only had 1 filler track each imo (Dominated Love Slave and Extraordinary Girl).

[DannyDirnt]

As much as I love Dookie, I think people forget that it is full of filler. I mean, it could quite easily have been cut down to 10 tracks, no question. Drop Coming Clean, Emenius Sleepus, In the End and Chump, and you still have an amazing album. And when you remember that Welcome to Paradise was originally on Kerplunk, you realise that there are really only 9 original killer tracks on that album.

On that note, Nimrod, is also really fillerish. The Grouch, All the Time, Platypus, Last Ride In, Jinx and Take Back could all have been left off the album, and it wouldn't really have made much difference imo.

So basically, the point I'm trying to make is that most Green Day albums, including 2 of the most loved by fans, have tracks that aren't up to standard with other songs, yet people never seem to complain, yet they still expect every track on the trilogy to be amazing. I really think that Green Day's most consistent albums were Kerplunk and AI, as they only had 1 filler track each imo (Dominated Love Slave and Extraordinary Girl).

Agree but for The Grouch being a filler. That song is just underrated and Platypus is epic.

And if we're talking about fillers I must say Extraordinary Girl.

[The Forgotten]

As much as I love Dookie, I think people forget that it is full of filler. I mean, it could quite easily have been cut down to 10 tracks, no question. Drop Coming Clean, Emenius Sleepus, In the End and Chump, and you still have an amazing album. And when you remember that Welcome to Paradise was originally on Kerplunk, you realise that there are really only 9 original killer tracks on that album.

On that note, Nimrod, is also really fillerish. The Grouch, All the Time, Platypus, Last Ride In, Jinx and Take Back could all have been left off the album, and it wouldn't really have made much difference imo.

So basically, the point I'm trying to make is that most Green Day albums, including 2 of the most loved by fans, have tracks that aren't up to standard with other songs, yet people never seem to complain, yet they still expect every track on the trilogy to be amazing. I really think that Green Day's most consistent albums were Kerplunk and AI, as they only had 1 filler track each imo (Dominated Love Slave and Extraordinary Girl).

Meh, I know that it's all opinion but you really think all of those tracks are fillers? I would argue that some of them are the best tracks off their respective album

[bjrules]

Agree but for The Grouch being a filler. That song is just underrated and Platypus is epic.

And if we're talking about fillers I must say Extraordinary Girl.

I think I did mention Extraordinary Girl as being a filler somewhere in there. It took me years to get into that song haha. I like every Green Day song there is, but I think just about every album has at least 3 tracks that could be classified as 'filler'. With Uno I would probably say it would be Loss of Control, Troublemaker and Angel Blue, but I still like those songs

[DannyDirnt]

I think I did mention Extraordinary Girl as being a filler somewhere in there. It took me years to get into that song haha. I like every Green Day song there is, but I think just about every album has at least 3 tracks that could be classified as 'filler'. With Uno I would probably say it would be Loss of Control, Troublemaker and Angel Blue, but I still like those songs

Oh yeah sorry About ¡Uno! I agree with Troublemaker and Loss of Control but many (most?) people seem to love them so I don't know. I don't really mind Angel Blue and Nuclear Family but those seem to get much love too. But yeah, the fillers you said seem legit.

[The Forgotten]

After listening to UNO! many more times through I think I have to revise my previous review, and unfortunately, not for the better. I think what did it for me was popping in Shenanigans on a long drive and just having a listen to it in full for the first time in a long while. It blows UNO! away. But don't just take my word for it. If you have both CD's or the songs on your iPod or access to Youtube, check them both out side by side. Now the songs on Shenanigans are B-Sides from earlier albums and singles which means, at the very least, the songs on UNO! should have a leg up on them, but instead it's the other way around. If you listened without knowing, I'd be willing to bet most people would figure UNO! would be the B-Side compilation. There are a few reasons for this.

Lyrics-- There is absolutely no competition. Just listen for yourself. No I do realize that Shenanigans has three covers and one instrumental, but even excluding those numbers the lyrics on the album are so much more genuine. It doesn't feel like someone trying to fit a mold. UNO! on the other hand? Well let's just compare. These lines both appear in separate songs, "You're a princess, I'm a fucking clown" "I'm a mess and your a work of art" Neither one feels at all honest. It's like something a sixth grader without the experience or capacity for love writes in a letter to the girl he has a crush on. We have the cliche "Carpe Diem, a battle cry" chorus, the cringe worthy, "I'd rather get punched in the face" or "Always fuck-fucking with my head now" then there's "The bullet that you asked for killing you to death" or "I woke up in a pool of sweat, a first I thought that I pissed the bed" the nondescript caricature of insane lyrics 'We're all crazy, you're all crazy now' or even "and all the losers can't even win for losing." These are just some of the slew of bad lyrics that come to mind when considering UNO!

Now let's compare to Shenanigans-- From Sick of Me we have "Like a dog that just pissed on your barbecue, sick of me." and really, that's the only huge misstep I can see. Already it feels to me like Billie took more time to write these old B-sides than he did to craft or revise anything on UNO! But then we get to the music.

Maybe it is just the clean guitar sound that a few people are complaining about but I think it has more to do with Green Day trying to recreate an old sound. Everything on Shenanigans feels natural. It doesn't feel like a regression for the band. It feels just like B-sides should. Like outtakes that you can place at certain points in the band's history. UNO! is a musical mess for the most part. I will concede that Nuclear Family, Kill the DJ, and Troublemaker are fun and experimental, but they're also about the only three tracks I really have any urge to replay or hear again. Stay the Night sounds like something that definitely should have been cut in the early going if only for its drawn out structure and meaningless lyrics. Carpe Diem feels like a hasty rewrite from 21st Century Breakdown, Let Yourself Go proves why snottiness just doesn't work at forty. Fell for You seems like it wants to fit on Green Day's early EP's, but it doesn't even measure up to the energy of those, same goes for Angel Blue. I don't know what the point of Loss of Control is. It's painstakingly generic. Sweet 16 is a nice, genuine love song, but it's nothing to write home about. Rusty James I'm still on the fence about because it has the passion that some of the other numbers lack, but it just hasn't fully grown on me yet. Oh Love is another dive into the lyrically devoid. The point I'm making is, Green Day should not have done a record of power pop punk whatever label you want to give it because they haven't been that in a long time and they're not good at it anymore. Obviously, there is a chance that DOS! and TRE! will have enough good material to justify releasing three albums, but if we only actually get three or four decent songs per record, I'm not going to fully understand the whole trilogy concept.

New rating: 3/10. I can't go any higher when your own B-side compilation blows away the opening to your 'epic' trilogy.

I like UNO but I can for sure see where you're going at. It's true that the lyrics are weaker now, but DOS and TRE will be better just you wait and see

[Femme Gauche]

Yeah I love the Grouch, and Troublemaker... I would definitely not classify as filler. Anything that's sort of a "stand out" track (whether you like or don't like it) is not really 'filler'. 'All The Time' and 'Extraordinary Girl' I might agree on, though.

[DannyDirnt]

A 3/10 rate for ¡Uno! is ridiculous.

And now that I think of it, my rting for ¡Uno! is 9/10

[Heather.]

Filler is such a relative term. One man's trash is another man's treasure, and they're obviously all treasure to the band or they wouldn't put them on the album. I think Troublemaker is the only thing that feels like filler to me, because I'm not as fond of it, but it's totally not ACTUALLY filler. It's a very original song with an interesting melody and entertaining lyrics. It's not filler, even though I hate it.

She's a Rebel, now that filler And half of Nimrod