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Post reunion (with Tom) songs that make you wish Tom was still in the band


M!ke

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So in spite of everything, I still see a fair amount of people around here that seem to want Tom to still be in blink and I'm just curious as to what it is that they saw when blink got back together that they still want to see him in the band.  Not gonna deny that there were some solid tunes that did make his presence desirable after they got back together.  But that doesn't change the fact that Neighborhoods was overall not a great followup to untitled.  Dogs Eating Dogs however I found to be a much more promising overall release for where the band might have gone as Mark, Tom, and Travis.  With all of that laid out, I'm gonna list the songs that really showed me promise for the future of blink with Tom, and ultimately are reasons why even I might still like to see blink with Tom in this modern era.  If I don't list a song, it either means I think Mark was almost entirely responsible for the song or that I just found it to be a very weak showing on Tom's part.  So let's get started:

Neighborhoods

Ghost on the Dancefloor:  Overall I like this song, it's not the greatest song in the world, but its catchy and anthemic, but it did immediately leave me concerned that blink might end up going in the Angels and Airwaves direction, which I did not want to see happen.  There is only so much of this kind of sound that I can handle.

Up All Night:  Seems like a pretty 50/50 Mark and Tom song in terms of contribution, and probably one of their most mature songs in terms of the subject matter.  I know that not everyone was crazy about the song, but I really do love it, its unique, different, cool, and I dunno the kind of song that sticks with ya, not catchy exactly, but it leaves an impression.

Snake Charmer:  Overall kind of a weak song, but I do like it, I have some problems with it, but I get the impression that if Tom just put a little more time and effort into it, that it could have really stuck out as a more iconic blink song.

Wishing Well: I was hesitant to include this, and I still am.  Overall I'm not a big fan of this song, but its the lyrics that really get me, it really sounds like Tom was admitting to all of his nonsense that he went through with blink breaking up and everything he was doing with Angels and Airwaves, and in that respect, I really like what he was going for, I just wish the song was stronger.  This is the weakest of the songs I've included on this list, but it does make the list all the same.

Kaleidoscope:  Now I know that this song was almost all Mark, but I can't deny that Tom probably had some input on it, and it truly is one of blink's best songs ever in my opinion.  Which really is crazy because initially I wasn't even a fan of this song, but when I started to really listen to the song more and more, I really understood what made it so special.  Tom's input here is probably only about 10%, if that, BUT, I have to think that without his input this song wouldn't have been nearly as great as it is, and could possibly have just become another meh Neighborhoods song.  The push and pull of Mark and Tom's writing is what made blink so special when it worked, and boy did it ever work here however little push and pull Tom had.

Love Is Dangerous:  Most people here don't seem to like this song.  I really dig it.  It seems like a more Tom driven song to me, kind of a spiritual successor to Violence, though not quite as great as Violence.  It has its flaws, but I dunno, something about it has always stuck with me.  I do wish that Tom didn't have his 2011 voice here though, I get the feeling that this song in his 2003 voice would have been soooo much better. 

Even If She Falls:  I find this to be his second or third strongest showing post reunion.  Its a call back to the TOYPAJ sound, and its catchy and fun and summery and everything that 1999-2001 blink was hooking us all into.  I love it, and in terms of all his songs on Neighborhoods I found it to be a great reason to have hope for blink moving forward in 2011.

Dogs Eating Dogs

Dogs Eating Dogs: Again, this seems like a similar case to Kaleidoscope, a mostly Mark song, but with some undeniable Tom input.  It really feels like a +44 song featuring Tom Delonge, but heck, its great, and I have to imagine that without Tom's input it wouldn't have turned out quite as great as it did.

Disaster: one of his strongest post reunion showings in my opinion.  This song really gave me hope for what the next blink album with Tom might have been.  I have no complaints about it, and I love it through and through.  And I'm sure that it's mostly Tom responsible for this one.

Boxing Day: Not the most original song ever, and another case of seeming like about a 50/50 Mark and Tom contribution song.  Acoustic songs are a nice change of pace for the band especially when they do it right, and overall I'd say they did it right here.  It'd be nice to see more songs like this, though I'd hope they could be a bit more unique with their songs if they did have more like this.

Pretty Little Girl: No matter what you feel about the rap (I personally love it) disregard it, and appreciate the song for what it is.  Again, one of Tom's strongest post reunion showings in my opinion.  Not a single complaint I have about this song, found it to be a fantastic way to close out the EP and left me wondering what more blink from Mark, Tom, and Travis could sound like with a follow up.  We may never know, but overall this EP was a very strong showing on Tom's part (with exception to When I Was Young which I found to be pretty weak), and did legitimately leave me wanting more.  

 

Its not that Tom didn't show up after the reunion (though, it is hard not to wonder how much better Neighborhoods could have been if he bothered to actually meet up with Mark and Travis), its just that all-in-all his contributions paled in comparison to what he brought to the table in Untitled and Box Car Racer.  Neighborhoods did ultimately leave me disappointed in Tom with a few stand out moments, but Dogs Eating Dogs did give me a lot of hope.  I was ultimately conflicted about the choice to move on without him.  But comparing all his post reunion material with all the Skiba material, it feels pretty close to a draw to me, with the benefit on Skiba's part that he can commit more often (so far anway) instead of having to wait a long time for Tom to be ready to do blink, and its not just that Tom would make us wait, its that he could never be straight with us either, he kept dragging us along saying the new music would come soon for years, and that simply wasn't acceptable.  Though, again, Dogs Eating Dogs is that weird exception (that I personally think has something to do with Modlife, but that's another subject for another day), where it seemed like he was ready to be all about blink again, but then he was going to drag us along for years again after that and I was personally sick of that.  The songs listed above are great, and Tom is a large part of all of them, but you'll also note that there are a fair share of his songs that i didn't list, because they weren't great, and they didn't feel like Tom showed up for them or was trying all that much.  He became a mixed and unreliable bag.  Part of me misses him, but a larger part of me is glad that he is gone.

But all of that aside, how about you, what songs post reunion with Tom gave you hope for blink moving forward and why?  I feel like this could be an interesting and fun conversation, which is why I created this topic haha.

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I still enjoy much of Neighborhoods. Maybe because I associate that record with a time in my life and it brings me back there. I was playing those songs around my early college years - and it was the first new blink record I got to experience as a fan. (didn't get into them until like 07/08) - so maybe I'm a bit biased towards that record, but I love it. Imperfections and all. I think it almost adds to the charm. You can hear the struggle in the songs, you can hear the flaws, you can hear points where it seems disjointed. But if you sift through that all there's strong material in there. I think it was reflective of the band at the time. Disjointed, but still together. Trying to figure out where to go. I do believe that it would have been a better record if it was recorded more organically in the same room - but to me the imperfections add kind of a melancholic charm to it all. I still think Ghost on the Dancefloor is (in my opinion) one of the best songs they've ever mad - deep, catchy, a little dark, anthemic. I also really love Even If She Falls - classic blink. Catchy hook, fun riff, love song. Songs like Wishing Well could have benefitted from stronger guitars (too weak in the mix - a result of not listening to the mixes together). I also love Disaster. 

I like some of California - there's some gems/classics in there. But overall I do miss the battling ideas/sounds from Mark/Tom. California just felt overall too produced, too polished, too generic. It's not a bad record per say. But it's just not what I love most about blink.

I'll be the first to admit I didn't want them to turn into AVA feat. Mark/Travis - but I think if they could find the balance between the experimental/arena rock vibe Tom was pushing and still holding on to their catchy riffs/hooks/aloof humor - they could have really been onto something. 

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27 minutes ago, Cheerios4u98 said:

Basically all of them except Love Is Dangerous.

His post reunion songs that I wasn't a fan of or even hated include:

Natives: probably a pretty even Mark and Tom split song in terms of contribution, but I don't get the appeal, its acceptable, but forgettable to me

After Midnight: Such a meh song, why it was a single is beyond me, again this one probably falls on both Tom and Mark

This Is Home: Frankly this ranks among my all time hated Tom songs, and that includes his work with Angels and Airwaves, I just can't get into it.  I do like the verses, but the overall tune and that godawful chorus just ruin it for me

When I Was Young: Forgettable, boring, dumb, just doesn't work for me.  Not bad in the way that This Is Home is, but still bad in my opinion.

 

That's only 4 songs between an album and a half that he was all or a large part responsible for that I was not a fan of, but when you compare that to the last 5 albums before they broke up (Dude Ranch through Untitled(counting Box Car Racer)), where there wasn't a single song of his that I didn't like to some extent, its hard to not feel like he wasn't fully into the blink sound after the reunion like he had been before the break up.

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2 minutes ago, M!ke said:

His post reunion songs that I wasn't a fan of or even hated include:

Natives: probably a pretty even Mark and Tom split song in terms of contribution, but I don't get the appeal, its acceptable, but forgettable to me

After Midnight: Such a meh song, why it was a single is beyond me, again this one probably falls on both Tom and Mark

This Is Home: Frankly this ranks among my all time hated Tom songs, and that includes his work with Angels and Airwaves, I just can't get into it.  I do like the verses, but the overall tune and that godawful chorus just ruin it for me

When I Was Young: Forgettable, boring, dumb, just doesn't work for me.  Not bad in the way that This Is Home is, but still bad in my opinion.

I love the first three, but When I Was Young is kinda weak, I agree with that one, but I still like it. I still think Dogs Eating Dogs is one of blink's best releases overall, the other four tracks on the EP are top-quality blink to me.

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4 minutes ago, Cheerios4u98 said:

I love the first three, but When I Was Young is kinda weak, I agree with that one, but I still like it. I still think Dogs Eating Dogs is one of blink's best releases overall, the other four tracks are top-quality blink to me.

Oh I totally agree with that. Like I was saying, I found Neighborhoods to be a mixed bag, but overall I found Dogs Eating Dogs to be a very promising release for the future of the band as it was.  It wasn't that Tom was awful on all these new songs; it was that he couldn't commit, while he still strung all the fans along for years that new music was constantly right around the corner, and that's what really burned me out on him in the post reunion era.   Plus Neighborhoods was just so much weaker than Untitled which I mostly contribute to him, though Mark isn't free of blame on that album either, MH384732987 was a bad song too in my opinion.

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Umm all of them because the music was better?   If we're ignoring the time span it too to get music that is.

 

Besides Pretty Little Girl (I'll never understand what ppl hear in this one), This Is Home, and Even if she falls, pretty much all of them were much better Blink music.

But we're getting better Mark now (besides lyrics), so it would be nice to have a woken Mark with Tom's guitar again.. or at least Mark only songs right now would make me happier

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Some of the riffs. Ghost on the Dance Floor has my favourite riff from Neighborhoods. Always liked the Up All Night and Wishing Well riffs too. Some delay (I know some blink fans don't like this) but in Pretty Little Girl, that worked perfectly IMO. Some of the way his voice fit in with Mark (Boxing Day in the pre-chorus or Tom coming in before 2nd chorus in Kaleidoscope). Although if blink keep up with the Last Train Home vocals then I wouldn't miss it so much (that's the song that has proven to me Skiba and Mark's vocals can work great together just as good as Mark & Tom).

Some of the experimental stuff like Snake Charmer. I'd also love for him to bring the electronic vibe AVA had going for Dream Walker & Chasing Shadows too. Mercenaries IMO has the closest blink sound with them electronic vibes though. But if I was to make a list of Neighborhoods/DED songs with Tom, then here are the songs. Not counting Kaleidoscope as that's obviously a Mark song that happens to feature Tom singing. Guitars definitely sound like Mark is playing.

Ghost on the Dance Floor
Up All Night
After Midnight
Snake Charmer
Wishing Well
Pretty Little Girl
When I Was Young
Boxing Day

Never liked Even If She Falls apart from the riff. The rest of the song just sounds like an AVA B-side to me. This is Home was damn catchy but the song is so forced/rushed IMO. Disaster could've been done way better. Cool intro, cool verses though. Natives had great verses but the song falls flat I think. Love is Dangerous had bad lyrics, a boring bridge but the song could've been great if blink worked like a proper band for Neighborhoods.

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One of the things I hated about this era of Blink was there were practically 0 vocal bridges on any of the songs.  It was Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, short instrumental bridge or none at all, chorus.  So honestly I don't really love any of the songs from Neighborhoods or DED.  They're fine I guess, but nothing stands out as memorable or something I actively listen to today.

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I had a lot of issues with some of the songs Tom brought forward with Neighborhoods and DED, but compared to California I still prefer them, so I guess "all" is the answer. (Except Disaster, California could be a Rhianna record and I'd still hate Disaster more). 

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