Review Summary: Blink's first and best album
Okay, so Cheshire Cat was pop-punk icon Blink-182’s first official LP, originally released in 1994. Since Blink are one of my original favorite bands from when I was a little kid, I felt their first release deserved more than some half-assed track by track review. While the pinnacle of Blink’s career was, to many, either Enema of the State or Take of Your Pants and Jacket, Cheshire Cat is overall a much more raw, fun effort. This was before their sound matured (at all), and while the production is absolutely terrible, it seems more like Blink were just trying to have fun with their first album. They didn’t take it seriously, therefore it was more fun / enjoyable to listen to.▓▓▓
The first track on the album, Carousel, starts off slow. Then it slowly builds and builds until you are taken by surprise by a burst of rapid drumming and then that builds even more into the first verse. Even though it is the beginning of the album, it is undoubtedly my favorite song off of it. It really sets the tone for the rest of the album by being a fast, punk song. In fact, most of the songs off of Cheshire Cat are fairly fast, with the exception of only Cacophony, Ben Wah Balls, or Romeo and Rebecca.
I feel it important to mention that it wasn’t until after this release that Blink-182 recruited their famous drummer, Travis Barker. At this time Travis Barker was still the drummer for Ska-Punk band The Aquabats. Scott Raynor wielded the drumsticks on this release. Although Travis Barker is famous for carrying the band’s sound on later releases, Scott Raynor does a fine job on Cheshire Cat, playing fast and hard.
As with every Blink release except the self titled, this album features a few joke songs, called Ben Wah Balls, Depends, and Just About Done. These are the final three tracks on the album. Some may think it to be a very bad idea to place foolish joke songs as the conclusion to an album, but I feel like it was necessary on Cheshire Cat. To have concluded this album with some sort of epic or sad song like many albums conclude with would have been very wrong. The album was meant to be fun so it had to end on a cheerful, funny note. While these songs aren’t particularly laugh out loud hilarious, they are very fun.
It is possible that this album isn’t as good as I make it out to be. It is superb to me mainly because it is very nostalgic, being one of the first albums I listened to. It reminds me of simpler, better, times which may be why I like it so much. Either way, if you haven’t heard this yet, you should give it a listen. It is much better in my opinion than anything else Blink-182 have released mainly because of its pureness and rawness.
Recommended Tracks:
Carousel
Cacophony
Wasting Time
Toast and Bananas
Ben Wah Balls
Album Rating: 4.5
