Revolution Radio

[Hermione]

2 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

The album cover depicts a portable stereo on fire, which feels like an unintended analogy for the form the band takes on record: burned out, crumbled, warped into an inanimate husk of itself.

 

A slightly over-dramatic conclusion 

34 minutes ago, MMwhatsername said:

I've decided that "Hallelujah I found my soul under the sofa pillows" is officially my favourite line from the whole record. It's so hilarious and sophisticated at the same time

Yes! It comes at such an awesome point in the song too, the climax of the music and vocals.

[Sixtrix]

Just heard a commercial for the new album on the radio! They also said "including the new single Still Breathing" which sounded like they are considering it a hit already

[Bobbybarebum]

their first opener on any album to evolve from gentle acoustic filigrees into stomping dinosaur rock.

You know... Because See You Tonight never happened. Obviously. (And if Fuck Time isn't the most stomping of dinosaur rock, I don't know what is.)
With any music review just recall that 99.9999% of music reviewers are doing that job because their own bands never took off, despite their alleged qualification to criticise others work. ;)

[Josh100_3]

I NEED that quiet intro on too dumb to be a full song! I love that part.

[Hero_Of_The_Hour]

 

Album review: Green Day Revolution Radio - Punk Legends Bungle Their Comeback 

 

Here’s a story that should sound familiar: Aging pop punk trio Green Day, on the brink of obsolescence, fleeing the spotlight for four years in order to regroup, rebrand, and return with an album destined to convert the next generation of teenage rebels. That’s how it played out back in 2004, when Billie Joe Armstrongand co. released the massively successful American Idiot and proved that they had somehow aged in reverse in the four years since the false start of adulthood that wasWarning. Released on the brink of Dubya’s second presidential term and riding a fresh wave of political angst, American Idiot sounded anything but washed up. On the contrary, it ushered in a hugely ambitious renaissance of the band’s career, with another rock opera (2008’s 21st Century Breakdown) and an album trilogy (2012’s much-maligned ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!) following on its heels in the coming years.

The time, it would seem, is ripe for Green Day to dig back into that same playbook and come up with another touchdown to extend the game. America is on the verge of putting another idiot into office, the 21st century has continued its ongoing breakdown, and millennials really seem like they could use some political direction, even if it’s couched in the black-and-white terms of “Know Your Enemy”. And it’s not as if folks have totally lost interest in the alternative bands that dominated the early aughts; hell, ifBlink-182 can stage adecent comeback with two-thirds participation, who’s to say Green Day can’t usher in another Golden Age with Tré Cool behind the kit and Mike Dirnt holding down the bass?

And so we have the origin story forRevolution Radio. Like Bruce Wayne heeding the Bat-Signal, punk rock’s grizzled superheroes have decided to suit up again and take on the world with power chords, punched-up drums, and snotty calls to action backed by two- and three-part harmonies. They dropped the new album’s first single back in August with a literal bang — well, two of them. From its frenetic four-chord chorus to its snarky lyrical treatment of a hot-button political issue, “Bang Bang” is instantly identifiable as a Green Day song. The fact that Armstrong can convincingly snarl lines like “I am a semi-automatic lonely boy” at the age of 44 only goes to show how well the formula works, and how deeply it has seeped not only into the band’s veins, but into the very fabric of punk culture.

“Green Day is back!” the headlines boldly proclaimed, their optimism fueled in part by an interview withRolling Stone in which the band confirmed that they would be cutting down on the theatrics and getting back to a simpler, more refined brand of rage. “This was me, Billie, and Tré firing off each other in the same way as if we were practicing forKerplunk,” noted Dirnt, invoking the ghost of early Green Day in a way that seems offhand but was clearly aimed at fans who fell off the bandwagon years ago.

The problem with Dirnt’s little tease of an assessment, however, is thatRevolution Radio does not come across as the work of a band just riffing in the studio, free from the concerns of adulthood and the baggage of expectations. That version of Green Day has long since been replaced by a more manicured specimen that considers its actions and reactions with utmost care, which isn’t so much a criticism as an acknowledgement of what inevitably happens to bands that become world-famous for doing a thing and doing it well.

