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Extreme - III Sides to Every Story Audio CD

A fair review of the Extreme "III Sides to Every Story" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Extreme reviews here, or go back to the Extreme tabs.

Extreme Band: Extreme
Title: III Sides to Every Story
Rating:
Release Date: 1992-09-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Warheads 2: Rest in Peace 3: Politicalamity 4: Color Me Blind 5: Cupid's Dead 6: Peacemaker Die 7: Seven Sundays 8: Tragic Comic 9: Our Father 10: Stop the World 11: God Isn't Dead? 12: I Rise 'N Shine 13: II Am I Ever Gonna Change 14: III Who Cares?

An indulgent masterpiece.
In hindsight, it is a briliant hair-band concept album. Completely overshadowed by early 90's grunge, Extreme's 3rd album is an indulgent (perhaps too much so) masterpiece that found a quick death both on radio and album charts of the time. Lyrics cover politics, religion, and philosophy, and musically the record ranges from metal-funk to acoustic ballads. Virtuoso guitarist Nuno Bettencourt gets to shine during the first "side" of the disc, vocalist Gary Cherone indulges in perhaps too many acoustic ballads during the second half of the proceedings, and the final "side" features a suite complete with string quartet. Clearly, not a typical hair band album; but then, Extreme were not a typical hair band. Now that Gary's brief Van Halen stint is over, perhaps Extreme will re-unite, if for no other reason than to tour and re-create their unique sound.


Make love not war sounds so absurd...
The album dropped in sales compared to its predecessor which sold double platinum on the strength of hit singles. Boston's Extreme would hit their artistic peak with release of `III Sides to Every Story' but unfortunately not all great art is appreciated commercially. `III Sides' doesn't take the easy way out and while though it does have songs which should have dented the singles market, the band was not aiming for low brow but high concept. As grunge was hitting the marketplace by mid-1992, metal bands who presented progressive concept albums were in danger of suffering the slings and arrows of both critics and fickle fans. The LP is divided into three parts (hence three sides) "Yours", a hard rocking album more in the `Pornograffitti' vane, "Mine", featuring the mellower more introspective side of the band and "The Truth" which is truly the most progressive of the three parts and featured longer songs with multi-parts and orchestration while built around a general theme of "Everything Under the Sun". With patience and persistence, `III Sides' is how Extreme envisioned their fans would eventually accept their high minded concepts; addressing religion but also war, politics, racism, failed romance ,tabloid journalism and parental love. "Rest in Peace", "Tragic Comic", "Am I Ever Gonna Change", "Warheads", "Peacemaker Die" and "Stop the World" are all career highlights. Extreme sought to emulate their heroes on `III Sides' and based on what I hear, they measure up quite well. .


Daddy DON'T RUN AWAY!!!!!!!

In my opinion, the first two albums where mindbogglingly insane!!!! To the untrained ear, they may sound like Van Halen, but they exceed Van Halen/Hagar. Definitely an Extreme album for fans. These guys are more electric!! Unmatched, it's understandable why they labeled themselves under "Funky Metal".

In this 3rd outing, it kinda feels as if the group lost their youthful spirit. Of course, some tracks may make you think otherwise. One thing that stands out about this ablum is that it feels more poetic. . . almost philosophical. The full orchestra is a commendable try, though it may come off basic at times, it's necessary to emphasize the grander moments.

With that said, the more I listen to it, the more it grows on me. I only discovered this album a month ago, and I've known of Extreme for 6 months.


One of the few 90s classics.
"III Sides to Every Story" was the 1st addition to our collective CD music library. During my early 20s, when the rest of the music-loving youth of the world had their Walkmans spinning Nirvana and Pearl Jam CDs during the overly-hyped era of grunge-rock, my new husband and I purchased this follow-up to my well loved "Pornograffitti" CD. Almost 17 years and 500 CD purchases later, both our marriage and this CD have stood the test of time, and "III Sides" is still our mutual favorite. My husband is/was a fellow musician and metal head, while U2 was more my thing, but we BOTH love this CD and this band. This album plays like Sgt. Pepper with a story and a purpose setting the musical landscape, and is more fully appreciated as a rock opera than a collection of well-performed and produced material, although it does hold its own in that respect as well.

I had the pleasure of witnessing these gentlemen perform this rock masterpiece from beginning to end during the tour to support it in 1993, and to this day I regard it as one of the best rock performances I've ever seen live on stage.

Most folks are familiar with "Warheads," Rest in Peace," and "Stop the World," but I always believed "Am I Ever Gonna Change" was truly the show stopper on this one, and worth the price of the CD alone.

Many music critics identify Nuno as one of the most underrated and under-celebrated musicians of this generation. With that being said, I believe this is his Magnum Opus.
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Cupid's Dead
Plain & simple. Some of you really think you're music critics don't you? Long winded reviews trying to impress us with your "knowledge". . . this is a great album. Anything Nuno is involved with is worth having. One of the truly great guitarists. Cupid's Dead is worth the cd but there are many other tasty & meaningful tunes here. Buy this and Pornograffiti. .


You can see a complete list of all Extreme discography, or go back to the Extreme tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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