So, got the new Green Day album (21st Century Breakdown) yesterday and just given it a first listen through…
I’d been worried that they had peaked with American Idiot - after all, that’s a blerdy hard album to beat.
I think I was right, but that isn’t a disparaging comment - 21st Century Breakdown is a damn good album, but a bit more subtle than Idiot.
I think I’m gonna need a few more listens through with the lyric book - concept albums often are creepers for me because I appreciate the songs more as I understand how they fit together in the story.
It’s got the production quality of Idiot / Bible, with some throw-back riffs & melodies to earlier tunes.
Had a 2nd listen now - so far, there isn’t anything that leaps out at me with the anthemic quality of American Idiot (the song, not the album :D), but it’s still, IMHO, a good, solid album and won’t be a miss in anyone’s music collection.
I may be over-analysing, but I thought the track 21 Guns on this album was a little nod to The Alarm, who’s track 68 Guns had its melody ripped off for Dearly Beloved (the 4th part of Jesus Of Suburbia)
