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California Deluxe -- Reviews/First Impressions


boxelder

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I've listened to this about 10 times now. This is how I feel atm (compared to initial impressions):

Excellent/Great: Last Train Home, Misery, Bottom of the Ocean, 6/8 (Moved up from Good tier)

Good: Good Old Days (moved from OK tier), Don't Mean Anything, Long Lost Feeling (Moved down from Excellent Tier)

OK: Hey I'm Sorry (Moved down from Good tier), Wildfire (Lyrics keep this from being good)

Bad: Parking Lot

Overall: 8/10. 

I'm expecting this to change many times over the next month. Just go damn glad there's different styles of music on here

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After re listening to Cali pt 1 yesterday, i think as a whole, its better.  The "experimental" songs on the deluxe just arent that good I think.  I agree with Ghent in that I prefer the vocal hooks.  The good songs on the deluxe are good though, theres just too much bad with it.

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1 hour ago, Ghent said:

I'm glad a lot of you guys are happy with the deluxe. maybe there will be stuff we can agree on for once until the next album drops

Happy? I'm delirious! Genuinely love the deluxe, I dont even skip Parking Lot and Pregnant. Love me some Blink. 

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I like Cali and the deluxe but it's the only album that I don't notice Travis ? Feldy has fucking killed the drums

i hope blink evolve a bit on the next album. Another California would be ridiculous 

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Hate to break up the love affair here and I'm not trying to ruin anyone's day or fight. Super rad you all like it. Maybe you're all proof Mark was right to soldier on. It seems he's having fun and there seems to be a much warmer reaction to the deluxe songs over the original Cali.

That said, some of you compared this to +44, vintage blink, etc, got me excited for once, and then I hear it and to me this resembles simple plan and FOB.

This is AVA bad to me. Like Love Part 2 bad. Stomping the Phantom Brake Pedals bad. Give the Drummer Some bad.

I was so excited for Last Train Home and all it did was repeat the same lyric half the time. Woah's at the end of Don't Mean Anything... seriously? I tried my best to not listen to the lyrics, which have been mildly critiqued. But I'm sick of the childish lyrics. One song is called Bottom of the Ocean. I'm listening to another song and I swear I heard something like "deep in the ocean" lyric in there somewhere.

I don't think there's much that can be done to fix this band in my eyes. They can experiment all they want but I don't like the ingredients. Sure, Hey I'm Sorry, Left Alone and a few others are good in my eyes but the rest are unacceptable to blink's legacy. I just don't see how this lines up with what's come before. But hey, it's not my band. It is what it is. This is blink now. Mark is making $$$ with the new crew. He just wants to have fun and jam in stadiums. Cool. But it's definitely not the band I grew up with. This feels like a side project to me still. Maybe 50 years from now Tom will be a footnote in the band and future generations will only remember Matt, Mark and Travis Show and I'll be in the minority with all the 90's kids. Who knows?

This must be somewhat similar to how Davey felt when Enema came out...

Anyways, glad most of the people here like it. Interested to see what time tells about these releases in retrospect.

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3 hours ago, thongrider said:

Tip to oneself: Never listen to FACT's Slip of the Lip

Duuude that song rips so hard though! Riffs, melodies, outro sounds like a fucking nuclear explosion. I feel like Blink is the only punk band some people on this board like. Or the atmosphere on this board has been fostered so poorly that people are inclined to shit on anything recommended by someone else! No, that can't be true...

Also the part I was comparing Parking Lot to is just after second chorus, rhythm of the drums and guitar is similar and chuggy.

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1 hour ago, vic vinegar said:

Hate to break up the love affair here and I'm not trying to ruin anyone's day or fight. Super rad you all like it. Maybe you're all proof Mark was right to soldier on. It seems he's having fun and there seems to be a much warmer reaction to the deluxe songs over the original Cali.

That said, some of you compared this to +44, vintage blink, etc, got me excited for once, and then I hear it and to me this resembles simple plan and FOB.

