Extreme Album: “Accidental Collision of Atoms: The Best of Extreme [Interscope]”

Murphy's 1st Law of Rock and Roll: The best bands with the best records will languish in relative obscurity to the general public. In the case of EXTREME, this "Best of..." compilation only makes us miss them even more. This is a GREAT band that never got the recognition it deserved, save for the brisk sales of their second album, driven by the ballad "More than Words". Ironically, they were dismissed bysome critics as pop-metal balladeers because of that song, which was a grave injustice. This CD is a good introduction to this band for the otherwise uninformed (or misinformed). But to truly appreciate the breadth of the songwriting and performing skills of EXTREME you need to buy the entire catalog of 4 studio CD's. Many of the Van Halen fans who booed at Gary Cherone getting the Lead Singer job were only familiar with Cherone through "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted". But those of us more familiar with his range as a singer ("Get the Funk Out") and songwriter/lyricist saw some potential in his selection. As a live act, the Cherone-led Van Halen was the best live Van Halen concert I've seen/heard in the 12 times I've seen that band, in all its incarnations.

I already own every song on this "Best Of..." disc, so a few bonus unreleased tracks would have been nice. But the song selection on this CD provides a pretty good overview to introduce new fans. This band can rock/funk as good as any band out there, past and present.

And Extreme guitarist god Nuno Bettencourt is married to Suze DeMarchi, former lead singer of the now-defunct Australian band Baby Animals. Check out the two discs by that band, and grab Suze's solo disc "Telelove", which features the songwriting and producing hand of her hubby Nuno. Some if not all of those 3 discs are available through Amazon.com

I've just recently gotten into "Extreme", and I'm so glad I did. I'm amazed at how good these guys were, and I'm suprised they weren't more popular. They seem to get grouped in with alot of the hair bands, but they sound like more of a "Van Halen/Chili Peppers" hybrid to me. So many good songs here, including "Decadence Dance", "Rest In Peace", "Get The Funk Out", and "Hip Today". Plus the two big hits "Hole Hearted" and "More Than Words". There's actually not one weak track here. The singing and guitar playing are excellent. The only track I really miss is "He Man Woman Hater". But overall, this is perfect for the person wanting to get "Extreme".

Songs like "Hip Today", "Rest In Peace", "Stop The World", "Hole Hearted" are highly intelligent pieces of music by this artist. Not only are they soically introspective songs, but they seem to carry a sense of purpose, and a message about the world around us. Concept, melodic rock is how you could best describe Extreme's music. Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone remain a musical powerhouse duo. They both sing very well, write intelligent lyrics and melodys very well, Nuno Bettencourt in my opinion is one of the very best Guitar players in the Universe. Pat Badger is a very overlooked bassist, and Paul Geary has a drumming style unique to his own. Mike Mangini who only played on three songs with Extreme, also holds his own here on this best of CD (Hip Today, Leave Me Alone).

I would have to agree with a reviewer here that Extreme's music happens to be incredible, with elements of hard rock, pop rock, metal, jazz, alternative rock, 80's rock, progressive rock, classical, grunge rock, acoustic rock, rap, even punk rock. They loved to experiment musically all the time which made them a very interesting band to listen to. This best of compilation is a good way for you to appreciate this bands wonderful, thought provoking, rocking EXTREMELY hip songs.

As far as content, with a few notable exceptions, they picked most of the great ones for this collection. It's the perfect way someone who doesn't own all or any of Extreme's albums to get aquanted with their music. However, missing from this album are any new/unreleased tracks that may help to "lure" a fan who already has all of Extreme's CDs and then some. I heard that at the time of the Extreme break-up, they were recording 2 new songs for a "Best of" compilation. Where are these songs? Where are the b-sides? These things would entice me to buy this album more considering I already own every song on this collection. Because of this, I give this album only 3 stars. With a CD Recorder, I could make my own "Best of" collection and then some...

This is a GREAT! cd this is my 3rd time buying this cd since i was young. The deliver was fast then the time that it was suppose to be out. YYEEAA!!! Nuno Bettencourt can play the heck out of the guitar..Love U Nuno...lol...But this is a great cd to buy especially if you know the song "More than Words" back in the 90's.