And one thing 21st-century Green Day does well is put on a show. For all the talk about how Revolution Radio gets back to basics (and how its cover looks like something straight out of ‘97), opener “Somewhere Now” finds Armstrong in familiar territory: Standing at centerstage with the lights down, a punk rock Homer invoking his muse with the aid of a battered acoustic guitar. And then the lights go up, the bass and drum kick in, and we get a Broadway-ready anthem that would have felt right at home on the front end of 21st Century Breakdown, right down to the harmonies that uncannily echo that album’s title track. After two rock operas and a bloated album trilogy, it turns out that balls-to-the-wall excess can be a hard thing to kick.

Regardless of how you feel about Green Day’s recent output, they deserve credit for seeing their concepts through to the end.American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown worked in large part because they committed to their own sense of grandeur, scoffing at the notion that punk by definition is loud, fast, and to the point. Even¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! weathered the storm of rolled eyes and emerged as a plucky kind of tiresome — like a marathon completed in six hours, it’s both an accomplishment and kind of a letdown. Compared to those three projects, Revolution Radiosounds confused and, at times, shockingly average. The title track’s opening riff sounds like it could have been lifted off any Epitaph Records compilation from 2001 to 2006, and the chorus is similarly paint-by-numbers pop punk.

That’s not to say it’s bad, but the only reason we’re even talking about Green Day in 2016 is their steadfast refusal to do anything that’s expected of them. Whether it’s reaching back to the cinematic heights of American Idiot (the string-heavy power ballad “Outlaws”) or repeating buzz phrases that sound vaguely political without actually taking a stance (“Troubled Times”),Revolution Radio plods its way down roads the band first stomped on years ago. In a career filled with euphoric highs and honorable lows, this might be the first album that sits exactly on the middle of the scale, dipping its toes into every possible outcome but refusing to dive in and embrace either comfort or chaos. Even the rollicking “Say Goodbye”, with its revving guitars and time-sensitive lyrics about “cops on patrol,” leaves only the lightest of impressions, as if it were a mere pinprick instead of a punk rock dagger aimed straight for the heart of the establishment.

The album is more interesting — though not necessarily better — when it either lets loose or goes for broke. The simple-minded but effective “Bouncing Off the Wall” is a gloriously snotty sign of what could have been if Green Day had actually loosened their collars a bit more. “We’re all bloody freaks/ And we’ll give you the creeps,” is an Armstrong lyric that fans of any era can get behind, recalling the band’sDookie-era grotesqueries without seeming like a rehash. Similarly, “Too Dumb To Die” starts off sounding like an informal solo jam and then blasts into outer space, catching the listener off-guard in the way “Somewhere Now” was probably supposed to but never quite achieved. The hand-claps may give it a thin layer of cheese, but that hardly matters when everyone sounds like they’re having this much fun. “Forever Now” comes the closest to the band’s rock opera days with a nearly seven-minute runtime, but in the context of an album that takes relatively few chances, it still registers as a breath of fresh air.

When all the dust has settled after ordinary acoustic closer “Ordinary World”, we’re left with the impression of an album that never quite knows what it wants to be. The title hints at a rejection (however woefully outdated) of mainstream radio, and yet songs like “Still Breathing” sound engineered to sit alongside other motivational pop anthems in the daily rotation. Now, it’s perfectly fine to be confused when you’re a group of forty-somethings still playing a version of the music you grew up on and even helped shape. Relevance is harder than ever to come by these days, and a band of veterans can be forgiven for taking a few too many steps out on the wrong ledge. What sinksRevolution Radio toward the bottom of Green Day’s discography is its insistence on backing away when the ground starts to crumble. This version of Green Day would rather spin in circles than sail off into the abyss, and that’s not a version we’reprepared to defend.

Essential Tracks: “Bouncing Off the Wall”, “Too Dumb To Die”, and “Forever Now”

 

https://www.google.ie/amp/consequenceofsound.net/2016/10/album-review-green-day-revolution-radio/amp/?client=ms-android-sonymobile

 

 

 

[Leni.]

5 hours ago, Hero_Of_The_Hour said:

 

Green Day Revolution Radio Album Review 

Over the course of 26 years, Green Day have gone from pop punks to rock stars. Their latest, however, has little effect on their legacy and lapses into pandering, embarrassing lyrical misfires.

