There are four sessions collected on 2021's
The BBC Sessions, each held at BBC's Maida Vale Studio during
Green Day's remarkable run in the 1990s. The first dates from June 1994, just after the band released
Dookie. Here, the trio sound loud, precise, and slightly polite; it's as if they're still getting used to operating on a larger stage. By the time they held their second BBC Session in November 1996, nearly a year after the release of
Insomniac, they sound rougher and wilder, particularly on the "Brain Stew/Jaded" performance. That attitude carries over to the third session, given in February 1998, a few months after
Nimrod hit the stores. The 1998 set finds
Green Day honing their precision attack, then the last session, given in August 2001, nearly a year after the release of Warning, captures a group in the thick of rethinking their approach; they retain their power but sharpen their songwriting chops. Taken together,
The BBC Sessions emphasizes both the connective threads and creative evolution of
Green Day during the first act of their career, which makes it a worthy historical document in addition to a first-rate live album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine