On August 12, the greatest rock band in history (according to me) released their 5th studio album about 14 years after their last album released. Of course, I’m talking about the big Saudades de Rock release from Extreme. I made the trip to my local Best Buy on the day of the release and snatched it up. As with all Extreme releases, I have to listen a couple times before I get a full sense of what songs I like and don’t like. I’ve probably listened to the songs 30-40 times by now, so I feel like I’m ready to give my long-sought review:
- Star – * it’s a song I respect them for doing – but I just don’t see how you can like the chorus harmony. It seems like the words were covered in their song "Hip Today" from the last album as well. I can listen to it, but just don’t like this song.
- Comfortably Dumb – *** as a hardcore fan, I’ve heard about this song for a long time – I believe they wrote it before they took their long hiatus. I like it okay, it’s a good enough song, but don’t love it.
- Learn to Love – *** I like aspects of this song, but I just don’t see how it fits together. The verse lick is very fast yet the song slows way down in the chorus. Again, it’s a decent song, but maybe should be split apart.
- Take Us Alive – **** this is a rockabilly song – I like this song and think it’s one they should release. It’s not a slam dunk hit, but it’s a good song that’s catchy enough for people to get into
- Run – **** this is their best rock song on the album. It seems like lots of the web comments I’ve read agree that this is their best chance for a hit on the album. I like the song quite a bit.
- Last Hour – ** this is clearly a song written by their lead singer – Gary Cherone. I like the feel to the end of the chorus, but otherwise don’t have much love for this song.
- Flower Man – ** this is a standard Extreme rock song, but it doesn’t really have any hooks or anything particular that I like
- King of the Ladies – *** this is one written by Nuno and his cronies where he sings. It’s maybe the catchiest chorus on the album, but they repeat it so many times you can’t listen to the song a ton of times.
- Ghost – **** this is a piano based song, and like most of theirs in the past I like it. It’s a well put together song that many have said (and I agree) sounds like something Coldplay would do.
- Slide – (0 stars) I won’t put this on my MS iPod – it’s just not good.
- Interface – *** this was a song I’d heard before because it’s on Nuno’s previous solo (not technically, but for all intents) album. It was weird to hear Gary sing it instead for the first time. I’ve gotten used to it now. The chorus is very easy to sing along to, but since it’s a sad song it wouldn’t get much air play.
- Sunrise – **** I actually really like this song – especially if they had brought back a bridge they only do once in the song. This song is emblematic of what bugs me about Extreme. They have this great part in the middle of the song where it really builds, but they don’t go back to it. The end of the song gets too repetitive.
- Peace – ** this is a decent song – piano based, but no one would ever request this song. It’s a good song to end an album on.
* – I give 0-5 stars based on the rating I’d give it on my MS iPod. I try to reserve 5 star ratings for my favorite 10-20 songs. If it gets 2 stars, that means I like the song – if I don’t like it, I don’t copy it down.
I still love Extreme even though I just liked this album. There was nothing that compared to the greatness of Hole Hearted and I usually end up thinking every album could be better. It’s still better than most of the current rock that’s out there.
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