Blink-182 - Neighborhoods
 

Blink-182 - Neighborhoods
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Record Label: Geffen

Come November, it’ll have been nearly 8 years since Blink-182 released their eponymous album - a polarizing album in sound, but widely-praised album nonetheless. The band would then go on to announce an indefinite hiatus in 2005. And sure, their hiatus in 2005 was hardly a “hiatus,” as we were met with several albums from Tom Delonge’s ambitious project Angels and Airwaves, Mark Hoppus’ Blink-182 rehash, Plus 44, and a wealth of hip-hop projects and remixes from Travis Barker. And while the circumstances that lead to the reunion of the band were bleak and grim, the band found solid ground in the fact that they all wanted to make music again.

Blink-182 is a seminal band for this particular genre. In the time that they’ve been gone, countless bands have come out of the woodwork to try and capitalize on the sound they helped build, pioneer and popularize since the early 90s. And sure, a few All Time Lows saw their share of spotlight, but the truth is that no one band really came close to capturing the golden pop-punk these Southern California boys released within Enema of the State and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.

So upon their return, it seemed many had high hopes of the band getting back to their old sound and what got them so revered and praised in the first place. Instead, the band pulled up ideas and themes from the darker and more elusive self-titled record, including the overall tonality and emotion. Lead single “Up All Night” felt more AVA than Blink, and didn’t go over as well with the fans as “Hearts All Gone,” the beefy and energetic follow-up single. Regardless, the anticipation and expectations for the record never faltered.

It seems obvious that the band took elements from everything that each respective member did during their time off from blink-182, to muster up a sort of conglomerate of the byproducts. This is not necessarily a good thing, because the ambient and awkward leanings of Angels and Airwaves are too overbearing, heard in songs like “Ghost on the Dance Floor” and the uninspired “Love is Dangerous.” However, the band has never been more impressive instrumentally, and it’s due to these same influences. For the first time since Travis Barker joined the band, bass and guitar parts are just as impressive as their drum backbones, and songs like “Kaleidoscope” and “Natives” are where the band showcases everything they were ever good at within a 4 minute timeframe.

And while it’s good to have the band back, it seems that a lot of these songs just go by without anything really happening. Ideas and experiments on the self-titled album were refreshing, and bred a new, albeit short life into the group. The lack of interesting ideas and lyrical themes on Neighborhoods is what really affects the album’s playability, as evident in “Snake Charmer” and “MH 4.18.2011,” which seemed to have missed their landings completely. It doesn’t seem that the band is headed out anytime soon either. They’ll have plenty of time to get back on track, but for now, a slightly above-average offering seems to be the status quo.

Recommended If You Like

Blink-182 - Self-Titled with less meat, extra cheese and a Coke Zero instead of a regular Coke

5.9/10

THOMAS NASSIF IS GONNA BE SO MAD



x

Snake Charmer is the most catchy song I've heard this year.

I think it's a good review and you encapsulate the album well, I just enjoy it a little more than you seem to. I'd give it an 80%.

themostdeplete
/controversialreviews

If the band has never been more impressive instrumentally, why the 6 on instrumentation? I don't ask to be nitpicky, I ask because I'm wondering if you thought the band was that bad instrumentally in the past.

In any case, I enjoyed your review very much, especially your ability to unapologetically take the less popular opinion.

Bad review is bad.

wow.

+44, a band half comprised of members of blink-182, is a "Blink-182 ripoff"

alright

lol.

Not a very good user review. Lacks a strong argument and backing support for the point of view it presents. Overall I'd assume themostdeplete was looking for another self-titled, enema, or toypaj, which is an arrogant desire on his behalf. Why would a band ever backtrack?

I'll be honest, this is a bad review.



My thoughts exactly.

I hardly ever log on to my profile, I just sit back and read the drivel I am fed with most helpings including tons of ignorance. I love this review. why? because it epitomizes honesty, I am sure some people gave this album 90% because of the band name and not because of the music. I am also sure that most of the people who came out raving about this album has taken it out of their cd player or car because the first time they listened to this album they were overcome by nostalgia and that feeling has worn out and has been replaced by that dull, morbid, depressing feeling called BOREDOM. Ps. You can start a cheese factory with Love is Dangerous

Why is it bad? To this site you are one of the best reviewers, I am sure you can give him a few tips, you know some constructive criticism?

