Green Day – ¡UNO! ¡DOS! ¡TRÉ!
Written by Rob Watkins
Saturday, 08 December 2012 03:00
¡TRÉ! is the eleventh studio release from those American Idiots Green Day, and the third and final installment in the Uno! Dos! Tre! trilogy, a series of albums released between September and December 2012: ‘Uno!’ described as Power Pop, the garage feel of ‘Dos!’, whereas the third in the series, ¡TRÉ!, is quoted as a mixed bag…………
‘Nuclear Family’ kicks ¡UNO! into life rather splendidly in typical Green Day fashion with that live in the studio feel all over it, but with the smoothest of productions courtesy of Rob Cavello and the band. ‘Stay The Night’ and ‘Carpe Diem’ goes back to the Green Day of, say, the period around the ‘Warning’ record with their infectious singalong choral hooks plastered all over the compositions. Third single ‘Let Yourself Go’ has all the hallmarks of classic Green Day, again, infectious as hell: love ’em or hate ’em there’s no denying their knack for writing a tune and this is quite evident on second single ‘Kill The DJ’, a live favourite for sure with its groovy arrangement and commercial chorus element.
Tracks like ‘Troublemaker’, ‘Angel Blue’ and ‘Sweet 16’ are pretty much three chord, three minute numbers, but something that the group have perfected so well over the years. The album closes with opening single, ‘Oh Love’, an epic sounding chanty little number: there`s no getting these ditties outta your head: infectious, bloody infectious.
¡DOS! bounds into gear with ‘See You Tonight’, a sort of a traditional Irish piece that is the intro piece for ‘Fuck Time’, or ‘F-Woo Time’ for commercial purposes, a track originally performed as a Foxboro Hot Tubs (the side project featuring all three members of Green Day alongside Prima Donna’s Kevin Preston) song; of course this is the garage feel segment of the trilogy, maybe a little Iggy influence bouncing around in there.
‘Stop When The Red Lights Flash’, ‘Lazy Bones’ and ‘Wild One’ are, I suppose, fuzzier than your normal Green Day records giving it that Garage tag ever so slightly, with the latter mentioned piece having a rather memorable choral arrangement. The solitary single release from this middle opus, ‘Stray Heart’, has, I must utter, a quaint ’50s kinda influence, as do some of the other songs on this collection, even with its ‘Town Called Malice’ inspired beat. ‘Ashley’, ‘Baby Eyes’ and ‘Lady Cobra’ carry and fly the Green Day flag wide and high. ‘Nightlife’ changes direction and musical genre with the added vocals of Lady Cobra from the band Mystic Knights of The Cobra – a slower tempo and a dark slant makes this tune one of the shining points of the release. The neatly titled ‘Wow! That’s Loud’ and final track (dedicated to Amy Winehouse) ‘Amy’ close the album with just a guitar accompanying the unique vocal technique of Billie Joe Armstrong – a well crafted, moving piece.
‘Brutal Love’ opens up the third and last in the trilogy, ¡TRÉ! – again, as previously mentioned, a 1950s Doo-Wop inspiration floating amidst the Green Day originality, a slower approach for an opener than usually associated with this group but still bang on and instantly likeable. ‘Missing You’ chugs away in true Green Day fashion, while ‘8th Avenue Serenade’ has all the intensity of classic Day. The acoustically performed and beautiful ‘Drama Queen’ highlights the level these guys hit on the songwriting platform, as does ‘X-Kid’ – 3 minutes and 41 seconds of pure pop punk heaven.
‘Sex, Drugs & Violence’, ‘Little Boy Named Train’ and ‘Amanda’ all hit the heights that you`d come to expect from the Day. ‘Walk Away’ is bang on commercial punk pop, while ‘Dirty Rotten Bastards’ is a traditional stomp and jig track that no doubt will feature in the live set…but then again with their back catologue who knows?!
’99 Revolutions’ rocks it up before the trilogy’s curtain is brought down with ‘The Forgotten’, a tune that also features on the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2 movie; a slow moving, epic piano-led composition and a fitting end to not only the particular album but the whole overall trilogy.
A brave and audacious musical endeavour and a remarkable achievement considering the highest of standards achieved musically speaking on this trilogy, and something few artists of the modern era would struggle to match or pull off.
Uno..Dos..Tre-mendous.
