Customer Reviews

Extreme

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Oh thank goodness for Extreme. This album repersents the birth of the band later to save us in the 90's from the horad guitar trash littering the FM airwaves. Couple of the songs on here we could live without but over all excellent music. Got to love Play With Me, which was in the movie Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure. Also has some good quality slower song like Watching Waiting, or Rock A Bye. Great stuff!!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is where it all started officially. This is the first studio album by the Legendary Extreme.

This is a goodd album, featuring such classic 80's rock songs as "Mutha" and "Play With Me," as well as many other quality songs.

However, I personally prefer the second half of Extreme's career, "3 Sides to Every Story" and "Waiting for the Punchline." They feature a fuller, more developed sound, "Extreme" still features a great raw, yet tight and original sound.

I recommend this to any fan of 80's rock and metal. And if you like this, there are three other studio albums and a greatest hits package just waiting for you.

Enjoy.

In the late 80's and early 90's it was about how in your face you can get with your sound. Nobody was better at this art form then Extreme and this is where they started.

What I mean about "in your face" is not about speed, not about heavy and not about how popular you can get. It is about putting emphasis on every instrument including the vocals while still making the song melodic. Extreme did this, well to the Extreme.

What I find is a shame is that thier biggest hit and probably the only song Extreme will be remembered by is the Mega-hit "More Than Words" When it comes to music, does it really matter what the general public thinks. If you thought like them, you wouldn't even consider buying this CD no less be reading this review.

As for the record itself... read on
Even though this is probably the bands 3rd best recording, it still has a few stand out tracks. Mutha (Don't Wanna go to School Today) is a true 80's rock Anthem. Wind Me Up is filled with killer licks and overthe top vocal production. Play With Me shows off Nuno's A1 guitar skills. Not every track is top notch though(there are some weaker songs toward the end of the disc)

Overall this is one of the better releases from the late 80's hard rock genre. Ignore all who say Extreme was just a one hit wonder with a ballad and see for yourself.

At first listen, this début album seemed mediocre in its delivery! A couple of tracks, when FIRST reviewed, appeared to be simply composed as filler material. Quite a bit of its composition echoes forth earlier artists instrumental techniques and arrangement styles. As a listener, I had to make an effort to resist branding Extreme with a stereotypical label right out of the gate. Unfortunately, this group's worse critic was the passing of time, and the popular trends of that time. The release of this album took place during the dying age of 80's rock. Hair band's had reigned throughout much of the decade, and a changing of the guard was clearly taking place amongst the differing musical genres. Okay, enough of the history lesson...

This album exhibits great lyrical and instrumental composition! Gary Cherone's vocal execution is "A" 4/40 on many tracks. Rough enough to ride the jagged edge of heavy metal, but yet, well refined during tracks like "Rock A Bye Bye." And harmony! My god! The WHOLE band is able to contribute their vocal artistry on many of the songs contained within. I now have an adequate defense against the claims that that harmony is dead in today's modern music. Sure, my ear picks up reminiscent tones of earlier bands like Queen, but come on! I believe that even Freddy would be somewhat pleased with the little "Rock A Bye" ditty. No wonder Van Halen wanted Cherone as their front man when Sammy made his exit.

Nuno Bettencourt is phenomenal on this whole album. Perhaps I am hearing evidence of influential artists like Vetto Bratta, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and tidbits of others, but the clarity of keyed notes and technical mastery brings forth a refreshing cacophony of sound fidelity.

Bottom line! This release deserves allot more respect than was first awarded over a decade ago. Other than "Three Sides To Every Story", this album displays the very best that Extreme had to offer...and more! It is difficult to fathom that THIS was their début release.

When I first bought the "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Soundtrack"I was blown away by a song on there called "PLAY WITH ME".Right away I knew I had to go out and find out what EXTREME was all about,I was amazed by all the guitar work by NUNO it was fresh and exciting,after I heard this album I was hooked.This CD is much more RAW than their later ones and alot less overproduced with that funk-grove sound that later became their signature sound,so if you like good old simple sounding Rock this is the best of EXTREME

Often over-shadowed by their other albums Pornograffitti and III Sides, Extreme's self-titled debut is a good hard rock/hair metal release.

Extreme combines the funky swagger of Aerosmith, the art-rock approach of Queen and the guitar pyrotechnics of Van Halen on their debut. There is variety and solid songwriting on this cd. From the Van Halen-esque "Teacher's Pet" and "Mutha, Don't Wanna Go To School Today" to the Queen-like "Watching, Waiting" and "Rock A Bye Bye" to the funky, Aerosmith-influenced tunes like "Little Girls" and "Kid Ego", Extreme delivers on all fronts.

And then you get the finale, "Play With Me", which is just pure fun and 100% Extreme.

I'll admit, some of the songs aren't great but what they lack in greatness, they more than make up for in energy.

