Love Is for Losers

Billie Joe Armstrong started to funnel his fun songs outside of Green Day sometime after his main gig became serious and important. The Longshot is part of a tradition that stretches back to Pinhead Gunpowder and the Network, but it has more in common with Foxboro Hot Tubs, the '60s-besotted busman's holiday Green Day pursued in the late 2000s. Love Is for Losers may not be particularly garagey, but it is loud and tuneful, a record grounded in power pop and arena rock -- so much so that it closes with "Goodbye to Romance," a ballad Ozzy Osbourne premiered on 1980's Blizzard of Ozz. Despite this, the Longshot's heart lies in hooky pop tunes, sing-alongs reminiscent of prime Cheap Trick. If Love Is for Losers isn't as fizzy or giddy as Foxboro Hot Tubs' lone album, Stop Drop and Roll!!!, chalk that up to how this is pretty much the Billie Joe Armstrong show: his son Joey drums on occasion, but the album has the insular feel of a solo project. Nevertheless, this one-man band aspect lends Love Is for Losers an appealingly ramshackle feel: Armstrong is doing this old-fashioned rock & roll because he gets off on the noise and tunes, and that joy can be infectious. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine