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
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,
emphasizes both the connective threads and creative evolution of
during the first act of their career, which makes it a worthy historical document in addition to a first-rate live album.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