I gave this album a 6.5 and I've only liked one Blink 182 album.

Nice to show a less favorable review. The writing...not so much.

This album is about a 70% for me. I've never had to skip Blink tracks until this album

This. Middle school students shouldn't have their "reviews" published on the main page imo...

Saying the guitars and bass have upped their game? Not really. They're still simple to play, they've just mastered the craft of making easy music sound sonically pleasing, and adding anotehr dimension to their music by layering sounds, and not just sticking to the 3 chords, and 3 chords only. And "most wanted them to go back to their old sound and not the same as their self titled" or whatever nonsense you put at the beginning is just ridiculous. From what I've seen/heard, while people tend to like SONGS their old albums, I'm fairly certain the overall majority of people (at least going by what people say on this website) prefer the s/t feel to their "old stuff".

I have a LOT more to say, but Jason said it best. Bad review IS bad.

hahaha which one?

why does it feel like everyone hating on this review is because of the % and not what he actually wrote...you might disagree with his POV but its not a bad review.

Grammatically, this review, is pretty terrible. In, my history using the English language, I have never seen, so many, misused commas.

I didn't even look at the score.

this line puts me off so much


i disagree with pretty much everything that was said in this review

Too much fluff, not enough content. Next time, you should dedicate more than the last two paragraphs to actually reviewing the album. Also, a fair amount of the review seems unfounded. In what regard was "Heart's All Gone" more successful than "Up All Night"? How was the new album at its most effective instrumentally yet devoid of themes and innovation? If the album actually combines stylistic nuances of AVA, +44 and Travis Barker's hip hop projects, then why did you only make note of the AVA influences in songs? What about was "Love is Dangerous" uninspired? What about "Snake Charmer" and "MH 4.18.2011" was so unsuccessful? Finally, after all the hate, you describe the album as "slightly above average," so why not go into a little more detail on why you liked the album?

I have no problem hearing a negative opinion on a blink album, but this is more of a written complaint than a review. I'm sure you have legitimate reasons to back up your assertions, so why not write them?

Not to be a stickler or anything but you just said: "In, my history of using the English language..."

I suppose I wouldn't know since grammar has always been a bitch to me, but does that comma have to be there?

Enema of State. Might have to spin that one again sometime soon.

He was being facetious.

Okay.

Bad review. So many big words to come off as intelligent but at the end of the day, the review told us nothing about the album beside the fact that this person wasn't very impressed with it.

Stop overusing the "thesaurus" button.

this review is shit because its from the perspective of another asshole hoping for another dude ranch or chesire cat...looking for the true punk-blink, mark thru hearts all gone on there, be happy with that... this cd was far better than i expected, wayyy better than the self-titled, prolly better than toypanj... i dnt even kno how you came up with 5.9 ... clearly ur mother n father were related.... album is a 9/10 at the very absolute LEAST... fking box... as stated earlier i dont even kno how this is on the home page.

Where in the review do you see overuse? Because I don't see anything.

oh no

EDIT: hahaha. Pretty funny review. You told for us for more than half of it what blink did during the hiatus, what other bands did, and how bad the blink side project bands are. Good for a laugh, thanks for the review.

I SUPPOSE!


well, i was trying to adapt the way the staff has been writing reviews as of late. ignoring the sidebar score and putting the actual score at the bottom. i'd rather rate an album in one overall score, as opposed to a score for different aspects. hope that clears it up! thanks.


:'(


i'll admit, it's stupid in the context. i more or less wanted to say that in plus 44, mark hoppus wanted to relive the blink-182 vein of pop rock. the only thing he changed was an extra guitarist and some moog. i just don't like being too verbose and making it a 'tl:dr' situation.


self-titled is my favorite blink album. and i like that they went in the same vein as s/t, the songs just don't mean anything and in my opinion, are really boring.


i feel the same way about the 'skipping blink tracks' part. sorry the writing sucked.


i don't think you were around ap when self-titled dropped. most of my friends thought blink was trying too hard, were in over their heads, etc. i think the lyrical prowess on this album is about half as good as the self-titled, which is sad because they've never stopped writing in their respective hiatuses from blink. i would've thought they'd get better with age.

and middle school students? just because you don't agree with a review doesn't mean it sucks. i'm content with my writing capability. and the fact that i graduated with a degree in journalism and worked at the houston chronicle and the university of houston's newspaper makes me more than OK with the fact that some jerkoff with a blink username on absolutepunk.net thinks i write on the level of a 7th grader.


