Dookie - Green Day > Reviews > Welcome to Paradise

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	An essential album for all Pop Punk fans out there of the world
Disadvantages:	'Basket Case' irritates me no end

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

'Dookie' was the album that brought mainstream success to Green Day in the 90's. Released in February 1994 through Reprise Records it contains the hit singles of 'Welcome to Paradise', 'When I Come Around', and of course 'Basket Case'. Although it was the bands breakthrough album, it is not my favourite of theirs and it is in fact their 1995 follow-up release 'Insomniac' that appeals to me most of all their albums.

'Burnout' kicks the album off well and from here on in the band blast their way through this album with some fantastically well produced Pop Punk music that is sure to impress. Whilst 'Basket Case' is perhaps the best known track from this release however, it does in fact grate on me no end and is one track that I always skip when listening to this album. I was never a huge fan of the track, but over the years I have heard it played on the music channels so many times that I have just come to entirely despise it. I do like a lot of the tracks on this album but this one I feel is grossly over rated and I can no longer endure its droning tone. In this track Billy Joe Armstrong speaks the vocal of 'Do you have the time to listen to me whine?' and to be perfectly honest with you Billie, on this occasion I certainly don't.

'Welcome to Paradise' was originally included on the bands 1992 album 'Kerplunk', however was rerecorded for the 'Dookie' album and is one that I feel has been pulled off incredibly well here. It is one of my favourite Green Day tracks and every time I listen to this one I smile. The vocals are strong, the chorus is excellent, and the guitars shine through magnificently as the band smash this one out with great attitude and a huge level of excitement. The band sound so full of life and energy here, this is in my opinion Green Day at their very best.

'She' is another of my favourites from this album. It is a well written track and once more shows the band at their best I feel. It's quite soft in sound but the lyrics are hard hitting and it works extremely well at the centre of this album I feel. It is an incredibly effective track, it cries out to be listened to and as you do so it certainly does not disappoint. Green Day definitely succeed with 'She', few times in the bands career have they recorded a sound as fine as this.

The album appears to come to an end with the track 'F.O.D', a decent closing track for the album and one that I believe to be an excellent punk rock anthem. The reason I say that the album 'appears' to come to a close with this track is that there is in fact a hidden track tagged on the end of this one. The track I am referring to is the excellent 'All By Myself', a song performed solely by Green Day drummer Tré Cool. It is an amusing little number with a lyrical subject of masturbation, it provides a nice bit of light relief for the album to end on and is perhaps one of the most memorable final tracks ever. It's obviously not the most technically sound of closing tracks ever, but it certainly comes as a surprise tagged on the end of 'F.O.D.' and is most definitely one closing track that never shall I forget.

Since its release, 'Dookie' has sold over 15 million copies all around the world. It is the bands only 'Diamond' classified album and is therefore of course their best selling album to date. It is an excellent album and yet in my opinion is not their best. I'm sure there are countless numbers of people out there that would disagree with me here but there you go, if everyone had the same opinions of things then life would be very dull indeed. 'Dookie' is without doubt an album that I would recommend to all out there, and if you're not amongst the 15 million owners of this album then I suggest that you join the club and get to purchasing 'Dookie' as soon as possible. It is an essential album in the Green Day back catalogue, an excellent album packed full of brilliantly recorded and truly exciting Pop Punk material.