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California (1 year later)


Scott.

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I'm okay with it being in blink's catalogue even though I don't like it. I haven't listened to it in full in a very long time. I'm not hung up on its existence anymore because it's only one bad release in the band's otherwise great catalogue, and it's not the only band in the world for me. So I guess I feel pretty indifferent. 

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California makes me think of many of the major cities like Los Angeles and San Diego. It has a very sober attitude and it leaves you with a feeling of despair and being left alone with a few catchy tunes, which is the only thing that matters. Unfortunately, it gets a bit stale and continues down the rabbit hole and leaves you with a bitter taste and I hate to be cynical, but I often get by bored to death by the end. 

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first off, let me explain that i love catchy-ass music, no matter how harsh the production is (i've even consumed some of feldmann's work before this). but cali is different. i'll throw it on every now and then, and it's mostly an enjoyable listen from me, but only the first five tracks. cynical's an all-time great blink song, one of the rare moments of honesty on album concerned with recreating what you were. BTD and SOOHM are singalongs but so regressive, los angeles is a great live song and a surprisingly original moment, and sober... well, i love sober because i love catchy music. but there's no denying there's some sort of identity crisis going on there. after that, the album loses steam for me, and never regains it, though there are high points (san diego, TOTTM).

my general opinion of it is that it's not the direction i personally wanted the band to go in, and the results are sort-of embarrassing for the most part. i would have much rather seen what mark and skiba could sound like on their own, and not with the mindset that "this must sound like blink". i would much prefer more progressive-sounding music in the vein of neighborhoods/untitled, rather than a big, blockbuster throwback album. instead, skiba is non-existent besides his vocals, mark's pitch-corrected to a degree that's obvious, and travis's drum tracks are surprisingly not as creative as they once were and sound so fake (i assume drum triggers were used?). i'm aware most of us came to this band through the ultra-glossy sheen of EOTS, so a fan complaining about california -- the logical next step production-wise, and certainly a very "current" sound (high kick drum, low guitars) -- is a little dumb, i'm sure. but looking at history and observing the massive change in sound when they went from trombino to finn, we shouldn't really be surprised a lot of this band's sound is in the hands of its producers... which is neither an insult or compliment.

as for the deluxe, don't get me started. it's the most insipid, uninspired work this band's ever released

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I don't listen to California in full, too many filler tracks as well as like 5 tracks I can't stand, that includes the DLX too. That said, there are about 12-13 solid songs with a couple of amazing tracks IMO. I have these on a playlist, in an order so they don't sound disjointed. That playlist is what I consider the California "album". I don't listen to the playlist that much though. Maybe once or twice a month.

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I liked it alot more when it came out. I can still listen to it in full with minimal issues. Los Angeles is terrible and teenage satellites is pretty cringe worthy but the album is still somewhat enjoyable for me. I like deluxe a lot more the teenage lyrics from this era are really stupid sounding coming from a group in their 40s. Still by far their worst albums but nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be imo 

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Let me give you a non biased opinion. I am pretending for a second I don't know Feldman. Don't even know that Blink existed previously with this guy named Tom.

It has a few good songs, about 3, and the rest are just kind of throwaways. The 3 good ones are just good and not amazing. Sadly, even these don't really stand the test of time. The deluxe is the same way. A couple of good songs, but mostly throwaways.

The only song that I can honestly say is really good, and close to excellent is 6/8.

The whole shebang is worth burning like 4 or 5  of the good songs on a CD full of other stuff and calling it a day.

The guitar work is also a total bore, I love play and learn guitar parts and there isn't a single part here where its like "yeah man got to learn this". Reminds me a lot of the replacement dude in RHCP. The bass is more exciting.

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to the point, i loved the california (first disc) album.  front to back outside of san diego and los angeles ( i know im in the minority in this opinion) i thought it was great.  and when i say great i mean great for the first album with a completely new member/front man and not destroying what we've all grown to love about blink-182.

i've never looked for music to be anything more than just enjoyable.  i agree with boxelder where alike am just a fan of catchy music.  i like anything usually with a good hook a good riff and a good chorus.  for that im not jamming the whole album front to back like i was the first 6 months it was out but still love and play 6-8 songs quite a bit.  favorites have always been cynical/tottm/hisalp/no future and the rest are solid.

i'm another in the minority where i think the deluxe disc is the worst thing the band has put out with travis being a member.  i feel like every song has highlights and strong points, weirdly being the bridges and in my opinion should have been the chorus' nothing really stuck w me on that record outside of long lost feeling and bottom of the ocean.  i think parking lot is one of the worst things the band has ever done.  cringe cringe cringe lyrics...."meet my friends at the target curb"  yikes.

anyways still enjoy it, still would rather this be 03' blink with Tom or even another neighborhoods ala snake charmer and wishing well but to have them touring consistently, enjoying being in blink and still pumping out catchy fun rock music.  i'm in.

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I listened to it all the other day and it's still very good IMO. I also appreciated how diverse the songs were from Cynical/Rabbit Hole/TOTTM quick bangers, to California/HISALP ballads, to L.A. harder experimental rock, SOOHM throwback vibe, Sober mainstream vibe, etc. It's well constructed despite the viewpoint that it was created in a day at the #Factory . I've read so many complaints here that the songs all sound the same, but on the main California album I didn't feel that way at all while listening. I just had good vibes from 2016 Summer which is how it should be.

But yeah, I know how this is gonna go:

 NcBRuFa.jpg

 

Proceed, it's ok...

giphy.gif

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1 hour ago, Speedo said:

It sucked then, it sucks now and, just to save us all the trouble, it'll continue to suck no matter the amount of time passed.

Hell, maybe the next album will be good and make California comparatively suck more!

For someone who has said he doesn't like blink and probably has listened to California one time, you have quite the opinion on the matter!

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