This was Blink's first recording, a demo tape that was later remastered by Kung Fu Records into a CD, probably so they could make lots of money off of these up-and-coming kids. Half of these tracks appear with better sound quality on Cheshire Cat. But I don't care what anyone says - the version of fan favourite Carousel on this CD is way better than the Cheshire Cat version.
But hey, the other half of the CD really isn't that bad. Blink even re-records 3 tracks that originally appeared on the even earlier demo, Flyswatter. And this time, they're adequately recorded! Wow! "21 Days," "My Pet Sally," "Don't," and a cover of Screeching Weasel's "The Girl Next Door" are the four tracks that don't appear anywhere else. If you're a Blink fan, it's worth it to pick up this album, but otherwise, it'll just bore you.
The version of "Carousel" is good, but is ruined by a new intro. The band must agree with me, since they never play this version of the song live. You can clearly see the direction Blink will be going in, with joke songs like "Ben Wah Balls" and "Depends." This is a very solid release, and I think both Mark and Tom's vocals are at their best. The band is just starting, and puts plenty of energy into every song. The CD isn't ruined by too much or too little production. The songs have good sound quality without sounding fake and over-polished. Even though the band doesn't talk about their early years or play many older songs (with the exception of "Carousel" and "Dammit") at concerts, this CD is packed with fan favourites and is definitely worth picking up.
This is the only album both older Blink fans and newer Blink fans agree is great. This was Blink's major label debut on MCA, and earned them moderate popularity with singles "Dammit" and "Josie."
The production is better than Cheshire Cat, but this marks the beginning of Tom's lazy vocal syndrome. A couple of the tracks ("Boring," "Waggy," "Enthused") seem like bland filler the first time around, but rapidly grow on you. I'm partial to this CD myself; it's got all my personal favourites like "Lemmings" and "I'm Sorry," which are surprisingly mature for this incarnation of Blink, and on the opposite spectrum, "Voyeur" and "A New Hope" showcase Blink's class clown side without being too pathetic. The remake of "Degenerate," which originally appeared on cassette-only versions of Buddha is guaranteed to put a grin on your face, but in retrospect, the most hilarious practical joke on this CD is that they have a song called "Emo," when most of today's emo kids who dismiss Blink 182 as "not being intellectual enough" or something were listening to watered-down pop when this CD came out! They probably didn't mean for it to be a joke at the time, but the irony is still great.
You can get into the majority of this CD right away. It isn't quite as consistent as Cheshire Cat, but the production is far better with the ever-popular Mark Trombino at the helm, and the great songs are just that - really great. I'd say it's on par with Cheshire Cat, which most Blink fans claim is the best album. If you want to see what Blink is really about, you should start with this album.
The guitars are too overproduced, and Tom's vocals sound unbelievably fake. The songs are simplistic, musically and lyrically, even for Blink. They go way overboard with teenage humour and situations, especially when you consider they're in their mid-to-late twenties at this point. The CD opens weakly, with three tracks that all sound far too slick for their own good. We eventually get to "What's My Age Again?," "Dysentery Gary," "The Party Song," "Mutt," and "Anthem," which are all straight-forward pop-punk songs about relationships and partying. "All the Small Things" is a horrible song with meaningless lyrics, and I don't say that because it's popular. On the plus side, Mark's vocals are at their best, making "Going Away To College," and "Wendy Clear" the best tracks on this album.
Overall, Enema of the State is okay, but nothing special compared to other Blink records. Overproduction is the nail in its coffin - not the fact that they were on MTV at this point.
While most live albums edit out the between song banter, this has more than you could ever want, plus seven minutes of it after the last track, "Man Overboard," which actually isn't live, but a bonus studio track. There's three brand-new live only tracks as well, but don't get your hopes up, as it's just overdone joke tracks.
Anyway, like I was saying, there's a great mix of songs. The breakdown is 2 from Cheshire Cat, 5 from Dude Ranch, and 9 from Enema. Not bad, eh? It's just too bad "Josie" and "M&Ms" don't appear. Other than that, whoever compiled this album did a good job. I can't see any other way they could have topped themselves.
After the huge success of Enema of the State, they're working themselves into a rut. We've got two "sequels" to previous hit songs, ("Anthem Part 2" to "Anthem," "Online Songs" to "Josie") "Happy Holidays You Bastard" is a bland joke track, "First Date," "The Rock Show," "Roller Coaster," and "Reckless Abandon" are standard radio-friendly I-got-dumped-let's-go-party songs, and "Give Me One Good Reason" is the token "we're rebels!" track that pop-punk bands like to put out nowadays.
Even with the good tracks, you can't help but feel that it's all been done before. "Stay Together For the Kids" is an attempt at remaking "Adam's Song," even if the subject matter is different, and "Shut Up" is not bad, but there are so many "oh my parents hate me" songs in this world already. "Everytime I Look For You" and "Please Take Me Home" are catchy pop-punk fare that will remind you of Dude Ranch. I think the best song on this CD by far is "Short Story of a Lonely Guy." Don't ask why, it just is. If you bought the CD when it first came out, you get two bonus tracks (one "real song" and one joke song) that vary depending on the CD art. The joke songs are funny but a little overdone, and the other songs sound more or less like everything else on the CD, with the exception of acoustic track "What Went Wrong." It's by far the best of the bonus songs, and makes you want to hear Blink playing acoustic more often.
Blink is in a slump with this CD, trying to move forward without alienating their new fans. Overall, it's catchy and enjoyable, and has significantly less overproduction than the last album, but when you're finished listening, you can't help but notice it's all been done before. It's exactly what you'd expect from this era of Blink 182. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to the individual listener.
The CD opens with radio-friendly track "Feeling This." They may have chosen a bad track to start the CD, but the rest is much better. "Obvious" is fast pop-punk, but is dark enough to foreshadow the rest of the CD. Next we're into "I Miss You," which has a serious, slow sound and is a bit...emo? "Violence," one of the coolest tracks on the album, has a heavy drum-and-bass beat, and on this track and "Asthenia," production actually makes Tom's vocals sound cool! "Stockholm Syndrome" opens with an old lady reading a letter written by Mark's grandfather to his wife during WWII, then kicks into Mark and Tom trading vocals over a fast-paced beat.
"Go" and "Easy Target" are short and probably the closest to Blink's earlier sound. "Down," "Always," "Here's Your Letter," "I'm Lost Without You," and "All of This" (which has Robert Smith of The Cure on guest vocals) round out the CD as dark pop songs that border on emo. This CD came right out of left field for Blink, and you know, I like it. They take the time to break out of their formula, no two songs sound the same, and both Mark and Tom's vocals sound at their best. For once, a band changing their sound hasn't gone horribly wrong.