Green Day “Awesome As F**K” Pink 2XLP – Though it has been roughly five-and-a-half years since Green Day’s last live release, the CD/DVD combo Bullet in a Bible – following the band’s resurgence as a stadium punk act with the punk-opera American Idiot – it feels like it came much sooner, with only the lackluster 21st Century Breakdown separating them. So it’s hard not to approach the band’s latest live effort, Awesome as F**k, thinking it is a wholly unwarranted addition to the discography.
Rather than the single stadium show recording of Bullet in a Bible, Awesome as F**k takes cuts from a major world tour, with no venue offering up more than two of the live album’s 17 tracks. On vinyl, the 17 tracks are spread over two LPs, while on CD it comes on one disc, but with a companion DVD.
Of course, following 21st Century Breakdown, this collection splices in songs from that release (five in total, though if anyone were to ask me, I’d say that one from that album would be too many). Filling out the rest of the album are a few cuts from American Idiot and – to the credit of the band – a number of old fan-favorites, mostly different tracks than what we got with Bullet in a Bible. So it’s not just a rehash of the last live album with addition of 21st Century material.
It’s nice to see songs like “Burnout,” “J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva),” “Geek Stink Breath,” “When I Come Around” and “She.” But most surprisingly, early cuts like “Going to Pasalacqua” and “Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?” find their way into both the band’s tour and live album. “Cigarettes and Valentines” also makes the list. They’re nice surprises, but it almost seems to divide the audience of the album, as the old fans who remember those tunes likely aren’t the same that flocked to buy 21st Century Breakdown. As it stands, old fans will be enamored with Sides Two and Three, but could likely do without One and Four.
All in all, though, the recordings are none too impressive. The sound quality on vinyl is average at best, with the performances often failing to really stick out on the somewhat muffled recordings. And the live performances don’t really do enough to differentiate themselves from the album cuts. That is to say, if this were a single show I attended, aside from some setlist surprises, I would have been wholly disappointed.
That said, the records are pressed on 180-gram pink vinyl that works well with the band’s design theme for the release. The inside of the packaging features a collage of great photographs, as well as another on a credits sheet. That stuff is great, and the record as a whole has a fun, old-school punk design, but it’s hard not to feel like the pink-and-black combo is just the band’s latest fashion statement (now that the black and red of American Idiot is out).
It’s also disappointing that a punk band releasing a live album on what amounts to its own label is afraid to just put “fuck” on the front of the album. It’s also hard to recommend the vinyl rather than the CD in this case, as buyers don’t get a download code with the records and lose out on the DVD that comes with the disc-based copy. The vinyl is a nice touch for the art enthusiast, but as far as sound quality and extras go, it’s better to stay the modern route with Awesome as F**k. And that’s assuming fans are even interested in another live album from Green Day.
Review by: Bill Jones
Sound/Pressing Quality: 3/5
The Album: 2/5
Artwork & Packaging: 4/5
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