GREEN DAY: Revolution Radio (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

We had left Green Day in 2012 in a very strange state. The band had released three studio albums in less than four months offering no less than 70 (very uneven) tracks and had to cancel their tour to end up in rehab. In 2016, the game has changed, and Green Day, which seems to have recharged its batteries, has returned to a more rational and more affordable format. Indeed, if they offer us "only" 12 tracks, they had the good taste to select them to keep only the bests.

In fact, we only find here the spirit of the best moments of the trilogy "!Uno!", "!Dos!", "!Tres! Namely a very energetic and fresh rock, which is considerably freed from its Californian punk origins, to keep only the early side of it. And which, moreover, has been enriched with a pop sensibility as shown by 'Outlaws' and 'Youngblood'.

So certainly, like this last one, it is a more than energetic and rhythmic pop, but the melodies are well present. As well as a real sensibility which confirms that Green Day has entered, since a long time already, in its period of musical maturity. More sober, maybe a little less "immediate" than in the past, the band is above all more consistent, and more varied, than at its beginnings. You can feel it when listening to the stripped down 'Ordinary World', the deceptively nonchalant 'Troubled Times', the dynamic 'Forever Now', or the no less energetic 'Revolution Radio' which reminds at times Bang Tango. So many pleasant tracks, although quite different from each other.

This evolution, could be assimilated by some as a loss of identity of these (ex) dirty boys. As a kind of normalization tending to make them adopt a more standardized pop rock. And in this respect, the very calm and tempered singing of Billie Joe Armstrong as well as the more sober choirs than in the past can reinforce this feeling. But it would be to ignore the passage of time and the normal evolution of a group whose members are now three times older than at the time of their recording debut. And it is rather appropriate to greet the release of this album serious from beginning to end, and which gives us to listen to a group managing with skill to merge its energy and its initial ardour with an undeniable musical control. "Revolution Radio" is a very good album which, if it does not necessarily shine by its originality, shows itself effective and very pleasant. - Official website

GREEN DAY

REVOLUTION RADIO

WARNER

ROCK