Yes, it\u2019s THAT Extreme.<\/p>\n
Long ago and far away (also known as 1990), there was an album called Pornograffiti<\/i>. While parts of it sucked, there were two huge hits\u2014\u201cMore Than Words\u201d and \u201cHole Hearted\u201d\u2014and one pretty damned good song\u2014\u201cGet The Funk Out\u201d\u2014on it. They had a miracle-slinging maestro for a guitarist and a pretty decent lead singer. It looked like Extreme was going places.<\/p>\n
Then, of course, the fickle finger of fate frottered their femurs. A brilliant follow-up, Three Sides To Every Story<\/i>, died an undeserved death, and their fourth CD, Waiting For The Punchline<\/i>, proved to be their downfall. The guitarist, Nuno Bettencourt, went on to be a guitarist\u2019s guitarist, playing with everyone from Perry Farrell to Janet Jackson to Rihanna. Gary Cherone was rumored to be the lead singer of Van Halen (briefly), but of course Van Halen fans justifiably deny that album exists. (I get it; I refuse to admit that Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition and any sequels to Highlander<\/i> exist.)<\/u><\/p>\n
Later\u2014much later\u2014the band came together in 2008 to record an album that almost no one heard (Saudades De Rock<\/i>). That seemed to be the end.<\/p>\n
Never say never, O Ye DV Faithful.<\/p>\n
Extreme is back, and dare I say it? Extreme is good again; maybe great. On their latest release, Six<\/i>, they have their edge and swagger back. And, of course, they have Nuno Bettencourt. A lot of the punch on Six<\/i> comes from him; there are some wicked<\/u> guitar riffs on this CD.<\/p>\n
The CD starts off with the churning, pounding \u201cRise,\u201d and it\u2019s a very fine place to start. It\u2019s one of those songs that should have your fist pumping the air and your heart beating faster. The frenetic pace doesn\u2019t let up through \u201c#Rebel\u201d and \u201cBanshee\u201d (which is one of those songs about the relationships we know are bad ideas, but we go ahead anyway). \u201cOther Side Of The Rainbow\u201d is a lovely ballad that still has some edge to it. The twin introspections \u201cThe Mask\u201d and \u201cSave Me\u201d show a deeper, more thoughtful side; these guys aren\u2019t twenty-somethings anymore, and it shows.<\/p>\n
The fact is the only place that Six<\/i> slips is when they try to recapture their ballad chops. Neither \u201cSmall Town Beautiful\u201d or \u201cHurricane\u201d grab me; they\u2019re not bad, they\u2019re just not very memorable. Another ballad, \u201cBeautiful Girls,\u201d is the biggest miscue on the CD; Extreme should not attempt to do reggaeton.<\/p>\n
The closing ballad, however, works beautifully. \u201cHere\u2019s To The Losers\u201d is brimming with pathos (in a good way). And to be honest, this CD is worth the price of admission just for the Bettencourt solos. The dude is a demon.<\/p>\n
All in all, it\u2019s good to have Extreme back. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":34843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5626],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-46710","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-extreme","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46710"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}