Green Day
1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
Lookout!
Every band has to start somewhere (especially those who go on to sell over 20 million records worldwide), and 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours is where it all began for Green Day. The band’s independently released debut album – which has sold an astonishing 900,000 copies since its release in 1990 – has been re-mixed and repackaged into a deluxe collector’s edition, providing a neat glimpse of the foundations upon which the band was built.
Even though the sound has been polished, it’s still raw, rough around the edges and generally features more perspiration than inspiration, but on tracks like “I Was There,” “Why Do You Want Him?” and “The Judge’s Daughter,” it’s easy to see how the band went on to write the trademark melodic riffs of such mega hits as “When I Come Around” and “Basket Case.”
The CD-ROM compiles fans’ camcorder footage and a recording of a fairly shambolic radio performance. There’s also hand-written lyrics and brand new artwork, but I guess it’s the chance to have such rare material collected on one disc which will make 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours so appealing to die-hard Green Day fans.
Green Day: http://www.greenday.com/
