Green Day: American Idiot

By REBECCA BARRY

(Herald rating: * * * * )

Green Day must have been jingle writers in a former life, as the majority of these songs will have you humming along by the second chorus. First single American Idiot is a classic example, a perfect piece of punchy pop-punk that sells a political message with gleeful sarcasm: "Now everybody do the propaganda/And sing along in the age of paranoia."

You could say it's the ultimate anti-complacency sales pitch to the post-9/11 generation, and that it's likely to restore faith in their pop-writing ability, given the mediocre success of 2000's Warning.

The news is just as good elsewhere. St Jimmy and She's A Rebel come on as fast and frantic as the Pogues on speed, harking back to the three-chord power pop of their breakthrough album Dookie. The melodies are so simple they could get away with singing the lyrics to nursery rhymes over their North Cali and old British punk influences.

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong may not be one of the world's best wordsmiths but he's up there with Paul McCartney in terms of catchy tunes, even when he turns down the volume in what are bound to become stadium anthems for the lighter-waving crowd. Boulevard is a plaintive, soul-searching ballad; it wouldn't be surprising if Are We the Waiting turns up as an Amnesty International theme song.

Poignant messages aside, it took an American Idiot to mark Green Day's triumphant return to the charts, in what is likely to be one of the big albums of summer.

Label: Reprise