 

Green Day are victims of accidental evolution. Between Dookie and American Idiot, they shifted just enough in texture and composition that the modest, Bay Area-pop-punk trio eventually generated the aura of an imperial rock band. They managed this without ever directly shedding their pop or punk sensibilities, even as their ambitions slipped into the hysterical space of musical theater.Revolution Radio, their first album in four years, following up the miscalculated trilogy ¡UNO!, ¡DOS!, ¡TRÉ!, seems a deliberate reduction in scale. ¡UNO!,¡DOS!, ¡TRÉ! documented a band without any ideas; it’s an oddly empty, back-to-basics rock album unreasonably contorted over three records. Revolution Radiodocuments a band with one idea, which is, as far as one can tell, to make a Green Day record, one with fewer indulgences and overarching concepts and more capital-R Rock. 

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22474-green-day-revolution-radio/

 

 

Is it me or this review doesn’t make much sense?  The author seems to be really keen on finding all possible negative reasons to dislike this album. For me at least RevRad is way better than Uno and Dos together (no offense). ’’Revolution Radio feels like the product of three people committed to making the idea of a Green Day record in 2016, but with reduced abilities and without direction.’’  Well, I just disagree. 

[Beerjeezus]

I have to agree RevRad is somewhat "in the middle" it is a less ambitious version of the rock operas and that's what takes away from it a little. I'd like it a lot better if I didn't know the rest of their discography. It's closer to their "searching stage" it's like listening to Warning or Nimrod - it has the same sense of trying to be cautiously different. 

However, this review is too harsh. It is a solid album. Maybe not exactly impressive but certainly not bad. And it doesn't lack direction. It's definitely a step in a good way after the trilogy. 

[Marki.]

2 minutes ago, Ellen Caulfield said:

Is it me or this review doesn’t make much sense?  The author seems to be really keen on finding all possible negative reasons to dislike this album. For me at least RevRad is way better than Uno and Dos together (no offense). ’’Revolution Radio feels like the product of three people committed to making the idea of a Green Day record in 2016, but with reduced abilities and without direction.’’  Well, I just disagree. 

What the heck, to me they're at their best. Definitely disagree. I'm not saying this is their best album (can't rank their albums anyway), but they most definitely don't have "reduced abilities". Also, isn't that just a weird sentence - "committed to making the idea of a Green Day record" 

 

[Leni.]

2 minutes ago, Marki. said:

What the heck, to me they're at their best. Definitely disagree. I'm not saying this is their best album (can't rank their albums anyway), but they most definitely don't have "reduced abilities". Also, isn't that just a weird sentence - "committed to making the idea of a Green Day record" 

 

Yeah, I can’t say what’s their best album either but I know this is not the worst one. Hell no, because everyone here knows GD don’t have any bad albums. Some songs of theirs are not the best ones or at least my favourites but an album overall? Just no   "committed to making the idea of a Green Day record"  And I don’t know maybe the author means that they committed some kind of suicide by making this album. Hah. I don’t know  

[James11693]

Anyone know why the ny show on March 15 isn't up on Ticketmaster?

[emenius]

So no writing or performing credits in the album booklets. Assume it is the usual setup with the additional writing credit for that production company on Still Breathing? 

Can't say I noticed Ron Blake's trumpet on Bouncing Off The Wall (s).

Also assume it was Billie playing piano on Outlaws?

[Sixtrix]

2 minutes ago, emenius said:

So no writing or performing credits in the album booklets. Assume it is the usual setup with the additional writing credit for that production company on Still Breathing? 

Can't say I noticed Ron Blake's trumpet on Bouncing Off The Wall (s).

Also assume it was Billie playing piano on Outlaws?

I guess the "Produced by Green Day" already kind of covers the writing credits. Though I agree that the booklet kind of seems incomplete and missing some small bits of information that you would expect there. Maybe the piano parts were too small to be worth a mention. But so was the trumpet, only difference is that the trumpet was played by an external person so maybe it is safe to assume Billie Joe did the small piano part himself. Also, no mention of the bow guitar in the booklet.

[punkangel]

The way Billie sings "We deeeeeeeeeeeestroyed suburbia" in Outlaws always give me the chills.

Oh BeJeezus have mercy on my soul.

[Jogs]

can someone tell me if Rock Sound gave RevRad a Positive review?? pleease?