This is AVA bad to me. Like Love Part 2 bad. Stomping the Phantom Brake Pedals bad. Give the Drummer Some bad.

I was so excited for Last Train Home and all it did was repeat the same lyric half the time. Woah's at the end of Don't Mean Anything... seriously? I tried my best to not listen to the lyrics, which have been mildly critiqued. But I'm sick of the childish lyrics. One song is called Bottom of the Ocean. I'm listening to another song and I swear I heard something like "deep in the ocean" lyric in there somewhere.

I don't think there's much that can be done to fix this band in my eyes. They can experiment all they want but I don't like the ingredients. Sure, Hey I'm Sorry, Left Alone and a few others are good in my eyes but the rest are unacceptable to blink's legacy. I just don't see how this lines up with what's come before. But hey, it's not my band. It is what it is. This is blink now. Mark is making $$$ with the new crew. He just wants to have fun and jam in stadiums. Cool. But it's definitely not the band I grew up with. This feels like a side project to me still. Maybe 50 years from now Tom will be a footnote in the band and future generations will only remember Matt, Mark and Travis Show and I'll be in the minority with all the 90's kids. Who knows?

This must be somewhat similar to how Davey felt when Enema came out...

Anyways, glad most of the people here like it. Interested to see what time tells about these releases in retrospect.

I doubt it. I mean Blinks popularity is not nearly the same as it was during Enema and TOYPAJ. It was novel at the time. It's sort of like Pulp Fiction..yeah younger generations will remember Django and Basterds more than any, and the last 2 he makes, but they will always be guided to Pulp Fiction...like any younger generation will eventually be guided to earlier Blink.

There will be a % that only knows Mark Matt Travis, but it'll be the smaller population.

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2 hours ago, 2point5 said:

Happy? I'm delirious! Genuinely love the deluxe, I dont even skip Parking Lot and Pregnant. Love me some Blink. 

I really don't understand the hate for Parking Lot. The song's parts are nothing spectacular, but at least they sound like they should be part of the same song, which is something I can't say for the majority of tracks on this album. Additionally, it's far more punk-oriented than anything else on here (that's full-length). Even the lyrics are relatively inoffensive compared to the rest of the album. As far as I can tell it's just about wanting to play/love music wherever you are, make something as mundane as a parking lot into a type of concert. Compared to the rest of Cali-era that's a pretty grand theme lol.

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1 minute ago, decisions said:

I really don't understand the hate for Parking Lot. The song's parts are nothing spectacular, but at least they sound like they should be part of the same song, which is something I can't say for the majority of tracks on this album. Additionally, it's far more punk-oriented than anything else on here (that's full-length).

I think the hate stems largely from it being released as the first track and everyone saw it as a continuation of California with re-used riffs and shitty lyrics about teenage life. In the context of the album it doesn't bother me nearly as much knowing most of the album is good. Everyone was worried no progress in direction would be made off that. It was a terrible choice IMO to release that track first. 

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1 minute ago, Boring.........Alright said:

I think the hate stems largely from it being released as the first track and everyone saw it as a continuation of California with re-used riffs and shitty lyrics about teenage life. In the context of the album it doesn't bother me nearly as much knowing most of the album is good. Everyone was worried no progress in direction would be made off that. It was a terrible choice IMO to release that track first. 

I mean it's not exactly an adventurous track, but I'm a little confused by your sentiment. The riffs on there are similar to other riffs of the Cali-era, but not nearly as much as other riffs used throughout the rest of Deluxe. Parking Lot to me sounds like the band learning how to craft a good punk song with the new lineup. The more experimental songs on this album don't really bring about a new "sound" in their own right, the band just takes a half-step in many different directions and fails trying craft a different atmosphere/feeling/tone every time in a different way. I wouldn't say the album really gives the band any sense of direction. In a way, the band's logo is ironic now, lol. I don't think they have any idea where they're taking their sound.

