Number of Discs
1
Country/Region of Manufacture
USA
Additional information
Green Day: Billie Joe (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Mike Dirnt (vocals, bass); Tre Cool (drums, bongos, tambourine). Additional personnel: Petra Haden (violin); Gabriel McNair, Stephen Bradley (horns). All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. Green Day's infectious brand of thrashy power-pop is full of references to the generation of punk which preceded them, with adenoidal vocals spinning tales of youthful angst against a backdrop of hard, fast riffs. The difference, of course, is that Green Day is having more fun than the Buzzcocks would ever have admitted to. NIMROD catches the band updating their sound while holding onto the speed and recklessness that made their previous albums so exciting. Touches like the atmospheric, flanged guitars of "Redundant" and the violin on "Hitchin' A Ride" and "Last Ride In," (courtesy of That Dog's Petra Haden) help to take the band in a new, more serious direction. Lest anyone fear that this expansion signals self-indulgence, the tight harmonies of "Scattered" and breakneck pace of "Platypus (I Hate You)" prove that, unlike most angry young men (especially those that happen to be millionaire celebrities), they've managed to hold on to every bit of the energy and rage that propelled them in the first place.
Reviews
Rolling Stone (10/30/97, p.66) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...Armstrong's juvenile sense of humor is back....a broader view, with neo-psychedelic studio touches, acoustic guitar, violins and horns....Melody is emphasized, and a measure of sincerity is detectable in the singing..." Spin (12/97, pp.154-155) - 6 (out of 10) - "...At heart, NIMROD is a poker-faced rendition of what every band before them has done in this situation--genre-hopping, `testing their boundaries' in the studio, strings, horns, the works....At times, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong even seems to be impersonating Mark Eitzel impersonating Frank Sinatra..." Entertainment Weekly (10/17/97, p.76) - "...mostly more of the same hyperactive pop-punk it introduced on 1994's DOOKIE. Hooky, too. But since the kids who once embraced the band seem to have outgrown this, will anyone other than rock critics give a hoot?" - Rating: B-