[stories and songs]

Green Day was in a really tough position making this album. If they went overly ambitious, it would appear they're still trying to recreate American Idiot. If they went too back to basics, it would feel like they weren't living up to their potential, because they can do so much more than what they did when they were young. If they went all political, they'd seem too serious. If they went too lighthearted, it would feel disappointing given political turmoil and their personal struggles. So what did they do? A bit of everything. They kept their ambition and creativity in trying out new sounds, while also throwing in some simpler, punky tunes that would easily fit on one of their older albums. They bridged the old and the new, political and personal, and we got Revolution Radio. I rank this among their very best albums, easily. They did something special here. To me, this albums showcases their identity better than any of their other albums. 

 

[Bobbybarebum]

That is one of the best summaries of the album and everything surrounding it right there.

[Second favourite son]

Just sitting down to have my first listen to the album now!  Since I've had to send my vinyl back, I'm gonna be listening to the digital download first, as I can't wait any longer.  So far I've only heard Bang Bang, Revrad and Still Breathing, plus about 30 seconds of very skippy somewhere now.  I've read a lot of comments on here, and they've only made me more excited for this album (even the negative ones).  Been waiting four years for this.

I'm shaking.  

[The Disappearing Boy]

My favourites are Somewhere Now, Bang Bang, Say Goodbye, Bouncing Off the Wall, Still Breathing and Ordinary World. The last third of the album still needs to convince me, but it's probably their most solidly consistent release since AI.

[Sixtrix]

15 minutes ago, Second favourite son said:

Just sitting down to have my first listen to the album now!  Since I've had to send my vinyl back, I'm gonna be listening to the digital download first, as I can't wait any longer.  So far I've only heard Bang Bang, Revrad and Still Breathing, plus about 30 seconds of very skippy somewhere now.  I've read a lot of comments on here, and they've only made me more excited for this album (even the negative ones).  Been waiting four years for this.

I'm shaking.  

Have fun listening! I had my first listen this past Saturday. I also did the digital download because the lyric book still hasn't arrived. But it was a blast!

[Thatsername]

42 minutes ago, stories and songs said:

Green Day was in a really tough position making this album. If they went overly ambitious, it would appear they're still trying to recreate American Idiot. If they went too back to basics, it would feel like they weren't living up to their potential, because they can do so much more than what they did when they were young. If they went all political, they'd seem too serious. If they went too lighthearted, it would feel disappointing given political turmoil and their personal struggles. So what did they do? A bit of everything. They kept their ambition and creativity in trying out new sounds, while also throwing in some simpler, punky tunes that would easily fit on one of their older albums. They bridged the old and the new, political and personal, and we got Revolution Radio. I rank this among their very best albums, easily. They did something special here. To me, this albums showcases their identity better than any of their other albums. 

 

Exactly, very well said! And we know one thing for sure: Whatever they would have tried to turn RevRad into, there would have been negative reviews like this either way. So they just gave a fuck and did what they wanted to do and what they liked. And they were damn right in doing so. And I'm perfectly happy with it. In my opinion, that is a very punk attitude - no matter how often people will repeat that GD killed punk rock

[Harry Potter.]

On 10/9/2016 at 1:55 AM, PurpleIron1039 said:

I normally totally agree with this guy on most of his reviews (he mainly does metal reviews so he hasn't covered GD since Uno in 2012), but I think I'm gonna have to be at loggerheads with him on the subject of RevRad. Still an interesting look at the record, though.

I don't get everyone complaining about this guy being too negative. A 75 is a positive rating. Let's not pretend that Rev Rad is the new American Idiot.

[Second favourite son]

Well that was worth the wait, wasn't it?

First listen stats:

• Happy crying - 3
• Other crying - 1
• Bouts of hysterical smiling - 4
• WTFs - 2
• Head bobbing - lots
• Doorbells ignored - 1 (+ 1 annoyed flatmate who has to go to the depot to collect his parcel)
• 'Hmm, maybe that'll sound better with a few more listens' - 2
• Pleasant surprises (better than expected) - 3
• Songs hated - 0

 

[House Of Wolves]

The reviews on Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound are fantastic. 

[Karl Karlson]

I got my RevRad Book today and scanned it.

Enjoy

Spoiler

 

 

[PurpleIron1039]

1 hour ago, Harry Potter. said:

I don't get everyone complaining about this guy being too negative. A 75 is a positive rating. Let's not pretend that Rev Rad is the new American Idiot.

I think it's a fair review. I just personally disagree that it's a 7.5.