| CD REVIEW Extreme |
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Band : Extreme Rejoice, oh (Melodic Hard Rock lovin') world, because '90s Rock fenomenon Extreme is back to entertain you with their diversified tunes and their first album in 13 years! The Boston based band first came under media attention when winning an 1985 MTV competition with the video to their "Mutha (Don't Want To Go To School Today)", but things didn't get really started before ex-Sinful guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and bassist Pat Badger (formerly with Daemon and In The Pink) joined a year later. That same year saw the guys crossing the Atlantic to play some Portuguese festivals, and in their absence a couple of their demo songs were getting valuable airtime on college radios. The following year saw Extreme tied for first place in the Boston Music Awards with Gang Green, and the band eventually signed a long-term contract with A&M Records, making their official debut with the contribution of their song "Play With Me" (later closing off their debut album) on the soundtrack to cult movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In spite of this international exposure, the band's self-titled 1989 album only brought the band further acolades on a local basis, receiving a further Boston Music Award in 1988 for "Outstanding Heavy Metal Act". Things turned for the absolutely positive with 1990's sophomore album Pornograffitti, the band surprising the world with their particular take on Funk Rock. More importantly, acoustic ballad "More Than Words" shot to the N°1 position in the American singles charts and got the band massive airplay on radios worldwide. "Get The Funk Out" also went up quite high in the charts, and the band's name was made. The guitarist was subsequently invited to play guitar on the track "Black Cat", one of Janet Jackson's rare ventures into the world of Hard Rock. Another hit came with "Hole Hearted",yet another ballad (from the 1991 album III Sides To Every Story), and the band's stature was further enhanced when they got invited (by Brian May himself) to play a bunch of Queen covers at the aids benefit concert in honour of Freddy Mercury. The band returned in 1995 with the somewhat contemporary sounding 4th album Waiting For The Punchline. The change in musical direction eventually became the band's downfall because of bad sales, and Bettencourt set out on a solo career. Singer Gary Cherone joined Van Halen to replace Sammy Hagar, but was out on his bum less than a year after due to the badly received (both by media and fans) 1988 album III. Also worthy of mention is the fact that Bettencourt collaborated with Jane's Addiction/ Porno For Pyros singer Perry Farrell for the writing and recording of the Sattelite Party album in 2005, but more importantly... ...Extreme came back in the news in mid 2004 when a near reunion gig happened during a festival on Bettencourt's birthplace (the Azores islands). Originally planned to play with his own band Population 1, news leaked that both Gary Cherone and original Extreme drummer Pat Geary were in place to do an additional Extreme set, Badger's bass position taken in by one Carl Restivo. Extreme then did additional reunion shows on American soil soon after. Cherone would do some guest vocals on the Fly By Wire solo album of early Extremeguitarist PaulMangone, the album appearing later in 2004. Meanwhile Extreme was coming in the news more and more, Japanese dates being announced for January 2005, same month as in which both Cherone and Bettencourt donated their voices to "Forever In Our Hearts", a song written by Godhead's Jason Miller as a benefit for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. More side-tracking happened when Cherone founded a new outfit (simply titledCherone)to release the EP Need I Say More. He then also fronted Amazing Journey, a one-off tribute-to-The-Who band including Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) and Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth, UFO, Talas), who did a short burst of shows in May 2006. But eventually both Cherone and Bettencourt got the itch to make some new Extreme songs and eventually got together in late 2007 with exactly that purpose. The chemistry was apparently there from day one, the pair writing 23 songs in a two week writing session! 13 of those were chosen to make the album, and a very varied one it is indeed! Besides scorching Hard Rock tracks such as the album opening "Star" and the ensuing "Comfortably Dumb", plus others "Flower Man", and the Led Zeppelin-esque "Slide", there's also the raw Funk Rock power of "Learn To Love", the Country Blues of "Take Us Alive", the passionately Bluesey "Last Hour" (which Bettencourt finds...and I agree...of a heavier kind of "House Of The Rising Sun"), the super-catchy "Run" and "Sunrise" (also containing some additional Zep feelings)...and the couple of more sensitive songs with the piano-laden "Ghost" and John Lennon minded "Peace (Saudades)" plus the very expressive ballad "Interface" (which is deemed to be at least an equal to the band's previously mentioned hit ballads). Yo...by the way, the European versionof the album contains a bonus track in a 1985 demo version of "Americocaine" (never recorded for "official" release). If you've never heard any Extreme material before (which is not withing the real of impossibility, after all), you should certainly check out myspace.com/extreme, where you'll not only find mp3 files to the new album's two opening songs, but also a bunch (no less than 11!) of older (studio) videos (including the band's hit singles) and an additional audio track. If you dó know the band from the old days, you know what to expect...but even then you might be pleasantly surprised with the consistently high quality of this album's offerings! Go check it out in the store for an additional listening session if you don't trust me! For the time being (month of August) Extreme is still touring in the US, but after an appearance at Italy's Rock Of Ages festival on Sept. 13, the band will be putting in a series of UK performances during November, and early December sees the guys take another trip to Japan! 93/100 Tony. |