Extreme – Pornograffitti Deluxe Edition

@planetmosh reviews Pornograffitti by .@ExtremeBand on .@UMC and .@Polydor

Lots of things happened in 1990.  I started secondary school, Italy hosted the World Cup, which was won by West Germany, the last time a divided Germany would ever compete, and Extreme released Pornograffitti.  On February 9th they’ll re-release it to celebrate it’s 25th anniversary.  It was only their second album but in the liner notes of the new version Metal Hammer’s Malcolm Dome gets it right when he says it was the “definitive album” of Extreme’s career.  Ask anyone to name an Extreme song and the chances are it’ll feature on Pornograffitti.

I first saw the band in 1992 when they opened for Bryan Adams on his Waking Up The Neighbours tour.  In 2014 I saw them again at the Glasgow Academy on the Pornograffitti anniversary tour.  I noticed a couple of things.  You can read about that in depth in my review of the gig in the Event Reviews section of Planetmosh, but to sum up what I realised was that in the two decades since I’d seen them Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt hadn’t aged a day, and perhaps more importantly, neither had most of the songs.  That’s the reason I find it somewhat unbelievable that so much time has passed since these songs were new.  Every person there that night knew every word, which is testament to how this album holds a place in people’s hearts.  The good news then, is that as well as the entire original album, this anniversary deluxe edition contains a second CD of rare mixes and remastered B-sides.  That adds up to twenty three tracks altogether, although I must say there’s a fair bit of repetition.  Between the two discs there are three versions of Get The Funk Out and five (yes, FIVE!) different versions of More Than Words.  Just my opinion but that might be pushing the boundaries a little bit.  It’s clearly Extreme’s biggest hit and best known song, but seriously do we really need five versions of it?

Despite that, the original album holds up well and is every bit as good as I remember.  Tracks like Decadence Dance, Get The Funk Out and It (‘s A Monster) are classics.  The odd track shows it’s age somewhat, for example the quasi-rap of When I’m President, but on the whole it was a great album then and it’s still great now, with added enjoyment coming from the nostalgia associated with it.  Also brilliant is Hole Hearted, which I always thought was overshadowed a bit by More Than Words but deserves some recognition of it’s own.  Overall, Pornograffitti might be 25 years old, but it’s still well worth a listen and I hope this release brings Extreme some new fans.

Whether any new material will be forthcoming from Extreme remains to be seen, they’ve been touring Pornograffitti’s anniversary for months now, but if anything new does appear I hope it lives up to the standards of this, the album they’ll always be remembered for.

Track Listing:

CD1:

Decadence Dance

L’il Jack Horny

When I’m President

Get The Funk Out

More Than Words

(Money) In God We Trust

It (‘s A Monster)

Pornograffitti

When I First Kissed You

Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)

He-Man Woman Hater

Song For Love

Hole Hearted

CD2:

More Than Words – Remix

Nice Place To Visit – Single B-Side

More Than Words – Edit

Decadence Dance – Edit

Money (In God We Trust) – Edit

More Than Words (Acappella) – Single B-Side

Get The Funk Out – 7″ What The Funk? Mix

More Than Words (A Capella With Congas) – Single B-Side

Get The Funk Out (12″ Remix) – Single B-Side 7″

Sex N’ Love – Single B-Side

Links:

www.extreme-band.com

www.facebook.com/extremeband

@ExtremeBand