Good album. If you like Van Halen, Queen and Aerosmith, this may be a cd you can get into.

Yeah this album has its flaws, but it's still one helluva debut album. This was just a taste of what was to come from the most underrated, overlooked band who ever made the big time. One thing is for certain: There will never be another Extreme. Ever. I think it's a shame that more people weren't aware of the talent involved. It seems to me that their biggest audience was other musicians. Nuno Bettencourt started off great and even went so far as to surpass his influences. I own everything Extreme ever did, Nuno's solo album "Schizophrenia", and Van Halen's III. Extreme put out four major albums before their break-up, after Gary Cherone left to join Van Halen.

This is where it all started. Uneven? Yes. Still, there isn't what I would call a "bad" song on the whole album.

I can only hope that this band will one day re-unite.

That's what this CD should really be called. I am sorry, Gery Cherone is probanly an immensely nice guy, he has good energy, I've seen him three times, twice with Extreme and once with Van Halen, the dude is putting fourth incredible effort performance wise but for some reason he doesn't do his lead guitarists proper credit. He has had two of the best in Nuno Bettencourt and Eddie Van Halen, and yet after the show he comes across as expendable. Somewhere after the Pornogrffiti album his lyrics lost edge and while his energy during a concert can get hm through that with the help of a guitar god or two if you are not at a concert and listening to any CD he has done since then, he falls short. So lets go back in time to this debute CD.

Now guitar aces became almost cliche in the 80's, everyone wanted to be the next Eddie and recreate the mark he made with Van Halens debut album. And some INCREDIBLE guitarists came out of the 80's as the result of these "hair bands" like Lynch, Bratta (please pck up a guitar again some day), Lee, Slash,just to name a few. But what Eddie did with Van Halen's debut album is,well is there a better word for it than legendary? Please let me know because that one doesn't seem good enough. I don't know if anyone SHOULD have known at the time but they definitly DIDN'T realize Eddie was king. So had we not been so overwhelmed with all these new lead guitarists (and I am not complaining, I love good guitar play and skill, on a Les PAul, acoustic, banjo, whatever) then the emergence of one Nuno Bettencourt with an obscure band called Extreme would not go as unoticed as it did.

In my opinion if I had to pay to literally listen to one guy play guitar all day, 24 hrs, sun up to sundown there are 5 guys I'd do that for. 1.Eddie, 2.Mark Knoppler 3. Billy Gibbons 4. Eric Johnson 5. Nuno Bettencourt. I am not saying these are the best ever, well Eddie I am, I'll fight you for that one, but the others are purely personal tastes. Nuno was the best to come out of a time when everyone was looking for the next Eddie and a LOT of great talent sufaced willing to try to be that. Granted if Randy Rhodes isn't taken from us so soon, Nuno may have only been the 2nd best, but not by far.

Get this album! Get in on the emergence of one of the most incredible guitar talents you will ever hear. Then help me figure out what the #$%@ happened! This debut Cd then the Pornografitti album and all of a sudden its like he turns down the volume. The talent is still there and then some, you can tell on Extreme's following albums but it is only in glimpses. He does a little more in his solo albums but it is like he is trying to shun the guitar god image. KNOCK IT OFF NUNO!!!!!!!!!!! I don't want to hear Cherone's soft sensitiveand politically clever vocals, I want YOU to play the guitar like you got a pair plus a few spare sets hanging around down their. That's what you used to do. DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Una verdadera obra maestra del glam metal, aunque diferente en su estilo, una clara muestra del talento de Nuno en su trabajo con las cuerdas, un clásico que cualquier fan de los 80 debería tener. Extreme una gran banda!

Man is this record a lot of fun. The pride of Boston, MA, Extreme seemed superficially to be a typical product of the hair metal age and to be fair they did exhibit many of the cookie cutter traits of their contemporaries. They were however not afraid to explore prog or funk which set them apart from much of the rest of the pack. They showed on their debut how much of a supremely talented foursome they were. Nuno Bettancourt rang notice that he was a new guitar god and Gary Cherone had area ready pipes and the rhythm section of Badger and Geary completed the band, no slouches here. Much of the subject matter of `Extreme' ran to the joyous celebration of childhood and the band showed early on that they tended to write conceptually and this would be more apparent in later releases. Van Halen seemed to be one obvious early influence especially in regards to Nuno's playing. "Mutha" is probably the most Halenesque song with its full throttle guitar intro and the style of the central riff before the chorus. "Kid Ego", "Little Girls", "Wind Me Up" and of course "Teacher's Pet" round out my personal favorites. "Watching Waiting" is a very good power ballad type song and "Play With Me" concluded the LP at breakneck speed. Good to great metal from the late 80's that at least gives one another flavor as opposed to the same old stuff. Extreme would gain much fame and fortune with their next record.