GREEN DAY - 1039/SMOOTHED OUT SLAPPY HOURS
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Green Day have been one of my favourite bands for quite some time now, since I first heard 'Basket Case' and 'Longview', from 1994's 'Dookie' album.

These singles really took Green Day to the top of the charts and into multi platinum sales, with Dookie being one of the highest selling albums in years.
The band has released a total of 8 albums, two of these are best of collections.
The band is probably most famous for its singles such as 'Basket Case', 'Time of your life' and 'Minority'.

What a lot of people don't realize is that the band had been going for quite some years before the mainstream smash albums.

In fact the band formed in the mid 80's, when teenage school friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt decided to form a band.
They were originally known as 'Sweet Children', but in 1989 the band changed their name, and the rest is history.

The band were heavily influenced by local bands such as Mr T Experience and Operation Ivy, whilst also being inspired by bands such as The Replacements and the Beatles.

Before the band joined a major label where they released the classic Dookie and later albums, the group was on the small indie label, Lookout Records, home of many great punk bands such as Mr T Experience and Operation Ivy.

This was their first album,released in 1990, which consists of two Eps, 1000 hours and Slappy ep, it also has their first full length LP, 39/smooth.

MEMBERS
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The band consists of.

Billie Joe Armstrong - Guitar and Vocals.
Mike Dirnt - Bass.
Al Sobrante (John Kiffmeyer) - Drums.

After the release of this album, John left to go to college and also joined a few small punk bands.
He was replaced by Tre Cool, who is still the drummer to this day.

THE ALBUM
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This album is 19 tracks long, so im not going to do a full track by track review, or you would all get bored!
Ill just give a few of the best and worst on offer.
The album clocks in at 56 minutes, which offers good value for money.

--AT THE LIBRARY--

The first thing you notice with the opening track, is the sound quality isn't quite what we've come to expect from this great band, but then again it was recorded for about 400 dollars, and this doesn't distract from the great tunes on offer such as this one.

Opening with a nice fast paced chuggy little riff, it gives a good idea of what is to come for the rest of the album.
With some nice simple pop type guitar sounds and the kicking drumming by John, this has a real bouncy feel.
The vocals have a quite nasally sound to them, but never too much that it annoys you.

This song really shows the talent that the band has, and is a great view of the early raw talent.

--DONT LEAVE ME--

This opens with a quite rocking riff, which is a bit harder than most of the others on offer.

The drums hold a fairly nice beat, although John doesn't seem to have quite as much talent as the later drummer Tre Cool.

The one main downfall of this track is the lack of a real chorus, this is basically just Billie singing one line a couple of times and calling it a chorus, but the album cant all be good!

--DISAPPEARING BOY--

This is like a very early blue print for the music on the Dookie album, with some great driving guitars and solid drumming, the bass line is also top notch.

Opening with a simple little riff, with the vocals kicking in almost instantly.

The song boasts a very catchy chorus, with backing vocals provided by Mike, in all the right places.
The song shows Billie giving a fair bit of emotion in his voice,

--GREEN DAY--

This song named after the band is a very bass and drum driven tune, with Johns drum playing really bringing the track into another level completely.

Another fast paced tune, with another top quality chorus, which wont fail to get you singing.

Other than that the tune is quite similar to what has been heard already.
But still good.

--GOING TO PASALACQUA--

This is one of the stand out songs on this collection, and really shows that the band always had the talent to make the big time.

This is still a stable part of their live sets, and sits nicely next to all the top 10 hits, which shows how good it is.

Another fast tune, with a catchy guitar tune driving you through the song, with Billie singing one of his best choruses to date.

--16--

This song is quite similar in style to 'When i come around' from dookie, with its catchy crunchy riff, the tune is not overly fast, which offers a bit of a change from most of the other offerings.

The vocals are top notch as usual, with some nice link ups between Billie and Mike during the verses.

--THE JUDGES DAUGHTER--

Another of my favourites, this is just pure pop punk, with everything you want from this sort of song.

The tune is made up of a simple 3 chord guitar progression, which although very simple is nonetheless extremely catchy.

Billie's vocals are sung at quite a fast pace and offer a lot of melody to the track.

Billie even gets the chance to stick a little guitar solo in the middle of the song which normally I don't like, but on this one it works just right.

--KNOWLEDGE--

This is a cover of a track by label mates Operation Ivy, who were later to become major band Rancid.

This song tacks the original track, which was a fast rocking number, and changes it to an almost easy listening type tune, it sounds like the band had a lot of fun recording it, and it shouldn't be taken too seriously.

--1000 HOURS--

Another top tune, which wouldn't seem out of place on one of their later albums.
A lovely little tune, with lyrics about Billie's love for a girl lasting forever.

This is one of those tunes that anyone would like, it isn't offensive, it isn't too loud and it has a lovely little melody playing through it.

Almost worth buying the album for alone.

--THE ONE I WANT--

Another nice love song, which has a nice riff playing throughout.

Billies vocals show a nice amount of emotion, and make you feel what he feels.

The music is fairly simple, with the bass and drums holding a fairly simple back up for the main guitar sections.
This is another one of those songs that the vocals add to the melody and overall sound.

OVERALL
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Although this isn't as instant as some of the bands later offerings, it still contains some true gems.
Well worth a listen if your a fan of the band or are new to the whole pop punk genre and want to hear some of the best early bands.

This album is due to be re-released early in 2004 with remastered sound and a few extra tracks and demos, so it might be better to leave it until then, and buy one of the later albums to tide you over.

If you like this band then you should check out some of the other bands on Lookout Records, most notably Mr T Experience.
Fans should also check out Pinhead Gunpowder, Billie's side project, also on Lookout records.

This album should only cost around 10 pounds, and is available from most decent record stores, or you could buy it online from the lookout records website.

www.lookoutrecords.com

Thanks for reading.
Please leave any comments below.
Kyle.