Blink-182
Cheshire Cat
The Band: Tom Delonge- guitar, vocals
Mark Hoppus- bass, vocals
Scott Raynor- drum
Blink 182. Arguably the biggest pop-punk band of the 90’s and for the first three or four years of the twenty-first century. “Cheshire Cat”, is one the bands earlier albums and one of my personal favourites. You see, for those of you out there who aren’t too familiar with the band, they have been through a few phases. Their earlier work (this) is mostly silly semi-serious songs about masturbation, relationships, being a loser and other things f that nature. Blinks later work however, is entirely serious. Most songs are very depressing. This is the main reason I don’t listen to them anymore. Not that I ever really listened to them that much. But yeah, they sort of followed the trend that a lot of bands had been following. The whole “Look at me all the sudden out of the blue I’m mature now and I write songs with deep lyrics that people can relate to and I’m not silly anymore etc.”
That being said, I’m not saying that this album is a classic or anything. It was silly and all, but nothing was really spectacular. I actually found the album to be poorly produced. The instruments sound so-so and a lot of times the vocals sounded like they really needed to be touched up some more. I’m going to assume this was because it was early in Blink’s career and they didn’t really have a lot of money yet?
Overall Sound: Pretty fun sound throughout. The instrumentals were fairly simple. But it didn’t take much a way from the album. The bass was actually fairly good. Well….it wasn’t actually that good but you could here it well in most tracks which is rare for most bands. The drums were pretty “meh”. They had their moments here and there, but they were nothing compared to when Travis joined the band. As I mention a moment ago the vocals were pretty awful. Although I think Mark’s were better than Tom’s. Mark voice was more clear, while Tom’s was raspier and sort of ruined some songs.
Track By Track:
Carousel (4.5/5)- Probably my favourite track from the album. The first few seconds were really catchy, with some nice power chords. Then we get intro the bass intro. Which was very well written. One of my all-time favourite bass riffs actually. Shortly after the bass finishes the song starts to pick up. Some nice fast riffage from the guitar. Drums seemed to pick the song up a little as well. So it sounds like everything’s going fine and this is going to be a great song right? Well we haven’t go to the vocals yet have we? To be blunt they sucked, I’m not going to go any farther with that. Otherwise this was a stupendous track, but don’t get your hopes up the whole album isn’t like that.
M+M’s (4/5)- Some pretty basic drums to start things off. Then Tom hits us with a superb little solo-y riff. The instrumentals in this song were actually pretty fantastic. Some of blinks best work. So why not a 4.5 or even a 5 perhaps? Well it wasn’t the quality of the vocals. They were okay. Mainly because this was one of the songs that Mark sings. It was the words themselves. Unbelievably cheesy. I’ll give you an example if you like. “My love life was getting so bland, there are only so many ways I can make love with my hand”. Yeah, and that’s not even the worst of it.
Fentoozler (3.5/5)- Ah, this is where the album slowly starts to decline. This whole song sounded a bit too busy. Mostly because of the drums. They were pretty much as loud as the guitar so they drowned it out a bit. It was also kind of hard to here the vocals. The drums and bass were overly basic and in this track there was no solo-y riffs to cover it up. Vocals were poor as well. I don’t want to spend any more time on this. Let’s move on.
Touchdown Boy (3.5/5)- Kind of a bland track. Quite generic. There was one splendid little riff in here. Otherwise just more power chords. I did enjoy the chorus to this track, as well. It was the only part of the album where I enjoyed Tom’s vocals. The bass wasn’t overly special, just played a simplified version of what the guitar was playing. The drums were actually quite spectacular. There was also a little bridge/interlude thing where Tom and Mark talk to each other. At the end of it Mark says something that’s supposed to funny, unfortunately for him it’s not really.
Strings (3/5)- One of the worst songs on the album. Mark’s vocals were poor. The verse and the chorus went together about as well as a short Jewish guy and a tall, hot, Roman Catholic blonde. Perhaps, it’s just me but the drums seemed to be a tad off time. Although, there was a nice snare roll at the beginning of the song. If it weren’t for some nice riffing here and there this probably would’ve gotten a two. So yeah, if you’re listening to this CD skip this track.
Peggy Sue (4/5)- Thank god for this track. At this point in the album is was getting quite angst. This track lifted my spirits some. Marvelous guitar work. The bass was also nice. Good flowing track, as well. Mark’s vocals still weren’t great but they were better than in some other tracks. Drums didn’t really do anything but they did keep the beat so they were acceptable. Nothing more to say about this one.
Sometimes (4/5)- Ah, another outstanding track. It was actually a bit heavier than the others. I loved the guitar riff. Pretty damn catchy. The track was very fast. Being a fan of thrash and speed metal, I enjoyed this. Mark did a good job with the vocals. This song would have had a higher rating if it were longer. It was way too short. They should have thrown another verse and chorus in there. And a bridge perhaps. Oh well, it was an enjoyable track none the less.
