Blink182 - Greatest Hits
The pre-Christmas rush is on, and Blink182 are joining the masses with their 'Greatest Hits'. As I write this in the first week of November, already half the top ten best sellers in the UK are band compilations and there's many more to come over the next couple of months.
With reviews of these kind of records, not only is one CD being judged, but the whole career of the artist in question is effectively being scrutinized. Essentially these things are like the music equivalent of a 'Best Goals of the World Cup' DVD and therefore you can end up with a snapshot of the action, giving you a good idea of what's gone on, without having to sit through the whole tournament.
Those products are for people who like football, but not enough to get up at stupid o'clock to watch the matches when they're played on the other side of the world. The 'Greatest Hits' album is fantastic for somebody who's kind of into a band, likes to hear their songs on the radio, but would rather not by several CDs to get the tracks they want. It is for this reason that the 'Best Of' has become such a major part of the music industry, especially in the latter months of any year.
Call me old fashioned, but a Hits album always works best when the tracks are put together in chronological order, meaning you can hear how a band develops musically, and Blink have extra bonus marks for doing that. Listening to this it is clear how they have matured from a raw punk rock based band to a rock act that stay in touch with their roots, but who aren't scared to pull out a classic mainstream moment such as 'I Miss You' or 'Down'. This later work is a great example of adult Blink, whereas their other massive crossover hit 'All The Small Things', which would have been written before they hit the big time, shows flashes of the potential they had to be huge but is evidently still a bunch of American kids having fun and making music for that reason.
In the latter years, unsurprisingly they were a considerably more polished, tight and slick musical unit as it's fair to say that the early tracks on this compilation are exploding with enthusiasm but a touch rough round the edges. The first four tracks are unlikely to be familiar to the casual observer as 'What's My Age Again', still one of their finest moments, was the bands first impact track in the UK, reaching the top twenty on it's second release. One of the most interesting tracks is 'Adam's Song', as it comes from the same album as 'What's My Age' and 'All The Small Things', but has a sound more similar to later tracks and clearly shows what the band had in them for future years. There's a broader use of instruments on this song and is the first where a piano pops up. From that moment on they seemed to be a transformed outfit, with a variety of singles that could appeal to the diehard fan as well as taking them to a level that sounds a long way away from album opener 'Carousel'.
The band announced they were to go their separate ways earlier in 2005. This is a great album for any interested by stander to have in their collection as an overview of their work. It lumps their career into a small box, although it's more than just scratching the surface as there's a number of tracks from their five albums that would have gone unnoticed during their career.
Once upon a time if you brought one of these things out it meant that you're career was drawing to a close and that a chapter needed to be completed, which is exactly the point behind this one from Blink182. Unlike too many you see which do seem rather pointless; this CD serves its purpose well and shouldn't be regarded as simply a money-spinner at a time of year when plenty of it can be made.
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