i knew they would, which is why i submitted it to the blink blackhole that is AP.net. and ilu guy.


sorry it sux.


honestly, i wanted it to be more of a quick complaint. i hate long reviews and have never/will never write them. i had about 2000 words to say about the watch the throne album, so i chose simply to not review it. i'd rather get my opinion out in 500 words or less, because if it's not a staff writer, it won't get read.

and hearts all gone was more successful in terms of fan response. the reception to up all night was lukewarm, but everyone seemed to love hearts all gone. that's it.

love is dangerous is cheesy as shit, and awful. there's no hip-hop influence on any of these songs, besides the fact that they borrowed off kanye west's (most recent example) idea for an interlude (hearts all gone interlude = all of the lights interlude) and that would just be another complaint. snake charmer and MH 4.18 are boring/uneventful/not memorable. in my opinion, of course.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review

so my review told me nothing besides my opinion of it? how is that not a review?

Well, that's what a review is. A bad review can be when you state your opinion without backing it with sensical statements. I never said your review wasn't a review. I just said it was a bad review.

this review is refreshing...i'd give it a slightly higher rating, but i feel like your review is an honest critic in a sea of fanboys

i felt like i gave a few examples as to why i didn't like it. i feel like a lot of the songs went nowhere/don't serve any real purpose. some may even say that i felt that THE HEART'S ALL GONE from the music.

*crickets*


the only reason i posted it here.

I agree with some the arguments expressed in the review, but the writing is very awkward.

If I were to read this without listening to the album, I would have no idea what most of the songs sound like/the overall grasp of the album...you basically just said it sounds too much like AvA and it's boring and you don't like it.

someone is angry... and stupid. very very stupid.

The review was actually pretty good IMO. Disagree with some of the criticism in it, but thought it was solidly written.

i strongly disagree with this review...personally think that this album is amazing but thats just me

I not only disagree with the review but feel this review must of been written by some kid raging (NEEDS MORE DICK JOKES). seriously love the new album and glad they are back. Interested to see how they follow this up also.

I was around on this website when it came out. I believe I joined as a member in 2005, but I had been on here since right before TOYPAJ came out. Haha. So to assume that I wasn't on ap around tat time is just silly. How is Blink "trying too hard"? I HATE that idea. They'd probably have to try harder to write the same old poo poo pee pee songs about girls as near men in their mid-late 30s than they do to have to write more "serious" music. And just because the lyrical content is "different" doesn't mean it's HALF as good as s/t.

And the middle school comment had nothing to do with your ideas in the review. It had to do with the poor writing style/structure that you used in an attempt to convey your ideas. You GRADUATED WITH A DEGREE IN JOURNALISM Lol? No way I believe that dude. At all. Your writing style is MAYBE at a tenth grade level, and definitely not that of a college graduate (unless Houston's writing program is a complete joke). I guess it's fitting that you workED (past tense) at that paper though... And I'm not just some "jerkoff" on ap.net. I have a BA in education, and am currently a teacher, so believe me, I know what good writing is, and you may not be a bad writer, but this is an EXTREMELY poorly written review, and that has nothing to do with your ideas or views on the record differing from mine.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. I've been waiting for an honest review. And not a "BLINK 182 IS BACK" review.

Thank you for being the one to say it. It isn't bad enough that the score is ridiculous, the review is written terribly.

iT mUsT bE hArD lIviNg in NeW hAvEn, Ct.!


oh well, i guess. sorry i didn't describe each song. i personally find those reviews boring, so to each his own.


finally! thanks.


i think it's half as good, you don't. simple.

and it's past tense (workED) because i got laid off (budget cuts, they didn't want to pay any current students without BAs, etc), not because i was bad. thanks for being as condescending as possible, but i'm still pretty content with my writing capabilities.

this record did not exceed the low expectations i had for it

Can we at least fix this:

Lead single “Up All Night” was more AVA than Blink, and didn’t go over as well as “Hearts All Gone,” the beefy and energetic follow-up single, but anticipation and expectations for the record never faltered.

1) The song is the #3 song on alt radio and the video is over 2m views. The song has gone over very well.

2) "After Midnight" is the next single.

This post makes me dislike the album just a little bit more.

You don't need to describe each song in depth, but touching on more than two with a worthwhile comment goes a long way.