Although their debut album did not create much of a bang in 1989,the funky Boston quartet Extreme went on to sledge-hammer the funk-rock scene with an arsenal of just four albums in two decades. The masses,unfortunately,have identified them with the wrong songs,like More than words and Hole hearted,which,of course,are brilliantly arranged acoustic ballads. The quintessential versatility of the band,however,mushroomed in albums like the funk-metal odyssey Pornograffitti,the epic III Sides to Every Story and the audaciously raw grunge-funk record Waiting for the Punchline. Thirteen years after their amicable split,the dexterously deadly guitarist Nuno Bettencourt,singer Gary Cherone and the bassist Pat Badger are back with a new drummer,Kevin Figueiredo,to deliver a classic funk-rock record with more than the usual dose of ballads thrown in. The ingenious force charging the band is undoubtedly Bettencourts progressions,imperative chordings and break-neck muted shreds,giving him a berth among the gods of the guitar world. The record opens with the multi-track vocals in Stars,which are taken over by the swaggering riffs in Comfortably dumb. Learn to love comes with an enviable jamboree of bass,wallops and guitar solo. Apart from the super-groovy,distorted bass-induced King of ladies and the off-beat Sunrise,the band throws in ballads like the melancholic Last hour and Ghost that display Cherones trademark falsettos. Definitely an album for guitar freaks. The album can be purchased through the bands website or iTunes.
