GREEN DAY: 21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN (LTD ED 3x10" BOXSET)

	£		39
	$		51

welcome to aqwirestuff         

TITLE:   21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN

ARTIST: GREEN DAY

LABEL:  Reprise

MEDIA:      *** 3 x 10” LTD Edition LP Box Set ***

DESCRIPTION:

Three years in the making and 71 (yes, 71) minutes in length, pop-punk provocateurs, Green Day return with another concept album to rival their last, American Idiot. The intervening years have seen several pop bands absconding with their USP and making lightweight mincemeat of it, making it harder for us to take them seriously. This is a shame, as Green Day really know their pop smarts and are as ruthlessly efficient as a Swiss watch with dayglo hands. You may not get any deep insights, but you are getting some great tunes.

Like the Ramones with A-levels the band split the album into three 'acts' (Heroes And Cons; Charlatans And Saints; Horseshoes And Handgrenades): It's loosely based around a young couple, Gloria and Christian, and their travails in this contrary age. Musically it's business as usual, taking the punk template and strectching it into stadium grandiosity. While the title track expands its brief to three time signatures, Viva la Gloria enters the room borne on Billy Joel-esque piano chords, or Last Night On Earth is essentially a 70s power ballad with dreamy vocals, the core of 21st century Breakdown is still great pummelling party rock, infused with producer Butch Vig's classic sense of quiet/loud dynamics.

Griping vaguely against 'authority' tends to be the domain of the teenager, and these guys are now approaching 40. Murder City sees its protagonists, ''crying in the bathroom'' and ''bumming cigarettes'', but they're ''desperate but not helpless''. Green Day are best at summing up the ennui of white middle class America. It doesn't have the romantic sheen of, say, Springsteen's evocation of the early 60s, but this is the sound of shopping malls gone to seed; homogenised and railing against 'stuff'. This isn't to say that their hearts aren't in the right place, and the USA needs its social commentators now, more than ever, but they speak far more eloquently with their guitars than their lyrics.

Ultimately 21st century Breakdown is a startlingly hummable album that breathes life into a musical form that should, by rights, have died out 30 years ago. Such creativity is to be lauded, but this isn't a record that will change the world one iota; except by making kids dance. And sometimes there's no greater achievement in life.

TRACKLISTING:

A1       Song Of The Century                                 0:58

               Act I - Heroes And Cons

A2       21st Century Breakdown                          5:09

A3       Know Your Enemy                                     3:10

A4       ¡Viva La Gloria!                                           3:31

B1       Before The Lobotomy                                4:37

B2       Christians Inferno                                       3:07

B3       Last Night On Earth                                                3:57

               Act II - Charlatans And Saints

C1       East Jesus Nowhere                                  4:35

C2       Peacemaker                                                            3:24

C3       Last Of The American Girls                                   3:51

D1       Murder City                                                  2:54

D2       ¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)                     3:48

D3       Restless Heart Syndrome                         4:21

               Act III - Horseshoes And Handgrenades

E1       Horseshoes And Handgrenades                        3:14

E2       The Static Age                                             4:17

E3       21 Guns                                                        5:21

             American Eulogy                                        4:26

F1a     Mass Hysteria        

F1b     Modern World        

F2       See The Light                                              4:36

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAREFULLY TO AVOID MISUNDERSTANDINGS – THANKS.

POSTAGE PRICES:

UK

EUROPE

REST OF WORLD

  THIS 3 x 10” + DELUXE BOX SET

£4.00

   £7.80

   £17.75

SIGNED FOR & UP TO £36 INSURANCE, ADD:

£0.75p

£3.50

£3.50

WE ONLY USE FIRST CLASS ROYAL MAIL AND GOOD QUALITY MAILERS. TO PROTECT YOUR RECORDS WE DO NOT PUT MORE THAN THE ABOVE AMOUNTS IN ANY SINGLE PACKAGE. LARGER ORDERS WILL REQUIRE MULTIPLE PACKAGES. IF YOU WANT ADDITIONAL PACKAGING I.E. CARDBOARD STIFFENERS YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO FIT AS MANY RECORDS IN ONE PACKAGE. WE WILL CHARGE AN EXTRA £.75 FOR THIS SERVICE, AVAILABLE ON REQUEST BEFORE PAYMENT. WE AIM TO DISPATCH WITHIN 3 WORKING DAYS OF PAYMENT CLEARING, HOWEVER THIS IS NOT GUARANTEED. WE DO NOT GENERALLY ANSWER EMAILS OR CONDUCT BUSINESS ON WEEKENDS. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND PAYING FOR SIGNED FOR DELIVERY (£.75 IN THE U.K., £3.50 FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD) AS WE CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITEMS LOST IN THE POST - PLEASE REQUEST AN INVOICE. FOR ORDERS TO SOME COUNTRIES IN SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA, ASIA AND EASTERN EUROPE WE MAY REQUIRE THAT YOU PURCHASE POSTAL INSURANCE. FOR MULTIPLE PURCHASES PLEASE REQUEST AN INVOICE ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE WON ALL YOUR ITEMS.

OUR PREFERRED PAYMENT METHOD IS PAYPAL. WE ACCEPT PERSONAL CHEQUES, BUT PREFER UNCROSSED POSTAL ORDERS (SENT AT YOUR OWN RISK) AS YOUR PAYMENT WILL CLEAR INSTANTLY AND YOU WILL GET YOUR ITEMS FASTER. CHEQUES TAKE AT LEAST FIVE WORKING DAYS TO CLEAR. WE DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OTHER FORMS OF PAYMENT.

ALL OUR RECORDS ARE NEW AND UNPLAYED UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. ALL OUR RECORDS ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION, BOTH THE SLEEVE AND THE VINYL, UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. WE ACCEPT RETURNS IF AN ITEM IS FAULTY OR NOT AS DESCRIBED. WE WILL REPLACE OR REFUND ANY ITEM THAT IS FAULTY OR NOT AS DESCRIBED ON THE RETURN OF THE UNWANTED ITEM. WE PRIDE OURSELVES IN PROVIDING GREAT MUSIC AND QUALITY SERVICE. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, PLEASE CONTACT US AND WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO SORT IT OUT.