Album Reviews

Last year, “California” marked an enjoyable enough comeback for Blink 182. Not only did it welcome Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba into the fold, it also showed that they were managing just fine without Tom DeLonge, who was too busy looking up at the sky for signs of little green men.

The band is back now with the deluxe edition of the album, which comes with a whopping 12 additional tracks. That brings the total to an even whoppier total of 28 songs. A lot. Especially for an album that already felt bloated to begin with.

“Parking Lot” gets to kick things off, a fast and catchy anthem that should have been on the original album. The same can be said for the poppy “Don’t Mean Anything” and “Wildfire”, which comes with a nice vintage Blink vibe. You could also make a case for “6-8”, even if it feels more like an Alk 3 track than anything else.

Cuts like “Good Old Days”, “Misery”, “Hey I’m Sorry” and “Last Train Home” on the other hand definitely feel like B-sides and could have easily been left on the cutting floor. The latter two even sound so much alike, it’s kinda ridiculous. And I doubt anyone was waiting for the acoustic version of “Bored To Death”.

In short, the deluxe edition of “California” comes across as overkill. There’s a handful of solid additions, which should have replaced some of the more cookie cutter tracks on the original version of the album. “California” would have been all the better because of it. But at 28 songs, there is just way too much mediocre Blink to take in.

Track listing:

1. Cynical
2. Bored to Death
3. She's Out of Her Mind
4. Los Angeles
5. Sober
6. Built This Pool
7. No Future
8. Home is Such a Lonely Place
9. Kings of the Weekend
10. Teenage Satellites
11. Left Alone
12. Rabbit Hole
13. San Diego
14. The Only Things That Matters
15. California
16. Brohemian Rhapsody
17. Parking Lot
18. Misery
19. Good Old Days
20. Don't Mean Anything
21. Hey I'm Sorry
22. Last Train Home
23. Wildfire
24. 6/8
25. Long Lost Feeling
26. Bottom of the Ocean
27. Can't Get You More Pregnant
28. Bored to Death (Acoustic)