Green Day decided to join the Record Store Day 2014 fun by releasing an 18-track demo collection of songs from their last three albums called Demolicious. If the name of this album hasn't pushed you away from checking it out, then you probably have stronger will than a majority of music enthusiasts. And if you bought it on vinyl then you paid $29.98 (at least according to the Amoeba Music website) for it, making you a much more dedicated fan that most probably, or your were just looking to "flip" it on Ebay.
The album art was announced via Green Day bassist, Mike Dirnt's Instragram where he claims that "This Is How ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!Would Have Sounded if We Were Still On Lookout Records I Love it!!!!" This statement is the furthest thing from reality. For DIY/non-major label bands this is how they might sound after a major polishing. Even for a demo album these tracks are over polished and over produced, let alone the actual three albums. If you were brave enough to spend money and purchase this on Record Store Day, do not expect this album to have the edge Green Day had back in the Lookout! Records days.
At least compared to the originals on ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, and ¡Tré!, these tracks don't sound that much different; maybe just a little rougher, but nothing too significant. However, there are two tracks worth mentioning. The first one being an unreleased track (yeah, I couldn't believe there was more material from those three albums either) called "State of Shock," which would've have fit perfectly on any of the trilogy albums. It's poppy, power chord-dominated, and probably would have blended in with the other songs on those albums. There really isn't anything that special about it compared to the other songs on ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, or ¡Tré!. It's like they held this track back just so they could market Demolicious as having an exclusive unreleased song. The other notable track on this album is an unreleased acoustic version of "Stay the Night," the fully electric one originally being on ¡Uno!,. It's just Billie Joe playing the song slower with out the main guitar riff. It sounds like it was quickly recorded on a computer mic at the last minute. Again, nothing special.
Granted, there is no denying just how influential and important Green Day was to the scene. Dookie still remains to be a great album as well as 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk, but the last three albums and Demolicious reinforce the notion that they are incredibly far away from being the great 924 Gilman band they once were and that they are a bloated, major label, power pop band and have been for quite a while.
Note to my fellow vinyl nerds:
This special edition Record Store Day release was pressed as a double 12-inch. 2400 copies were pressed in clear and red vinyl. It also was available on cassette and CD as well.