Blink-182 [ARCHIVED] Band • Page 801

Have I missed something or is Chorus not doing album reviews anymore since we moved from AP?

 

No, there are some up, they're just not as frequent.

 

Highlight the popularity bar and it will show you.

 

I'm loving the album but some leads would have been nice. The melody of the Na na whoa in California (the song) should have been played on a guitar

 

Well, at least without Tom we got an album where as with him we weren't getting anything. I think California a better album from a different band. I think the issues with Untitled and Neighborhoods weren't the overwhelming Tom influence so much as the lack of Mark influence. The band is best when Mark and Tom are on the same page creatively because they both have unique qualities that compliment each other and create something special (even if it isn't always particularly good). I am not entirely sure what Matt is there to do to be honest. He isn't writing particularly interesting guitar parts, there isn't a whole lot of lyrical nuances that Skiba is known for present on the album, a few, but not many. If Skiba had a big influence on the writing of the album, it was mostly polished over during Feldmann's sessions. California is a great collection of polished up poppy punk songs, I really like the album. So I want to be clear on that. I just don't think there is anything particularly interesting about it.

There are a lot of comparisons to The Force Awakens and I think it's perhaps the best comparison there is to make. The Star Wars franchise is better off without George Lucas, but Star Wars as a whole was best with Lucas involved and there is a lot of great qualities missing from the franchise (even it's worst entries) without Lucas involved. Lucas brought something to the table that is can't be replicated. But we got to see the Millennium Falcon again, so that's cool.

 

Yeah, there is a lot of bullshit on Neighborhoods that Finn would have certainly cut.

 

This thread has some of the biggest blink 182 fans around and we are the first ones to say we don't want Tom Delonge back... Why is it so hard for everyone else to move past? If these people were so on board with Tom, where was all the love for Neighborhoods?

 

This whole argument that blink is better with Matt or blink was better with Tom has kinda worn thin. Nobody is going to convince someone who thinks otherwise. As Someone who prefers Tom's time in blink, I just don't see him coming back in the near future due to that strained relationship he created between him and Mark. I've come to accept this album and new version of blink, it's just not as captivating to me than the other albums.. That said, this is only their first album together so now that they have their foot in the door, I'd really want them to go balls to wall on whatever they create next.

Also, not that it's a big deal, but I think it's funny how for years blink fans were always dogging people for wanting them to go back to their old sound saying "what you want 40 years still make fast pop punk?" To now saying how they don't like that "mature blink" sound and California is the kind of sound they should've stayed with..

 

Tom was a principle member of Blink 182 for over 20 years. The band just released their first album without him last week. Tom is going to be part of the discussion for a very long time. It would be more bothersome if he wasn't to be honest.

 

California to me is the sweet spot between the fast pop punk sound and their mature experimental sound.

 

Finally, I have got Hey I'm Sorry in HQ.

 

All good points. That said, though, I still much prefer Tom away from the band because of the cancer he's proven to be. Though a situation with Tom and Mark both having equal input may be idea, it's also wholly unrealistic.

 

oh reeeearrrrry

 

Just the fact that he came out and took a shot at Mark and Travis that they needed a producer, basically insinuating they needed Feldmann to write an album for them was shitty. I can't see him and Mark ever being productively creative in the same room ever again. It's too bad that Tom thinks he's such a genius. I do think Untitled is absolutely their peak, and nothing Tom has done has diminished his past work with blink for me. This lineup has more potential than anything they could've done with Tom and that DED ep wasn't even blink anymore. It was three AVA tracks and a +44 track. Boxing Day was kind of blinkish I guess. Now that it seems they've gotten blink back on track, it'll be awesome to see what this lineup produces when they can exercise a little freedom. If this album was too much of a departure from a classic blink sound, it flops hard and they can pretty much call it a day. It's by no means perfect but at least blink has a future again. Anyone who thinks they would have eventually gotten around to another album with Tom is delusional as far as I'm concerned. Tom left Mark and Travis no option really.

 

Jelly

 

i just love that Blink is gaining mainstream popularity again and they're no longer just a nostalgia act. this is everything i wanted from the album/new lineup.

 

You'd think that now eventually Mark's going to have to accept that they need to play at least two hours lol

 

My post was clearly not complaining about discussions about Tom. That's a given that that's going to happen. My complaint is people acting like blink has lost its "edge" as that article said as if Tom brought virtually anything positive to the band in the last decade or Neighborhoods was at all considered a success. He delayed any recording, hurt the overall quality of any music made by refusing to collaborate (with anyone), absolutely sucked live. It's like people are forgetting that part or just remembering things the way they want.

 

"Hey I'm Sorry" would be better if there was more to the chorus. The melody at the start of the choruses is so good, I wish they played around with it a little more and kept the rest of the chorus in that same vain instead of ruining it with more "woah oh oh"s. Could have been great! But yeah, I'm fine with them leaving that song off of the album.

 

I apologize I misunderstood. I don't disagree with anything you said. But it doesn't mean I don't miss Tom in this new version of Blink.

Maybe this will clear things up. I just wish 2016 Mark and Travis could go back in time to 2002 and grab Tom Delonge and Jerry Finn and record a new album. That's never going to happen (unless Tom's DOD research uncovers alien time displacement technology), so we have California. Which is a great album, maybe even a great Blink album, but there is a Tom-shaped hole in it that I wish I could get past.

 

I just miss 1999-2003 era Tom. He stopped being cool 13 years ago. Isn't that crazy?! Yet here we are... 13 years later... Still wishing he was cool... haha. Siiiiigh...

 

I miss Scott

 

I guess I am in the minority that still sort of loves how weird he is. I still enjoy the music he releases and I am glad that he is indulging his alien obsession.

On the alien bit. People sometimes forget that Tom has been studying aliens and government conspiracies for as long has he has been in Blink 182. It's entirely possible that he is somewhat of an expert on the subject. I have never really understood that mocking tone that accompanies and discussion of Tom's interest in UFOs.

 

Uh oh. Pitchfork review for California is up. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it will be far from glowing:

Blink-182: California Album Review | Pitchfork

 

They gave it a 5.5 but it reads way more positively. Wasn't that bad considering some things I've read lol.