Does my breath smell (2.5/5)- Just when you thought things were getting better. The first minute or so of the song was clean. With some of Tom’s crappy vocals over top. The words were
supposed to be funny. But were they? No, as usual. After the first minute the song does pick up a little, but there’s nothing special. Just more power chords, and a few octaves. Does Tom’s breath smell? Not sure, but this track stinks.
Cacophony (3/5)- Tender, melodic intro. I actually rather liked it. Then it’s broken up by some power chords. Mark shouldn’t have sang this song. His voice lacks emotion. Speaking of vocals, the vocals for this track were extremely lame. There was some nice guitar, though. The bass was good, also. Drums were meh. Not going to waste any more of time with this one.
T.V (2.5/5)- Urgh, this song is an insult to T.V. I’m ashamed to have such a close personal friend of mine associated with this song. I didn’t really like the intro, it didn’t go well with the rest of the song. Once the song started to pick up, it was too busy. It was hard to tell what was going on. It was at this point in the album when I realized that Tom really needs to fix his settings. I enjoyed the drums in this track. Otherwise, I didn’t really like anything. It was just a meh, intro with some power chords. Like most of their songs.
Toast And Bananas (3.5/5)- I enjoyed the first little bit of the song. It was nice and mellow. Which was nice because the previous track gave me kind of a head ache. After that we get back into the power chords. There was some nice riffage in this song and some sort of a solo. It wasn’t great but it was nice to see considering the last few songs have serious lacked riffs. They were just crap intro then power chords for the rest of the song. The vocals in this track didn’t bother me as much as in other tracks. Although, I have no idea what this has to do with toast and bananas. Maybe it’s a metaphor, but I don’t have time to figure it out now.
Waste Of Time (4/5)- Unlike most tracks on the album this one wasn’t a “waste of time”. Pun intended. Excellent riffs. Mark sang this one so the vocals were better. Like other tracks this was chalked full of power chords, but for some reason they didn’t really bother me. Probably because they threw in a lot of octaves in there to and because the intro got me in a good mind set. The drums like on most of the album were sub par. This was one of few tracks that had a good verse and chorus. In most tracks I didn’t like one or the other. Overall worthy edition to the album.
Romeo And Rebecca (4/5)- Solid track. Mellower than most. Stupendous bass in this track. The first minute of the song were sheer genius. This would’ve had a much higher rating if it weren’t for the chorus. It didn’t go with the rest of the song at all. Tom did okay with the vocals here. A little more emotion would’ve been nice but at least the sounded a but better than usual. Nothing more to say about this one. Keep moving people.
Ben Wah Balls (3/5)- Before the track starts Tom and Mark talk for a brief moment. This is one of few moments in the song that made me smirk slightly. The song itself was adequate. I liked the intro riff. Nice and high pitched, which I like. There was some other nice riffs in this one. It would have got a higher rating if it would’ve flowed together a little better. I really enjoyed the bridge to this track, it had some good bass and it reminded me of carousel.
Just About Done (2/5)- Pointless track really. It had some superb drums but other than that it just ripped stuff off. Part sounded like “Gorge Of The Jungle” Part sounded like “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. There was a lot of high pitched screaming and some other grunts and things. I’m not sure if there were any actual words or not. There’s no point in describing this any further.
Depends (2/5)- The instrumentals in this track actually weren’t bad. Unfortunately the vocals brought the song down a lot. They were just dumb and the singing was poor. I was disappointed that they ended the album with this. Anyways I guess I should describe the instruments a bit more. There was some nice riffage and a lot of power chords. The bass mimicked the guitar. Drums were meh. This might have gotten a 3.5, but again the vocals brought it down. The band members also conversed after the song was done. Nothing they said was too funny, just annoying really.
Overall Rating: 3/5
Biased Rating As A Metal Head: 1.5/5
Overall Rating In The Department Of Fun-ness: 4/5
Pros: Some decent instrumental work
Some jokes were funny
Cons: The vocals
The production
Most attempts to be funny were lame
Words& Phrases To Describe Album: Meh, mediocre, not for every one, okay in small doses, not for everyone, enjoyable for people who like this genre.
And so concludes my review. This album really isn’t my style but for those of you out there intro pop-punk this is probably right up your alley. I actually enjoy most of Blink’s older work, but this not so much. Not to say I don’t enjoy it. It did have some strong points but quite a bit of it was too bland for my tastes. So yeah, If you listen to pop-punk a lot give this a listen. If you’re like me and more into Metal and heavier stuff this isn’t for you. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.
Metallicaman
