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California Deluxe -- Reviews/First Impressions


boxelder

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I'm not really impresed with DLX. Of course, some of the songs are better, LTH verses and bridge are good, but chorus is again the same "beloved" chords, in general this song is okay but I don't see me relistening to it a lot. GOD style is okay but the song is nothing special. All in all, I can't say I like or hate the album, I just don't have any feelings. It's nor better than Cali 1 no worse. What I'm sure of is that Neighborhoods is definitely better than both parts.

 

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Listened all the way through three times on way to work/in work this morning.

Parking Lot - 4/10
Misery - 7.5/10
Good Old Days - 7/10
Don't Mean Anything 7.5/10 (DESPITE IT BEING A SIMPLE PLAN RIP OFF)
Hey I'm Sorry - 7.5/10
Last Train Home - 8/10
Wildfire - 7/10
6/8 - 7.5/10
Long Lost Feeling 6.5/10
Bottom of the Ocean - 8.5/10
Can't get you more Pregnant - 2/10

Much much much better, feels like they might of taken some of the feedback from certain fans on board that wanted a more mature and developed sound. Like some others I now have a bit of hope for the future of the band and their next release.

Would love them to spend a shitload of time in the studio and focus on writing 12 songs to the best of their ability with a more developed sound that shines through in a lot of these songs. Actually think they could make something pretty awesome, especially if they took a similar period of time that they did with the Untitled writing process. 

That first verse of Last Train Home, holy shit! Skiba finally bringing it to the table. Fucking love Bottom of the Ocean too and I'll admit that a lot of the songs they released before sound better as part of the whole album package.

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Parking Lot - 2/10
Misery - 7.5/10
Good Old Days - 7/10
Don't Mean Anything 6.5/10 
Hey I'm Sorry - 8.5/10
Last Train Home - 9/10 More of this please. Skiba´s greatest moment as a blink member.
Wildfire - 4/10
6/8 - 8/10
Long Lost Feeling 7/10
Bottom of the Ocean - 7/10
Can't get you more Pregnant - 0/10 Stop using cool riffs for these shit songs please

If in the next album they go to a sound like 6/8, hey I´m sorry, Last Train home with songs like long lost feeling and good old days and don´t mean anything(but these two with better lyrics) I´m completely back to the hype. Also I like when they throw in songs like los angeles and bottom of the ocean. This gives me hope for the future. 

 

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4 minutes ago, RAX said:

The sound ruins the album for me. Its clipping in parts. Obvious in last train home. Hate this over compressed-no room for anything sound. Bassdrum and bass is so badly mixed. Constantly fighting for frequencies 

Yeah I still really hate Feldmans recording style still but I'm taking some solace in the fact that the songs/ideas are better in the most part here. 

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7 minutes ago, ...Dan... said:

Yeah I still really hate Feldmans recording style still but I'm taking some solace in the fact that the songs/ideas are better in the most part here. 

Agreed. Very good at times. Just wish it had a different better sound. 

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Parking Lot - i seem to like it more than a lotta folks round these parts. feels more like New Found Glory or something from the get go with the chuggy intro + twiddly riff that i could almost hear Jordan Pundik's baby nasal voice coming in on the first verse. agree with the general consesus that Mark's verse is a bit of a let down, should've carried the same intensity as the first. 7/10

Misery - bridge is probably one of my favorite moments on the record, verses are also pretty neat but the pre chorus and chorus don't do anything for me. 8/10

Good Old Days - i'd say this is one of the few California songs where the chorus is my favorite part of the song. bridge is sweet too. 6.5/10

Don't Mean Anything - ..and this would be another one where my chorus is the favorite part, even if its a "Simple Plan ripoff" (the melody and chord progression is a lot more pleasing to my ears than the Simple Plan song for the record) - that being said, Mark's "long way back to the middle of the road" is a little cheesy, i feel like i've heard that same melody in like.. a Disney girl star song. verses and chorus don't quite fit to me though, like No Future, its like they were 2 seperate songs cut together. 7/10

Hey I'm Sorry - same as Misery, love the verses, chorus lets it down a bit, bit generic pop. 6/10

Last Train Home - one of my favorites on the record, tied with Long Lost Feeling. i've always been super into the idea of Blink going back to being straight up fun pop punk which is why i've had a more positive reception to songs like Parking Lot, Rabbit Hole, TOTTM, etc.  that being said, i think this and Long Lost Feeling prove to me that the darker, more somber are better suited to Mark and Matt's writing skills at this point (not that everyone here didn't already know that lol). 9/10