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1 minute ago, decisions said:

I mean it's not exactly an adventurous track, but I'm a little confused by your sentiment. The riffs on there are similar to other riffs of the Cali-era, but not nearly as much as other riffs used throughout the rest of Deluxe. Parking Lot to me sounds like the band learning how to craft a good punk song with the new lineup. The more experimental songs on this album don't really bring about a new "sound" in their own right, the band just takes a half-step in many different directions and fails trying craft a different atmosphere/feeling/tone every time in a different way. I wouldn't say the album really gives the band any sense of direction. In a way, the band's logo is ironic now, lol. I don't think they have any idea where they're taking their sound.

What I meant was Parking Lot for many was too similar to California's sound and showed no growth in song-writing from California, whether that should've been expected for a Deluxe version of an album is certainly debatable. I'm just giving my opinion as to why the reaction was terrible around here. If Misery and 6/8 waere released first and then Parking Lot I think the reaction would've been a lot better. Maybe I'm wrong lol idk just giving a theory. And a half-step in many directions is good enough for me, gotta start somewhere

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1 hour ago, LastTrainHomefangirl said:

I doubt it. I mean Blinks popularity is not nearly the same as it was during Enema and TOYPAJ. It was novel at the time. It's sort of like Pulp Fiction..yeah younger generations will remember Django and Basterds more than any, and the last 2 he makes, but they will always be guided to Pulp Fiction...like any younger generation will eventually be guided to earlier Blink.

There will be a % that only knows Mark Matt Travis, but it'll be the smaller population.

Yeah you might be right. It's just odd to think it's already been 2 years since they brought in Skiba. That's like 1/9th of Tom's tenure already aha.

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All of the Twitter/Instagram/YouTube comments are overwhelmingly positive. I'm happy for the dudes, I think they knocked it out of the park.

This album covers so much ground, from slow, to fast, to pop, to dark, experimental, etc. If you don't like ANY of it then you are likely a TomBot IMO (and there's nothing wrong with that, I get it). But you probably will never like this version of blink-182 honestly. 

I just left Best Buy and bought the last copy on the shelf, was shocked! 

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3 hours ago, decisions said:

Duuude that song rips so hard though! Riffs, melodies, outro sounds like a fucking nuclear explosion. I feel like Blink is the only punk band some people on this board like. Or the atmosphere on this board has been fostered so poorly that people are inclined to shit on anything recommended by someone else! No, that can't be true...

Also the part I was comparing Parking Lot to is just after second chorus, rhythm of the drums and guitar is similar and chuggy.

thanks for mentioning them, i checked out their blink of an eye album and its got some jams on it  O0

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3 hours ago, decisions said:

I feel like Blink is the only punk band some people on this board like.

definitely. from my own perspective, blink is the only 'lightweight pop punk band' that i listen to. everything else is much harder, or more "punk" or whatever. at least, bands that are way smaller but still influential (bad religion, the descendents, NOFX, all the 90s fat / epitaph stuff etc).

it definately colors how you receive blink, what side of the listening dial they are on for you personally.

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1 hour ago, daveyjones said:

definitely. from my own perspective, blink is the only 'lightweight pop punk band' that i listen to. everything else is much harder, or more "punk" or whatever. at least, bands that are way smaller but still influential (bad religion, the descendents, NOFX, all the 90s fat / epitaph stuff etc).

it definately colors how you receive blink, what side of the listening dial they are on for you personally.

blink might not be the most punk rock band I love these days, but it'll always be my first punk. Even if I had to have that horrible realization they were punk-lite. Fuck, a couple of my friends don't consider them punk at all. But punks can be that way. 

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1 minute ago, vic vinegar said:

it'll always be my first punk.

here's mine, beginning in order of exposure, from 1993 to 1995:

green day, the offspring, bad religion, pennywise, NOFX, rancid, then all the rest of epitaph / fat, the descendents, screeching weasel, then blink.

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