Waiting For The Punchline

[Big Crouton]

I don't know why, but I tend to forget how great this album really is for long stretches of time.  I recently rediscovered it though, and I'm blown away.  I haven't heard much of his new stuff, but I would dare to say that Nuno reached the pinnacle of his guitar playing with this album.  Never before or since have I heard him (or just about anyone else) play with such soul and feeling while still tearing it up on the guitar, and do such an incredible job of blending rhythm and lead seamlessly together in a remarkably tasteful way.  This album has a groove and soul to it that Extreme never achieved before, in spite of them having put out 2 great funk rock albums before this one (yeah, I said 2.  I'm not a big fan of their first album.)  While the story of this album is definitely Nuno's guitar work, everyone was in top form.  There's plenty of groovy and original bass lines that carry some of the songs, the drums are still quite simple, as per usual for Extreme, but they have a certain life to them that isn't found on their previous albums.  And Cherone is Cherone.  He's great at what he does, and this album is no exception.

Not only is Nuno's playing incredible, but his tone is gorgeous.  The whole album has a far more raw sound and feel than anything else they've done, and Nuno is one of few guitarists who can really pull off an album with almost exclusively single tracked guitars.  He's only got the bass and drums backing him up on his solos, but it never feels empty.  There's also absolutely no clutter in the sound, so you can really hear the intricacies of his playing.  His playing on this album has been a huge inspiration to me. 

Anyways, that's a bunch of random thoughts on the album.  I never realized how truly great this album is, and it could only be pulled off by musicians of a remarkable caliber, which they definitely have with Nuno, Mike, Pat, and Gary.

I know I've been rather inarticulate, so I'll now leave it to other appreciators of this album to discuss it.

[Basekick]

I've said it once, I'll say it again.  Nuno Bettencourt is one of the most underrated guitarists ever.

EVER.

[Big Crouton]

Yes!  I had one more point I wanted to make, and I forgot what it was by the time I got to the end of my post.  That was it.  Nuno deserves so much more recognition than he will ever get.  He has unbelievable skill, and an uncanny sense of how to use it in a musical and pleasing way.  He was the new Eddie Van Halen, but a far superior guitarist and musician.

I suspect that he may simply have been screwed by 'More Than Words' (though I'm sure he's done might fine financially from it).  I think a lot of people either wrote off Extreme because of that song, or were drawn in only to find that song is not at all representative of the band that made it.

By the way, I saw him playing 'Rude Boy' with Rihanna, and while I don't dig the music, I was impressed.  How many guitarists could actually add something of value to a song like that?  https://music.aol.com/video/rude-boy-sessions/rihanna/bc:68224258001  that's the video.

[Lowdz]

I was a huge Extreme fan from the 1st album (though there's not much there that gets my attention now). Porno and III Sides were awesome. I absolutely hated WFTP. Hated everything about it, from the songs to the sound and everything inbetween. It all sounds discordant to me. Weird melodies and tuneless...
I always felt that Nuno listened to the critics too much and took to heart the "you're not heavy enough" message after More Than Words. The fan base wasn't saying that! There was a fair amount of grunge in WFTP and I hated every attempt that the melodic bands of the time made to be "hip".
Each to his own though.
Also Nuno pissed me off in the live dvd from this year when he played the solo to one of the old songs and was feigning yawning and boredom whilst playing the millions of notes. I wanted to punch him at that point and I know that I shouldn't, but I took it as an insult that I liked that stuff and he's "moved on" from it.
I'll calm down in a minute. Nurse, my pills please!

[PixelDream]

What a coincidence. Someone recommended that album to me last week, saying that Nuno used way less gain on his guitar sound, and that the intention in his guitar playing is extraoirdinary on this record. Definately gonna check it out!

[Ultimetalhead]

Nuno is fabulous, and a lot of shred guitarists do the whole yawning thing. It's meant to be funny, not an insult to the older songs. If they didn't like them, they wouldn't play them.

[lord-ruler]

I didn't like it when it first came out.   I was hoping for the same guitar tone from III sides. Now that I am older and wiser  I like it a lot more.   The last couple of songs kind of stink though.