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BULLET IN A BIBLE
Reprise
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After a year that’s seen a reinvigorated Green Day ride one of the more relevant punk-pop albums in years all the way to the top of the charts and then follow it up with an ambitious long-form video for "Jesus of Suburbia," a live disc — actually a two-disc live set with a CD and a DVD — seems almost superfluous. "American Idiot" may be an anthem for our times, but do we really need a live version already? Well, leave it to Billie Joe to defy expectations and give Bullet in a Bible its own relevance by recording it in England. That’s right, you’ve got a Grammy-winning Rolling Stone cover boy growling "Don’t wanna be an American idiot" in front of a roaring crowd of kids whose country got dragged into the same Iraq war that nobody — particularly the Brits — has much love for and then riling them up to a fevered pitch with cries of "C’mon England . . . I want you to sing so loud that every single redneck in America hears you." The CD works through the bristling "Jesus of Suburbia" suite ("This song is dedicated to everyone who took the train here tonight") before delving back into old gems like "Longview" and "Basketcase." The DVD offers an opportunity to hear the trio discuss touring, the thinking behind some of the more controversial tracks on American Idiot, and the title of the new disc. (They’re shown an actual Bible with a bullet in it on a taped visit to London’s Imperial War Museum.) Billie’s no Bono — not yet, anyway — but as an American emissary of sorts, he's found his own platform and agenda.
