Hey, is that Green Day….?
Green Day as Foxboro Hot Tubs – Stop Drop And Roll! – 2008 (iTunes – Amazon)
The old axiom goes: bands spend their whole loves writing and performing their first album and then they have on year to write another one. That’s why the sophomore slump is almost always dead on. With Green Day, there doesn’t seem to ever be this problem. The problem is, it seems, what to do with all the extra songs that Billie Joe writes that don’t end up on Green Day albums or on B-Sides? The guy just seems to be a writing machine.
Sure, GD’s output has been limited to 8 studio albums in 19 years, but there has also been Shenanigans, the b-side collection, The Network, Green Day as angular New Wave retro band and The Foxboro Hot Tubs. At that rate, they have been pretty much releasing an album’s worth of music every 2 years.
I took Foxboro Hot Tubs to be a smart move on GD’s part. After all, how do you top the biggest record of your career (American Idiot) which was a smash success AND a political manifesto. Surely your fans, the rock community, the world, would be looking at your next release with baited breath.
In stead of slapping that target on themselves too soon, the boys released Stop, Drop & Roll as Foxboro Hot Tubs (which is Green Day under pseudonyms with the addition of the two players who joined them for The Network).
This album is a decidedly better offering than the new wave Money Money 2020. From the artwork on the cover and the retro title, you know what to expect.
Garage Rock.
The Zombies, the Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Who. These are the forefathers of Stop Drop and Roll.
So, if you like that kind of music and you like Billie Joe Armstrong’s songwriting, you will enjoy this record. It goes without saying, right?
You would be right.
This is a tasty little confection, from the congas on Broadway, to the Jam-like Mother Mary and the organ festooned Zombies-esque track, Ruby Room. There isn’t a false note on the record. They are at once true to the form and true to themselves.
You will hear elements of a dozen or so other songs in these, but these aren’t ripoffs as much as they are homages and launching pads.
An excellent record.
Grade A
A Side: Mother Mary, Ruby Room, Stop Drop and Roll, Dark Side of Night, Pieces of Truth
BlindSide: She’s a Saint Not a Celebrity, Alligator (which owes so much to “You Really Got Me” they should pay royalties), 27th Ave Shuffle,
DownSide: Truly, there isn’t a bad track on this spinner.
