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FATHER OF ALL…/GREEN DAY

JASON SAVIO

Green Day’s rushed Father of All… is a complicated mess of an album. For starters, its cover brings back the iconic artwork of 2004’s important American Idiot album, albeit with a unicorn throwing up a rainbow on it. As confusing as that may seem, it makes sense by the time you finish listening.

For starters, Father of All… is no American Idiot, so don’t let the album’s cover mislead you with false excitement and hope. Father of All… is quite the opposite music-wise, with most of the songs being danceable and upbeat. Gone is the brash punk attack that charged up that collection of 2004 Bush-era songs.

The twist here is that although the music might seem like sunshine and -- wait for it rainbows -- on the surface, the lyrics usually are not. The Beatles-inspired ‘60s pop rock of “Stab You in the Heart,” complete with the sound of a screaming television audience, has Billie Joe Armstrong singing “Pictures don’t lie when you’re front page news/Dagger to heart coming down on you.” Who’s this dagger coming down on, you ask? Who do you think?

The cheery “Graffitia” is anything but, as Armstrong sings: “Another black kid was shot in town/A man with a badge and a daytime show/Darkness falls on Graffitia/Death of a town in the afterglow.”

The intention is there on Father of All..., but it’s muddled and gets lost. You get the feeling the guys in Green Day were either too afraid to commit to a full blown American Idiot for 2020, or thought a suave approach would be better. It’s not, and it’s too bad, because we really could’ve used that raw gusto again.

KESHA/HIGH ROAD

MIKE WOOD

After 2017’s somber rock-country Rainbow, Kesha wants to show us that she can still be that girl who wants to have fun—like the hard-partying Ke$ha of her early career (before becoming embroiled in the sexual abuse scandal with her producer Dr. Luke). And while she may have dropped the dollar sign in her name years ago, and put that scandal behind her, it appears she wants listeners to know she’s still kick-ass and cool. High Road offers a kaleidoscope of emotions, but unfortunately, she paints with too many broad strokes. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but has she matured as an artist, or is she simply reverting to what she thinks works?

Don’t get us wrong. Embracing a nostalgic Kesha flashback album of Animal-style abandon could be easy, but High Road feels forced. It’s like she’s trying to sound carefree and fun but doesn’t really quite believe it herself. So are we supposed party our faces off, or feel guilty that maybe she’s just putting on a mask? The album is uneven at best, and so scattershot in styles that it’s tough to know how to feel. High Road works best when it just lets Kesha sing, like on “Resentment,” a heartfelt ballad so raw that you’ll relish just hearing her actually sing… because the album plays too much with non-sensical rap interludes and spoken-word confessionals.

We’re here for Kesha’s journey and are ready to enjoy the ride. We want to root for her, of course, and when she’s good, she’s great. She is a bad-ass, so why force it? We love that about Kesha whether there’s a dollar sign in her name or not.