Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some dumb title, 2 Sep 2002
This was Green Day's first album, and, arguably, the best. It is certainly the rawest, recorded when Green Day were still on an indie label, and the guys were still in their teens. That's what makes this album so special.
It is an album that is very relateable, with songs like At The Library describing Billie seeing a girl, wanting her, then she walks away with her boyfriend, or Only Of You, where Billie wants to pour his heart out to a girl but can't. In fact, most of the songs on here aren't true punk, they're mainly about love, except ones like Road to Acceptance, which is about people following trends etc.
The guitar in this album is pretty special, unlike modern Green Day songs every other song features a fantastic solo of Led Zeppelin standard, stick-out ones include The Judges Daughter and Only Of You. One of the bad points about modern Green Day stuff is the lack of solo's, the only noteable one of their current stuff being Maria.
For an album that was created by a bunch of 3 people still not out of their teens, this is a remarkable achievment, and has a special element that no other Green Day album has. My personal favourites are At The Library, Why Do You Want Him, Only Of You and Going To Pasalaqua.
This album is not for casual Green Day fans who wouldn't know the words to 2000 Light Years away, this is for more serious fans. It is a great album, and certainly worthy of your money. At 60 minutes, it is also a pretty long album.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best and the Earliest?, 11 Sep 2002
Recorded on a low budget, this is a record that all Green Day fans should own. In my opinion, it is the greatest album of the lot. The tracks just sound great and are more punky and less poppy than the latest installments. It is also interesting to see how the band has progressed since the early days. I thought to start off with that the low budget recording was sketchy, but after a while, it started to sound cool, surprisingly. I found this album in a tiny record store in Italy and I had never heard of it before.
You should get this album if you like Green Day, like punk-rock, or are interested in a band's proggress.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Suprisingly good!, 3 Aug 2005
The reason I say this is because 39/smooth was recorded when Billie Joe and Mike would have been about 17. Can 17 yr olds make music this good?Evidently yes! It may be a world apart from the politically charged 'American Idiot' LP, but this album is no less worthy, packed full of infectiously catchy, raw pop-rock songs about teenage infatuation ('Going to Pasalacqua') and first love ('The One I Want').
For example in 'At the Library', Billie Joe sums up the teen struggle: the mind's indecision- 'should I/shouldn't I ask her out?' After spending the song lusting after this girl he sees at the library, he finds that she was taken after all! It is this twist that is testament to his ability to comment on real-life in a non-self-indulgent way, and with an injection of humour. Musically, there are shades of early punk-rock and 60s luminaries the Beatles and the Kinks; notably the intro to 'Paper Lanterns' echoes 'All Day And All Of The Night' and 'Don't leave me' has the swagger of 'You Really Got Me'. All songs display the strong, trademark vocals of Billie Joe. The bass-lines are tight and there is some neat guitar work, such as the fantastic solos on ' The Judges Daughter' and 'Only Of You'. Highlights include 'Knowledge', a jaunty cover of the Operation Ivy song and 'Rest', which is serene, melodic and layered with beautifully tender vocals. This is a MUST for the Green Day fan.
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