Wildfire - quite like this jam but its probably my least favorite on Deluxe, doesn't do anything TOO special apart from being a fun little diddy. 5.5/10

6-8 - probably the biggest wet fart let down of a chorus on the record, the verses and everything else about the song are great, but i think a heavy song would have benefited from an equally heavy chorus, along the lines of Violence or something big like STFTK's chorus. 7.5/10

Long Lost Feeling - my other favorite from Deluxe, considering all my favorites from O.G California were all the fast, fun songs, i'm surprised my favorites off Deluxe are slower and chill. the ending to this song is my probably my favorite moment on California Deluxe. 9/10

Bottom Of The Ocean - i agree that i really wouldn't like Blink to pursue this dark radio pop direction much further, but this song is still pretty good, saved even more so by the chorus, and i think it fulfills its purpose better than Los Angeles. 7.5/10

Can't Get You More Pregnant - the fact the song seems to be the same key and tempo as Parking Lot leads to me believe it was recorded in like 10 minutes after they were done with Parking Lot or something lol. i get the joke but i think the fact that some people don't shows that the execution in the lyrics was pretty messy. joke song dont get no rating

sorry for the essay lol

 

 

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i had to dig a little deeper.

I put Last Train Home in my Pro Tools system and checked the file. It is 100% peaking as you can see with the RED light over the volume meter (orange) and the dynamic range (blue) is showing fucking -1 db at the time i took the screen shot. The song is actually in around -5 db which is just horrific. its peaking and no dynamics. way to ruin a song Feldmann. 

rsz_screen_shot_2017-05-17_at_94806_am.jpg

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Im starting to think I like Cali more. Half of the deluxe album i feel ill never really listen to again. I like Misery, Wildfire, Hey im Sorry and Good old days and dont mean anything are so so. 

I dont understand how people like this "darker" sound they have on half these songs. Theyre so bland and just not very catchy i think. IMO Neighbourhoods is much more better at having a darker sound.  Ill stick to pre Cali blink for a while. 

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Can't help but feel that if this was the California they released first time around then Mark would be the owner of a nice shiny Grammy right now. 

Really loving the album as a whole. The songs actually feel complete. How KOTW and Teenage Satellites made the cut above some of these is beyond me. 

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14 minutes ago, 2point5 said:

Can't help but feel that if this was the California they released first time around then Mark would be the owner of a nice shiny Grammy right now. 

Really loving the album as a whole. The songs actually feel complete. How KOTW and Teenage Satellites made the cut above some of these is beyond me. 

Completely agree, although I think quite a few of these were written after California was released as part of the Deluxe album writing process. 

This proves that they rushed the release of the original California for me, so desperate to release an album that they didn't take the time to refine the songs. I think deep down they knew that too.

Just praying they take their time with the next recording.  

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Short review, but nails it for me at least. 

First time I won't buy a new record from blink-182. I am pretty disappointed with the DLX and I don't really share everyone's opinion of the greatness of the unreleased tracks and that's because of a few things...

1) The production is really bad! It can't get worse like someone already pointed out. Does blink live on a low budget for recordings? Famous band and dilettante production. Feldmann is a salesman, not a producer and an even worse songwriter for blink. 

2) The repeating song structure and melodies. I listened to the unreleased songs today, and right before I heard the chorus, it ran like right through my mind before I actually listened to it, because the chorus had to be that boring way. It runs like a thread through this record. There is no moment where you get a surprise in a song or at least some different chorus structures. They are getting lengthened all the time, which gets pretty annoying and boring. 

3) Good riff ideas were blatantly ruined by the most following verses or cringworthy instrumental continuations. 

4) Okay, it's a DLX, and wants to be the continuation of California standard. But I wished they experimented more. I hope that the next record makes a huge step into a +44/Alk3 mixture, at least more the 6/8 direction, because blink should sound like that now. Not a poppy puppy wannabe punk rock band from the `00.

5) Anyone remember the announced side project "The Cereal Killers" by Matt and Mark, where they want to make songs for kids and teens? I think a lot of the songs would fit a lot better there.

 

God dammit, blink-182, hire me as your next producer. I will make you sound like Pros and your music will be much better than this stuff! And that for a fraction of the cost! :)

 

 

 

 

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