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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, November 14, 2006
Mark and Travis have continued the Blink legacy. Though I miss Tom's voice on some tracks, I can easily have seen this album as a followup to the self titled last Blink 182 album. Though it has the fun punk-pop songs I love, it also has some maturity and experimentation. I like this much more than the Angels and Airwaves album which seemed so far removed from the Blink sound which I will always be a fan. Though I would have made Lycanthrope the first single, When Your Heart Stops Beating is a good up tempo song as well. If you purchase the album over at iTunes they include a bonus song which is just an acoustic very of "Baby, Come On". Pick this one up.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Think of it as a much faster and darker Blink 182 , December 6, 2006
I had never really been much of a Blink 182 fan until their self-titled (and unfortunately, final,) CD. It really nearly reached perfection and it was unfortunate that afterwards, the band's singers, Mark and Tom, ran into disagreements on which direction to take the band. They released their own solo projects, Tom's Angels and Airwaves and Mark's +44. These CD's demonstrate which direction each singer had apparently wanted to take Blink 182 so owning both of them are pretty necessary for any Blink fan.
Plus 44 attempts to continue where Blink 182 left off with their darker CD. Unlike Angels and Airwaves, Plus 44 keeps the fast punk cords but keeps up the darker tone and the CD's certainly more even in quality than Angels and Airwaves's first effort. I just kind of wish Plus 44 had put more thought into a message they wanted to convey.
For example, there's no theme here, no real presentation. The CD simply starts, and continues with a bunch of songs. Rather than feeling like a CD put together with lots of thought, it's like listening to random songs selected off an Ipod. Although there's no introduction to the CD or band at all, the CD features an "interlude," which sounds completely out of place and doesn't fit in at all with the rest of the CD. While Angels and Airwaves put thought into their CD with things like a general theme to their songs, Plus 44's first CD seems just like Mark and his band simply recorded tons of songs, picked the best ones, and threw them on here.
Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. This is a collection of truly excellent songs here. And while it's definitely less ambitious than former bandmate Tom's effort, this is an overall more fun CD to listen to and is definitely easier to get into.
Lycanthrope; a great beginning to the CD. Really fast and melodic. Really excellent lyrics. Overall, great song. 8/10
Baby Come On; Gets off to a great start. Continues very well with great music and lyrics. A little forgettable, though. 7/10
When your heart stops beating; A really great song, again. Very catchy. 8/10
Little Death; It's an alright song. I didn't find its chorus all that good, though. 7/10
155; Really cool music, really catchy beat. Nothing truly special about it but a fun song. 7/10
Lillian; An excellent song. Great lyrics and overall great music. 9/10
Cliffdiving; Not a fan. Predictable and stale lyrics and kind of generic music. Sounds like an underwhelming Blink song. Filler. 5/10
Interlude; an "intermission" that sounds nothing like the rest of the CD and sounds out of place. It's got a good tune, but really, what's it doing on this CD? 6/10
Weatherman; heavy lyrics but a little too slow. Kinda boring. 5/10
No, It Isn't; basically a perfect song. Best lyrics on the CD and really great tunes. This one's a classic. 10/10
Make You Smile; Definitely a departure from the rest of the CD. A nice listen, even though it really feels slightly out of place, (the entire CD was at one point meant to sound like this song but they changed direction at the last minute. This is the remains of the electronic-tone the band originally wanted to go in) I'm glad it's on there, even though it's a bit out of place. 8/10
Chapter 13; Great end to the CD. Nice lyrics like the rest of the CD. Cool chorus and verses. 9/10
We have a CD here that's loaded with great songs. Many. Mark has shown that he has much more strength than Tom for writing lyrics, (something Angels and Airwaves struggled with in their first effort,) while Tom has shown much more strength at conveying a message or set theme and for variety. This CD just feels kinda thrown together and the songs are ALL love songs. Now...they aren't all songs about lust. The ones that are are the weak points of the CD. The strengths here are the very fast beats and the very interesting lyrics that keep things interesting. I still wish they would find something different to sing about, though. Overall, it's maybe a little better, although not necessarily as memorable, as Angels and Airwaves's first effort. Both CD's have their strengths and weaknesses. But just like that one, +44 is still behind where Blink 182 left off with their final CD. Songs here are all about love, and seem to be playing it a little safe, which is too bad, because the lyrics here are truly excellent, and I think Mark could write some great songs about other things if he tried. This is basically like Blink's final CD but even a little darker. Unlike that CD, though, which I gave 5 stars to, this doesn't have much variety. The songs here sound a little too similar to eachother.
It's worth owning all 3 CD's, (Blink 182, We Don't Need to Whisper, and When Your Heart Stops Beating) because they complement eachother very well. Hopefully this band will reunite someday, though, because that's where they're best.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spot on. (Better than the AVA album), January 2, 2007
+44's debut feels like Mark and Travis are picking up where Blink 182 left off... except not.
It's got the trademark punk-rock/pop-punk stylings that Blink had, but there are electronic undertones and to be honest... catchier songs than Blink 182's last release.
For someone like me who enjoys a range of music (metal, punk rock, pop, electronica, ska...) this is a great up-tempo album with some good upbeat tracks.
Songs like 'When Your Heart Stops Beating', 'Lycanthrope' and 'No It Isn't' stand out most on the first listen. Some songs don't make as much of an impression at first, but they'll grow on you with time!
This is a great debut from Mark and Travis's new project and I'm sure they'll do very well with their next album.
Overall, this is a brilliant feel-good, upbeat cd that's got quite a few tracks that would sound great blasting from a car whilst speeding down a motorway. If you liked Blink 182's last release, you should definatley get this!!
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