Review - Green Day - Dos!

Green Day’s second album this fall (following September’s ‘¡Uno!’) differs slightly from the previous, but not too far. Old school fans who have stuck with the band through the years will be thrilled with this latest release, as it sounds more 90’s GD than anything they’ve been doing recently.

If you compare an album like ‘Dookie’ to ‘21st Century Breakdown’, you might actually think they were two different bands (were it not for Billie Jo Armstrong’s distinctive vocals). Now, this isn’t a bad thing – bands need to grow and change…as long as they stay true to who they were and their fans. I believe that Green Day has done that – they just found ways to do it that involved winning Grammys and having number one albums.

Well, after taking over the globe, it seems the boys are content and want to get back to what made them great: the best pop punk out there. ‘Dos!’ mixes the punk guitars with melodies that hearken back to “Time Of Your Life”. The band seems to have recaptured a sort of burning desire to rock. The album sounds like a bunch of boys (with songs like “Wild One”, “Makeout Party”, and “Wow! That’s Loud”) with guitars and silly punky lyrics who have no idea the world that’s ahead of them. AKA Green Day all those years ago.

‘Dos!’ is even better than ‘¡Uno!’ in its variety. While the former probably had better radio success, I can see ‘Dos!’ being the critic’s darling. The album tricks you with a gentle beginning, before giving you the middle finger (as punk rockers always have done and always should do) with “Fuck Time”. And yes, it’s about what you think it is.

But last song “Amy” (a tribute to Amy Winehouse) brings the much more somber tone of “See You Tonight” and “Oh Love” (the first single from their last LP) back and brings the album full circle. You don’t get the feeling that this album was rushed, nor that it is only the second in a line of three that will all come out within a span of four months.

Unless third album ‘Tre!’ (due next month) turns out to be even more spectacular, this might be the one to beat. But, we’ll see (sooner than anyone can believe).
Listen to: “Stop When The Red Lights Flash”, “Makeout Party”, “Stray Heart”, and “Amy”