Andy's Album Review - Extreme III Sides To Every Story

 

III Sides to Every Story (pronounced 3 Sides to Every Story) is the third album by the Boston funk-metal band Extreme, released in 1992. It was the follow-up to the very successful Pornograffitti album. It was the last album that fully featured the band's original line-up: Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt, Pat Badger and Paul Geary; Geary later left, and was replaced by Mike Mangini.

The album is structured as a concept album in three sections labeled as "sides" — a play on the notion of "different sides to a story" and that of "sides" of an album (in LP and cassette media). The sides, mentioned in the song "Cupid's Dead" as "three sides to every story" are named "Yours", "Mine" and "The Truth", and each features a distinct musical style and lyrical imagery.

Although this was their third record, bootleg recordings from Extreme's earlier days confirm that at least two tracks for this album ('Warheads' & 'Our Father') existed and were performed in almost identical arrangements several years prior, dating back to the time of their first record.

Yours is made of hard rock songs, the guitar-centric style which the band had explored the most on their previous albums. Their funk-metal tendencies are present in tracks such as "Cupid's Dead", which also features a rap section performed by guest John Preziosa Jr. As a whole, this side deals with political subjects: war ("Warheads"), peace ("Rest In Peace"), government ("Politicalamity"), racism ("Color Me Blind"), media ("Cupid's Dead"). Summing up these matters, the side closes with "Peacemaker Die", a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., which features a recording of his famous 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech.

Mine, in total contrast, deals with introspective subjects. In accordance, the band departs from its guitar sound and experiments with different arrangements on this side, with Nuno Bettencourt playing keyboards in addition to (and in some tracks, instead of) the guitar. The side opening song, "Seven Sundays", is a slow waltz with prominent keyboards and no guitars. "Tragic Comic" is a mostly acoustic track telling a light-hearted love story. "Our Father" is sung from the perspective of the child of an absent father (although many interpret the song to be dealing with God as The Father). With "Stop The World", the album starts to delve into more philosophical questions, expressing existential doubts — a theme that leads to religion, with "God Isn't Dead?" (written with the verb form as an affirmation but with a question mark — the chorus says "Please tell me God isn't dead... I want to know") and "Don't Leave Me Alone", a dramatic plea. The latter was not included in the CD version because of lack of space; Nuno Bettencourt recalls leaving it out "was like cutting off my arm". Despite not being bound by the limitations of the CD format, the version of the album downloadable from iTunes also omits "Don't Leave Me Alone".

Finally, The Truth consists of a three-part opus, titled "Everything Under The Sun", ending the three-part album. This side nods to progressive rock not only in format but also in musical style, with changes in time signature and an intricate arrangement, featuring a 70-piece orchestra. Lyrically, the spiritual theme set up in the end of "Mine" is further developed and Christian imagery is very present,

The use of Roman numerals in the title is intended to denote "III Sides" as the band’s third album and to continue the theme from their previous album, the full title of which was Extreme II: Pornograffitti. On the album cover graphics, the last ‘E’ in ‘Extreme’ is also the ‘III’ in the album title.

This is my favorite of their albums. I love the different styles and sounds. Even The Truth side is good. Granted you have to be on the right mood, but still very good.

Most of III Sides was recorded at New River Studios, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and the orchestral parts were recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London. The use of Abbey Road may be perceived as yet another nod to the Beatles, besides the various lyrical references throughout the album: "Cupid's Dead" quotes a line from "A Day in the Life"; "God Isn't Dead?" quotes "Eleanor Rigby"; and "Rest in Peace" quotes John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance". Pat Badger also used Paul McCartney's typical Hofner bass guitar in the video for "Tragic Comic".

Footnotes: "Peacemaker Die" is not included on the Republic of Korea edition.

"Don't Leave Me Alone" is available exclusively on the vinyl and cassette editions of the album, as well as on the Extragraffitti compilation album (3-CD edition), "Tragic Comic" single, "Stop The World" single, and as a separate promotional single.

On some CD editions of III Sides To Every Story, the tracks comprising the "Everything Under The Sun" arc were indexed and played as one track, whereas on others they are indexed separately (albeit with no break in the music between tracks). Running times are therefore listed for the combined track and for the separated tracks.

 Gary Cherone - vocals

Nuno Bettencourt - guitar, keyboards, piano, organ, percussion, backing vocals

Pat Badger - bass, backing vocals

Paul Geary - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Ray Miller and Jerry Burns

 

Minnesota Sports fans lost two legendary coaches these last few days. Ray Miller and Jerry Burns. 

Ray, a long time pitching coach who worked for the Orioles, Twins and Pirates.  A highly regarded pitching coach, he was known for bringing improvement to the pitchers he coached at many stops over his career. His successes as a pitching coach twice led him to be promoted to manager, where he was much less successful. He managed the Minnesota Twins (1985–86) and the Baltimore Orioles (1998–99), each for less than two seasons and with a losing record each time, compiling an overall managerial record of 266–297

Miller made his minor league debut with the Lexington Giants in 1964. He was subsequently acquired by the Cleveland Indians the following season. Miller never reached the Major Leagues as a player. The highest level he attained was Class AAA,with Portland, Wichita and Rochester from 1969–73. 

In his final season at Rochester, he was a player-coach, and then became minor league pitching instructor for the Red Wings' parent club, the Orioles, from 1974–77.

