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California Deluxe -- Reviews/First Impressions


boxelder

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First Blink release I won't be purchasing. Very saddened by the direction of this new iteration. Hoping their next album will surprise me and tone down on the Mark Hoppus pitch shifting robot voice and pro tools guitar plug-ins they use.


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It took me a few days to have  a full picture of the situation. One thing for sure is that I will always enjoy blink’s songs, even when they’re nothing special. They will always have that catchiness and, even if they don’t blow me away, they do enough to make me listen again though.

Overall I’m enjoying Cali deluxe more than the original one, I won’t waste my breath talking about what I don’t like about the production or the lyrics because it’s something that it has already been turned inside out.
Yes, it was a good thing to put these songs in a deluxe edition of the album because there is continuity with California but I’m pretty sure that these songs aren’t timeless.  I will listen to them for the rest of the month, or even more, but, once the of novelty is gone, I don’t know if I’ll keep coming back to them the way I do with the rest of their discography.
But  I don’t wanna think about how I’m going to feel next month, I just wanna enjoy the songs as much as I can now.
I like the somber tones and the partial experimentation; I still think that they should have kept Parking Lot and the joke song out of this album because they don't fit at all with the other songs, but some things are just unexcusable: I know, they are our favourite band but how come all the songs start with that same little riff? And why did they think it was right to make the intro to Don’t Mean Anything sound like Adam’s song? Couldn't they come up with anything different?
Having said that, I really love the acoustic version of BTD, Good Old days, Don’t Mean Anything, Long Lost Feeling and Misery’s bridge (even though 3 out of these 5 songs start in the same way and one is adam’s song). The other songs are just enjoyable for now.  

We  should take blink as they come right now because they’re way past their prime and I’m okay with that, but, on the other hand, it’s distressing because I  know they can do better than that. I don’t really know what I’m expecting from blink but at least stronger choruses (because these ones are so predictable), more guitar work, I want Travis to lead the songs once again with his drums, i don’t want him to be left out. As for mark, cali has got his best bass lines since untitled, so I can’t complain, but i’d like more honesty in his lyrics. And I’d like to have the real Matt Skiba on board, not that creepy awkward puppet that stands in the corner now.  I still can’t wait to see them this summer with him though, to see how he manages to pull it off.

The deluxe, with all its flaws, was a good step in the right direction (at least it's better than california even if it doesn't have bombs like BTD, Cynical and san Diego).. I just wish they took a year off before going back to the feldy factory, they would come back with better ideas, but who knows what's gonna happen next. 

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I think the California album has some really good tunes on it and I enjoy those to this day (Hey I'm Sorry included) I don't think the deluxe could top it and I don't see this as a step up from songs like Teenage Satellites, California and San Diego at all.

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I prefer disc 1 because I'm all about the big vocal hooks, it's what I want out of blink...But I prefer the instrumental work and "tone" of disc 2. So I hope that their next album will combine the two aspects and it could be something really awesome, especially with Matt now an established member.

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After Deluxe I can probably make roughly one full album of songs I like out of the Cali Era, which is nice. But even focusing on the good songs isn't quite enough to make up for the big pile of junk that appears on both albums haha. Sooo many repeated elements, frankensteined-together songs, songs that sound like other bands. It's been a bummer of an era as a whole in my opinion, but there have been enough cool things to have hope for the future.

They just really need to find a producer who can actually cultivate and develop their ideas with them instead of one who wants them to shit out every little thing they come up with (or he comes up with) right on the spot.

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Listening to disc 1. This is really good!

both discs ranked:

1 Teenage Satellites
2 San Diego
3 No Future
4 California
5 Home Is Such a Lonely Place
6 Hey I'm Sorry
7 Left Alone
8 Long Lost Feeling
9 Sober
10 She's out of Her Mind
11 Bored to Death
12 Built This Pool
13 Misery
14 Cynical
15 The Kings of the Weekend
16 The Only Thing That Matters
17 Rabbit Hole
18 Good Old Days
19 6/8
20 Brohemian Rhapsody
21 Last Train Home
22 Wildfire
23 Los Angeles
24 Parking Lot
25 Bottom of the Ocean

I'm sure I forgot something.

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2 minutes ago, Ghent's Brother said:

Haha this isn't the Neighborhoods discussion thread man! 

Hahah in a different way than Neighborhoods! Some of the songs feel like they were like "hey I have this chorus" "oh ok I have this verse!" "well let me reach into my bag o' tricks and find a melody in that key and smash them all together!"

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It's got some really good songs on there. I mean I bought the thing! Or maybe I just like it a lot compared to disc 2. I dunno. At least the really good tracks stand out! Teenage Satellites is a perfect song to me, I think. 

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5 minutes ago, Champ182 said:

Hahah in a different way than Neighborhoods! Some of the songs feel like they were like "hey I have this chorus" "oh ok I have this verse!" "well let me reach into my bag o' tricks and find a melody in that key and smash them all together!"

Hmmm maybe.  There's for sure some parts that sound like Feldy reaching into his bag o' tricks, but to me all of the songs still have a definite purpose and direction (hehe) that they were going for.

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Hard to rate these, and I may be a bit biased due to how much I enjoy some of these Deluxe songs right now... But so far in Cali era, this is what my list looks like:

1. 6/8
2. Last Train Home
3. Bored To Death
4. Cynical
5. The Only Thing That Matters
6. Left Alone
7. Bottom of the Ocean
8. Misery
9. Hey I'm Sorry
10.Los Angeles
11.Home is Such a Lonely Place
12.Long Lost Feeling
13.Kings Of The Weekend
14.Good Old Days
15.San Diego
16.No Future
17.Don't Mean Anything
18.She's Out of Her Mind
19.Teenage Satellites
20.Parking Lot
21.Wildfire
22.Rabbit Hole
23.California
24. Sober

Jokes:
25.Built This Pool
26.Can't get you more Pregnant
27. Brohemian
 

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its pretty clear they purposely made California (minus a few) so light and poppy (empty) for the "comeback" type album. they tried to grab in as many people as they could and remind them blink is a fun band.

but whether you like these new songs or not, you can't argue that they don't have more depth and meaning than the first batch in cali. its just WAY more of what i was expecting out of these guys. im expecting the future of blink to still have light poppy songs of cali, but also have that balence of the depth in these deluxe songs as well

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1 hour ago, Elisa said:

We  should take blink as they come right now because they’re way past their prime and I’m okay with that, but, on the other hand, it’s distressing because I  know they can do better than that.

that's my thing. it doesn't have to be this way. 

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I'm totally happy if they continue doing what they did with the deluxe. There's enough experimentation and darkness mixed with crazy hooks. The production isn't ideal and there's still things to improve on, but can't get everything when one of the two masterminds behind the songs has been replaced. Good Old Days and Misery are both at least top 7 or 8ish songs since untitled for me, possibly top 5 but I don't want to say that with them still fresh. That's a win for me at least.

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6/8, Parking Lot, and Last Train Home are decent enough. Good ideas there aren't hampered too badly.

Parking Lot is the most punk full-length song this new Blink has recorded, and it is executed relatively inoffensively and in a kinda fun way where the simple ideas don't get stuck on themselves for too long. The rhythm in the outro slams pretty hard (drum beat reminds me of FACT's Slip of the Lip so that's a big plus) and overall this song has grown on me, I'd give it a 7/10.

6/8 and Last Train Home are the places where new Blink's experimentation has paid off the most. Of course there are glaring problems with both songs, such as the production and that weak as fuck 6/8 chorus.

Rest of the songs, well I don't really feel like mentioning them. Just poor, generic songwriting.

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