It has been called the second Foxboro Hot Tubs album, referring to Green Day’s ‘secret side project’, which leaned towards garage rock. But that would mean it’s not necessarily punk rock in its essence. This is particularly true of the new album iDos!.
All the punk elements are there — short, punchy songs, vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong’s oscillation between drawl, jaded vocals and screaming exclamations and standard themes of love, rebellion and partying.
It starts off innocently with ‘See You Tonight’, but Billie Joe shakes off that image with the real opening track “F*** Time” with screeching guitars serving as a background for Armstrong’s suggestive noises.
‘Lazy Bones’, on the other hand, is more Green Day pumping out their generic anthemic stuff. The only question is whether we still want to hear that after their 12-track first album iUno! released in September.
The rest of the album has some very standard tunes, although these do seem better than ‘Wild One’, ‘Makeout Party’, ‘Wow! That’s Loud’. iDos!, on its own, is a lively album with an alternative mix of songs.
If there’s one surprise on this album, it’s ‘Nightlife’, featuring vocals from Lady Cobra, lead singer of fellow-East Bay punk band Mystic Knights of the Cobra.
It has a scintillatingly wicked beat, with some dirty talk courtesy Lady Cobra. Green Day has even named a two-minute scorcher of a track ‘Lady Cobra’ after the vocalist.
The album closes with ‘Amy’, a tribute to singer Amy Winehouse, a friend whom Armstrong felt was not too different from him in their tantrums and (consequent) rehab visits.
iDos! is much better than the previous effort, but not for punk rock. The alternative elements make this album listenable but the song writing is not exceptional. One now looks forward to the third and final part iTre!
Bottomline: Much better than the previous effort.
iDos!;Green Day, EMI, Rs.395
