Extreme - III Sides To Every Story [Japanese Ed. SHM-CD] (1992)

Year: September 14, 1992 (CD Sep 17, 2008)
Label: Universal Music (Japan), UICY-93682
Style: Hard Rock, Glam Metal
Country: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Time: 76:09
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 516 Mb

Nuno and the boys split this album into three parts based on the three sides of every story: “Yours” “Mine,” and “The Truth.” They rather cleverly weave their political views into some songs, while they don’t cram anything down your throat either. Once again, I listened intently to Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar playing. Although, I didn’t hear the fire I witnessed on “Pornograffiti,” I still heard some funky playing.
This release seemed to be more constructed than previous releases; not controlled, but more compartmentalized and that was the band's purpose by dividing the album into three sections. “Yours” (songs 1-6), deal with political views. “Mine” (songs 7-11) has some romantic overtones. “The Truth” (songs 12-14) have some progressive offerings. Clocking in at seventy-six minutes, "III" is a lot of music to digest. I did get a little bored near the end because the mood changes from song to song in a strange way. The music is still good and taking a few minutes to listen closely will help you appreciate their direction.
Gary Cherone really uses all his vocal ability on this disc. You can see why he was chosen to front Van Halen (albeit briefly). I find it odd that Nuno has said he always wanted to be Eddie Van Halen and then Gary got to sing with him. It’s funny how the music biz works.
Since this disc didn’t have any Top 40 hits, you may not have heard most of the songs here so, if you haven’t heard this CD, consider this fresh music from Extreme.
I do like the Martin Luther King Jr. speech in “Peacemaker Die.” It gives the song and the band's lyrics more depth.
(roughedge.com/cdreviews/e/extreme.htm)

01. Warheads (05:18)
02. Rest In Peace (06:01)
03. Politicalamity (05:04)
04. Color Me Blind (05:00)
05. Cupid's Dead (05:56)
06. Peacemaker Die (06:03)
07. Seven Sundays (04:18)
08. Tragic Comic (04:44)
09. Our Father (04:02)
10. Stop The World (05:57)
11. God Isn't Dead? (02:02)
12. Rise 'n Shine (06:22)
13. Am I Ever Gonna Change (06:56)
14. Who Cares? (08:19)

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Extreme - Pornograffitti [Japanese Ed. SHM-CD] (1990)

Year: August 7, 1990 (CD Sep 17, 2008)
Label: Universal Music (Japan), UICY-93681
Style: Hard Rock, Glam Metal
Country: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Time: 64:28
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 444 Mb

The album begins with “Decadence Dance”, which gives the listener a good sampling of what’s to follow both musically and thematically. Released as a single, the opener was a minor success in the UK, peaking at #36. “Li’l Jack Horny” features intro guitar harmonics for melodic effect by Bettencourt before he changes direction with a strong, bluesy riff. A fine track overall with good melody of lyrics that use nursery rhymes and fables, the song borrowed its title from the six member “Li’l Jack Horn Section”, who performs on this track and “Get the Funk Out”. The latter track is driven by the bass pattern of Badger and features Pat Travers on co-lead vocals.
“More Than Words” is a fine finger-picked ballad where Cherone and Bettencourt are free to fully display their talents at the fullest. For how over-produced most of the rest of the album is, the sparse arrangement here is a brilliant break in the action, and worked well to make this a quasi-classic. Lyrically, the song examines the diminished meaning of phrase “I love you”, as actions speak louder. The song became a #1 smash on the Billboard charts in the US. The subsequent single, “Hole Hearted”, another acoustic track, was also successful, rising to No. 4 on the same popular music chart.
Extreme II: Pornograffitti has some weak moments through the middle of the album. “Money (in God We Trust)” starts with a slight dialogue about the tooth fairy before the upbeat core tries to be anthemic and preachy at the same time. Not very original or interesting and, in fact, the hook borrows heavily from AC/DC’s “What Do You Do for Money Honey”. Likewise, “It’s a Monster” 4:28 – really covers no new ground at all and, while the title track “Pornograffitti” begins with some blistering guitar riffs by Bettencourt and eventually settles into a rudiment-fused groove with steady beat, it really amounts to more Van Halen-style cloning.
The second break from form, “When I First Kissed You”, is jazzy piano ballad, completely sans guitar. Here, Badger appears to be using a stand-up, double bass which adds to the song’s feel of authenticity as well along with the fine orchestral strings over the bridge. “Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)” is another hard rock narrative, while “He-Man Woman Hater” includes an excellent guitar intro that borrows from “Flight of the Bumblebee” with Bettencourt’s guitar accompanied by rapid, percussive tapping by Geary. Dweezil Zappa makes a cameo with the cartoonish voice of the title character. This is followed by “Song for Love”, a slow ballad with a dark feel throughout.
(full version: classicrockreview.com/2015/03/1990-extreme-ii-pornograffitti/)

01. Decadence Dance (06:49)
02. Li'l Jack Horny (04:51)
03. When I'm President (04:21)
04. Get The Funk Out (04:24)
05. More Than Words (05:33)
06. Money (In God We Trust) (04:10)
07. It ('s A Monster) (04:25)
08. Pornograffitti (06:16)
09. When I First Kissed You (04:00)
10. Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?) (03:38)
11. He-Man Woman Hater (06:20)
12. Song For Love (05:55)
13. Hole Hearted (03:40)

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