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Kaleidoscope
Inventive riff (for them), Barker's big tumbles on the toms are all welcome, and it's nice to hear Mark singing more, since he doesn't much here. I'd have to go back to old Blink albums to check if it wasn't a 50/50 split like it always seemed. DeLonge takes the chorus, doesn't suck. Album's picking up again, even though "Wishing Well" has me tuning out lyrics. "It's a long road through the night" -- whatever you say Tom, just emblazon it with a tune. And he does.
This Is Home
Those synths are back, which reminds me, this could've been a lot worse. It's really a generic album done by extremely reliable professionals and it stabilizes well. Stuttery chorus works, '80s affectations might not be a phase, and they'll probably get sappier if they remain a band. For now I can't tell you how glad I am that this is so much better than 21st Century Breakdown.
MH 4.18.2011
A great one, probably the only great one after the first four songs, but it's highly anthemic, melodic and reminiscent of great old Blink and maybe even a little bit of (who's hearing ghosts now?) R.E.M.. I don't know what "stop living in the shadow of a helicopter" means, but it sounds vaguely political and at least the title cites a date I might be able to look up facts on. Jimmy Eat World wouldn't do that.
Love Is Dangerous
The most '80s-indebted thing here and it could be worse. It could also be a hit. Think the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz! as cannibalized by Good Charlotte. It is one of the catchiest things on Neighborhoods, although DeLonge doesn't have the sexiness or heft the chorus requires -- which is good. We don't want to encourage this sort of thing. Hoppus backup vocals always welcome.
Fighting the Gravity
Apparently the bonus tracks make this lean thing a full fifteen minutes longer. This is an argument against the deluxe edition. Hoppus' incoherent vocals waver in reverb and cavort with various feedback-and-synth-pad nuances over a diet Fugazi jam from Barker. I never need to hear it again.
Even If She Falls
This sounds like classic Blink, though the uniformity of this "experimental" album brings up the question of how much classic-sounding Blink one would need. Luckily even with "her heart will attack" in the chorus, this climaxes the whole experience with one of the better choruses here. This album should be a lot of things to everyone: cautious reunion that's actually worth hearing twice, maturation catchier than the self-titled album, and coup for an eight-year silence. Now is it too much to ask that they loosen up and crack a joke again?
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