Green day-Shenanigans (released 2002) By Jason Karlson

This album is far better then it has any right to be. Considering what it is, which is, a filler album to go alongside there greatest hits disk International Superhits. A stop gap album to keep them in the public eye while they scurry off and make there next album proper (the one that was ditched after the master tapes where stolen and would later lead to the politically charged American Idiot).

Shenanigans is Green days album of outtakes, rarities and b-sides. With any other band this would be a flashing neon sign pointing out that there is a shortfall in the ideas department or that they have a desire to make a huge wad of cash without having to do anything such as playing those pesky instruments. Linkin Park's Reanimation anybody? Limp Bizkits New Old Songs maybe? Thought not. Which is probably why Shenanigans is such a pleasant surprise showing that Billie Joe and company throw away better ideas then most bands bother with on there studio albums. Some of the songs are easy to pinpoint in the Green day discology and then there are some that could have been trimmed from any of there albums. Album opener Suffocate is pure Dookie era Green day with it's catchy Hooks and sing back chorus (Make it stop I'm getting of/make it stop I'm getting of).

Incredibly addictive stuff. The bizarre Desensitised that begins with heavy drums stopping and starting while in the background someone yells and shouts over the sounds of pots and pans, smashing and crashing about before exploding into a classic Nimrod-like song. There are some songs that are simply fun such as the surf punk instrumental Espionage used on the Austin Powers soundtrack which is Green day's own spin on a James bond spy theme tune.

The last track is the gloriously stupid and throwaway Ha Ha your Dead penned by Bass Player Mike Dirnt with it's simple Ramones-esque line of Ha ha your dead/ha ha your dead/ha ha your dead sounding like it's being chanted by a room of pogoing punks. The covers are remarkable too, another nod to the three chord wonders The Ramones on the cover of Outsider that sounds almost like a carbon copy of the original only with Billie Joe taking over the vocal duties. I want to be TV, a cover of the 80's hardcore band Fangs original is classic punk material weighing in at only 1 minute 15 second blast of rowdy and un-containable aggression. Shenanigans can't touch Dookie or Nimrod (few albums can) but considering that most of the tracks here are from the sessions of these albums then it comes pretty close. It's a lot catchier, bouncier and fun then there critically panned Warning. I'm sorry, I can see what they were trying to do differently on Warning, trying not to be pigeonholed and hats off to them for trying to go in a different direction and try something new, but I just don't like it. I have very little love for it beyond the singles Warning and Minority. For once a b-sides album that actually progress the band and lets there talent shine through rather then being a hastily compiled money spinner, one that can hold it's head up high with Green day's studio albums.

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