At the close of the 1977 season, Miller agreed to join the coaching staff of the Texas Rangers, whose manager was former Baltimore third-base coach Billy Hunter. But in January 1978, the Orioles' pitching coach position opened unexpectedly when George Bamberger was named skipper of the Milwaukee Brewers. Miller was let out of his Ranger contract and succeeded Bamberger for the pennant-contending Orioles. He worked under managers Earl Weaver and Joe Altobelli and coached for O's teams that won the 1979 AL Championship and the 1983 World Title. Miller tutored 20-game-winning pitchers such as Jim Palmer, Mike Boddicker, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone and Scott McGregor during that period. Not to shabby. 

The success of the Orioles' pitching staff made Miller a sought-after managerial candidate and on June 21, 1985, he received his first opportunity. Billy Gardner, who had led the Twins to a disappointing 27–35 record, was fired and Miller took control of the young Minnesota ball-club. Although the Twins improved to 50–50 over the remainder of the season, they performed so poorly (59–80, .424) in 1986, Miller was replaced as skipper by Tom Kelly. on September 12.

Miller subsequently returned to the coaching ranks, spending ten seasons as pitching mentor of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1987–96) working for Jim Leyland and one (1997) back in Baltimore under Davey Johnson . When Johnson resigned at the close of the Orioles’ AL East Division championship season, Miller replaced him as manager. However, over the next two seasons (1998–99), the Orioles played ten games under .500 and he was fired in favor of Mike Hargrove in November 1999.

Miller returned as pitching coach of the Orioles in 2004–05, and the Baltimore staff showed improvement under his tutelage. However, he was forced to the sidelines by successful surgery to repair an aneurysm, and was succeeded in that role by Leo Mazzone in 2006.

He was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame five years later on August 7, 2010

Miller died on the evening of May 4, 2021, he was 76. 

Jerry Burns , or as KQRS listeners might know him as Uncle Coach Burnsy. 

He played in college for the Michigan Wolverines before becoming a coach. He was the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1961 to 1965, compiling a record of 16–27–2, and for the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL from 1986 to 1991, tallying a mark of 52–43 in the regular season, and 3–3 in the postseason. Between his head coaching stints Burns was a defensive assistant (1965–1967) for the Green Bay Packers, helping the team win Super Bowls I and II, and Offensive Coordinator (1968–1985) for the Minnesota Vikings, where he coached the team to four Super Bowl appearances.

Before his first game as a college head coach, Iowa was named the number one team in the AP Preseason Poll. Iowa started the season by winning their first four games in 1961 before losing their next four. In their final game, the Hawkeyes defeated Notre Dame 42–21 for the team's fifth win in six years over the Irish. Iowa finished the season 5–4, their last winning record until 1981.

In 1962, Iowa defeated both Michigan and Ohio State, the only time in school history that the school had defeated both teams in the same year. However, the Hawkeyes won only two other games and posted a 4–5 final record. The school's final game of the season against Notre Dame was canceled on account of the assassination of JFK. The Hawkeyes finished 1963 with a 3–3–2 record.

A 3–0 start in the 1964 season quickly turned sour, as the Hawkeyes lost their final six games. Burns was now in real danger of being fired, but Iowa had several players returning in 1965 and the Hawkeyes were expected to be very good. Before the 1965 season, Playboy Magazine picked Iowa as their Preseason Number One team and predicted a 9–1 record. Instead, Iowa finished the year 1–9 and, before Iowa's final game that season, it was announced that Burns would not be retained in 1966.

Of his firing, Burns said, "I want to be emphatic. I hold no ill feelings toward anyone. I hope, I sincerely hope, Iowa has great success in football in the future. If I can contribute to that future, I will." After his final game, his players hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him off the field, despite the loss.There were those who insisted that Athletic Director Evashevski wanted to return as football coach and that rather than helping Burns to succeed, Evashevski hampered him with rules and regulations that were not in force when he was the coach. But Burns ultimately said, "If we have failed, and we have, I'll take the responsibility for that. It is not the players' fault. They have done the best they can." He had a 16–27–2 record at Iowa.

Burns was 38 years of age when he was fired at Iowa. He moved on to the Green Bay Packers and served for two years as an assistant coach to Vince Lombardi in 1966 and 1967 when the Packers won Super Bowls I and II. When Lombardi retired after the 1967 season, Burns was hired by Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings. Grant hired Burns to be his offensive coordinator. Burns served as Minnesota's offensive coordinator for the next 18 years, from 1968–1985. During that time, the Vikings made the playoffs 12 times, won 11 division titles, and played in four Super Bowls, losing all four. 

When Grant retired from coaching for the second time in 1985, Burns was named as the 4th Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings on January 7, 1986. He coached Minnesota for six years, from 1986 to 1991. Burns compiled a record of 52–43 and led the Vikings to the playoffs three times. He helped the Vikings win the division title in 1989 and led them to the NFC Championship game in 1987. On November 5, 1989, Burns gave a profanity laced tirade during a postgame press conference where he defended his offensive coordinator, Bob Schnelker, despite the fact that the Vikings' Rich Karlis kicked a then league record-tying seven field goals en route to a 23–21 overtime victory over the LA Rams

On December 4, 1991, Burns announced that he would retire from coaching after the 1991 Season, he finished his final season with an 8–8 record. He has been nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but has yet to gain the votes necessary for induction. In 1998, Burns gave the Hall of Fame induction speech for Paul Krause, a defensive back he coached both at Iowa and with the Vikings.

Burns died on May 12, 2021, at the age of 94 due to a variety of ongoing health issues at his home