The first time I heard Blink-182's "Take Off Your Pants And Jacket" (2001), I was 10, and a friend of mine revealed the CD case from his backpack at the end of a school day. We ran to his house at the bell to enjoy the nearly perfect pop-punk sound I now associate with my youth. The power chords, active drumming and the songs about girls being drags: it all resonated, and still does. Alongside "Enema of the State" (1999), the album remains one of my favorites from that time period, and nostalgia only plays a small role. They're simply great pieces of music.
Blink-182's self-titled 2003 album marked a shift in the band's style. The earnest awkwardness of youth and potty humor was converted to introversion. The power-trio instrumentation was sprinkled with piano, string flourishes and a cameo appearance from The Cure's Robert Smith. I loved it, but for completely different reasons. This was a "mature" Blink, one that couldn't get the girl and didn't want to move past it. It is this iteration of Blink-182 that makes a return in their newest release after an eight-year hiatus, "Neighborhoods."
Fans who long for the days of penis jokes and songs about pooping are going to be woefully disappointed by the band's latest effort. Those who hated the direction of the self-titled album should move right along — there's nothing to see here. The general mood remains much the same: Several songs are fast and poppy enough to be categorized as fun, but none are exactly jolly.
On the other hand, if the intro of 2003's "Violence" makes your heart smile, "Neighborhoods" may be worth your money.
The opening of this album contains some of the strongest material the band has ever recorded. Tracks like "Ghost on the Dance Floor" and "Up All Night" are thematically similar to the tunes from eight years ago; "Ghost," in particular, is a highlight. Inspired by the passing of drummer Travis Barker's friend DJ AM, the song's driving beat is infectious.
"Natives" and "Heart's All Gone" sound like more-aggressive versions of something from "Dude Ranch" (1997), with added complexity. Rapid hi-hat triplets form the foundation of the solid "After Midnight," an ode to friendly decadence.
Vocally, Blink has stepped its game up considerably. Bass guitarist and vocalist Mark Hoppus and guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge trade lines on a few songs, and the harmonies here are beyond anything they've offered in the past. Fans of the ending of 2003's "Feeling This" will be pleased with much of the material here. "Up All Night" has the two musicians' voices melding together during the chorus, while the verses are traded off. The song even features an honest-to-goodness breakdown, not unlike "Aliens Exist" from 1999.
So, what's the problem? After the poppy "Wishing Well" — which contains a pre-chorus harkening back to 2001's "Story of a Lonely Guy" — the quality of the songs drops off considerably.
The second half of the record seems thrown together simply for the sake of completeness. Hoppus and DeLonge fill the void with excessive experimentation. Before Blink-182's reunion, the two had outlets for their "not-Blink-appropriate" ideas in their individual side projects. However, now that the band is back together, too many of the songs on "Neighborhoods" sound like B-sides from a mediocre Angels and Airwaves album. Adult Blink is interesting when it has something unique to say, but tracks like "Love Is Dangerous" make a mockery of the band's progression.
Drawing particular ire is the awful "Fighting the Gravity," a special treat for those who obtain the deluxe edition of "Neighborhoods." The song has a promising start, with a descending bass line and moderate feedback, but when it transitions into Hoppus singing, "This makes no sense" in a layered, delayed and spacey manner, the listener is inclined to agree. The rest of the song fails to ascend from overtly experimental drudgery.
Experimentation can work for Blink-182 — "Snake Charmer" uses some of the same mechanics with greater success — but when it falls flat, the result is more than a bad song: it's a cacophony of failed ideas.
Taken as a whole, "Neighborhoods" is an average album that could have been a lot worse. Fans who enjoyed Blink-182's 2003 reinvention will find a lot to love in it, and others will have a hard time believing that an eight-year break failed to result in a more triumphant resurgence.
