extreme

1 Warheads 5:18 (Extreme) 2 Rest in Peace 6:02 (Extreme) 3 Politicalamity 5:04 (Extreme) 4 Color Me Blind 5:01 (Extreme) 5 Cupid's Dead 5:56 (Extreme) 6 Peacemaker Die 6:03 (Extreme) 7 Seven Sundays 4:18 (Extreme) 8 Tragic Comic 4:45 (Extreme) 9 Our Father 4:02 (Extreme) 10 Stop the World 5:58 (Extreme) 11 God Isn't Dead? 2:02 (Extreme) 12 I Rise 'N Shine 6:23 (Extreme) 13 II Am I Ever Gonna Change 6:57 (Extreme) 14 III Who Cares? 8:19 (Extreme)

Extreme's brand of hard rock balanced ambitious, progressive tendencies with catchy melodies owing more to the Beatles than anthemic arena rock; on III Sides to Every Story, the former tends to dominate. The album is divided into three "sides of the story" -- roughly speaking, "Yours" concentrates on politically oriented rockers showing off Nuno Bettencourt's virtuosity; "Mine" leans toward pop songs with warmly romantic sensibilities, plus an occasional philosophical lament; and "The Truth" tries to wrap things up into a coherent whole but dissolves into indigestible prog-rock excess. Thus, the thematic material can be likened to a less focused version of Pornograffiti. The album is wildly uneven, but amidst the indulgences there are some fine songs to be found: "Rest In Peace" displays both Bettencourt's technique and melodicism as a soloist, while "Seven Sundays" continues in their occasional lounge ballad vein, and "Tragic Comic" and "Stop the World" are two more intelligent, wounded-romantic pop gems. Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Although guitarist and band mastermind Nuno Bettencourt's style was derived from Eddie Van Halen, his heart is with the progressive hard rock of Queen, as well as Beatlesque pop and touches of lounge jazz. Consequently, Extreme's music is never easy to classify; it's not just heavy metal, hard rock, or pop -- their albums cover all of that territory, with a sweeping ambition and a social conscious to match. By the time of their second album, Pornograffiti, Bettencourt was already well-respected in the heavy metal world but it was the Everly Brothers-style acoustic ballad, "More Than Words," that crossed them over into the mainstream -- it hit number one and the follow-up single, the acoustic-based pop rocker "Hole Hearted," hit number four. Extreme's third album, Extreme III: Three Sides to Every Story, was an over-ambitious follow-up that sold well at first, but didn't have the staying power of their previous album. Extreme's fourth album, 1995's Waiting for the Punchline, suffered from a similar lack of sales. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide