blink-182 - California (Deluxe Edition) (2017)
I'm gonna preface this review by saying that this review is -only- for the second disc of the deluxe edition of this album, which, by all means, is essentially an entire album of new material aside from a live acoustic rendition of "Bored to Death" at the end. It should be viewed not as a disc of bonus material, but a new album entirely that was made to accompany the original album for absolutely no fuckin' reason, really, when this disc stands tall as an album deserving of its own name. If you really tried, I guess you could look inside yourself to find some way to blame the liberals for this, because it's been five minutes since you last blamed them for anything and you're getting the sweats. Well, calm yourself, because in the case of this album, there's no one to blame for anything except for me for making you read all of this intro bullshit. Goddamn, I fucking HATE being alive, haha! I just want to die, haha!! FUCKING END MY EXISTENCE, HAHA!!! Oh, Jesus Christ, the Alkaline Trio influence on this album has bled into my existence! Send help!!
When I had first reviewed the original "California" a year ago, it honestly never occurred to me that anyone would dislike that album, and it still astounds me because most of the criticisms (too many whoa's/nana's, super clean production, too poppy, etc) can also be found on "Enema of the State" and "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket", two albums that blink-182 fans hold in high regard, but they, for some reason dislike this album (remind me to make an article called "Why are blink-182 fans so delusional about the past?" one of these days) for the occasional reason I can understand (the guitar riffs aren't as strong as they were before) but most of them end up being shit you can blame pretty much any post-1997 blink-182 album for. I guess they're letting nostalgia from the band that made "First Date" when they were teenagers overshadow the fact that blink-182 has always made poppy music with teenagers as their main demographic, but y'know, whatever, fuck it: If it isn't exactly like it was when I was a teenager with friends in real life, then it's shit.
Whatever, I'm tired of ranting about my frustrations. When you take a nice little looksie-doodles into this album, you'll find out that Matt Skiba had a -lot- more influence on this album than the original "California" and that's pretty fucking exciting considering the fact that while the original was an awesome album, the moments where it felt distinctively Matt Skiba are rare to the point where if it were revealed Matt Skiba was recruited right at the end of the album recording process, I wouldn't be surprised, but if you listen to songs like "Misery", "Hey, I'm Sorry" and more, you can hear a clear influence coming through the sound that Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker perfected, which makes it especially exciting because the darkness that Matt Skiba manages to bring on this album actually (outside of the poppier tunes, mind you) make this almost sound as if it were the second +44 album, which isn't to say I'm one of those dumbasses who goes "WITHOUT TOM IT'S JUST +44", but rather, the dark, depressing natures of the music remind me heavily of the genius of "When Your Heart Stops Beating", almost making this album like the opposite of the original album, which is pretty dope as fuck when you think about it. If you can listen to "Last Train Home", "Long Lost Feeling" and/or "Bottom of the Ocean" without thinking "these are definitely some +44 songs featuring Matt Skiba" in a positive way, you cut off your ears years ago and have repressed the memories up until now.
In some ways, if you remove the poppier tunes ("Parking Lot", "Good Old Days", etc, which are actually quite good) then I can totally hear this album being not necessarily a logical progression from, but a respectable follow-up to the 2003 untitled album, which is funny, since I viewed the original album as being a logical follow-up to 2001's "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket", so basically, what I'm getting at is that if you were a fan of both of those albums from older years and picked the deluxe edition of this album, ready to listen to both discs, you're going to be musically surrounded by shit you'll love from side to side. blink-182 is one of those few pop-punk bands that has remained fresh all of these years without feeling stale, and it's actually pretty amazing that they've never been afraid to give the audience what they want while experimenting in an accessible way, which makes me excited to say that with this release, the band proves that they still have the guts to make music that doesn't come across as made-for-radio, which, in the case of blink-182, is a hard thing to break away from, no matter how good those tunes may be. Color me surprised that an album full of bonus tracks is just as good as the original, but this album excites me for what could come next, provided they mix their darker elements with their poppier elements fluidly on the next release, or even just fully embrace the darker musical theatrics for an entire album. The only negative thing I can really say about the album is that I think the final studio track "Can't Get You More Pregnant" isn't that funny or memorable, and it's kind of a cop-out to end the studio portion of this album with a joke track like the original album did, not just because it's copying the original, but because it makes me feel like they were too insecure to end the studio portion of the album on a serious note, which bothers me, especially if they were trying to pander to those old dick-joke fans of theirs. The best way I can describe this album is that (of course, outside of the poppier tunes I've mentioned and continue to) if the original album was the musical equivalent of going to the beach with friends, this disc is the equivalent of looking at photos of that day years later, wishing those moments of youthful ignorance lasted just a little bit longer.. Much like how I imagine Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker think of Tom DeLonge. Fuck, dude. Now I'm sad, but look at this: I have a great soundtrack for it right here! Hell yeah!
8/10
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