THE BAD: Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need To Whisper

Sorry for the delay in posting some new stuff. I went to SF this weekend to run in the epic Bay-To-Breakers race. I finished 4200th!!! I rule. Anyway, onto the music.



In the late 90s, music hit one of its lowest points to date. Bands like Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Britney Spears, Nsync, and the Backass Boys dominated the radio, making it practically unlistenable to anyone who wasn't still worrying about their acne clashing with their school attire. Outside of "OK Computer" and a mediocre Beck album in "Midnight Vultures" the second half of the 90s was a mere waiting game for audiophiles to find something to get excited about again. Because of this vacancy of good music in an ocean of banal radio tunes, mediocre bands found their way into rock history books when normally they would be one-hit wonders at best. One of these bands was the "not an emo band" Blink-182. In the 90s, emo bands wanted to be The Pixies or Fugazi...Blink was a Green Day knock-off at best.

Now some of Blink's stuff was decent. Listenable at worst. Even their last offering demanded if anything...respect. The band hung in there despite being ridiculed by critics to stick around for almost a decade and end their careers on a high note. But now they've gone solo. Will the some parts equal the whole? Well, if this first offering by A&A (Tom DeLonge's solo project) is any indication, we might as well start praying for the Blink-182 reunion.

The album is a concept album...without a concept. A broad scoping epic...without any scope. It's one song repeated ten times...over and over. Just with different lyrics. Now that's song isn't that bad. But it's not a song I want to listen to ten times in row.

We Don't Need To Whisper...

1. Valkyrie Missile - Not Blink-182
2. Distraction - Not Blink-182
3. Do It For Me Now - Not Blink-182
4. The Adventure - Kinda sounds like Blink-182
5. A Little's Enough - Not Blink-182
6. The War - Not Blink-182
7. The Gift - Not Blink-182
8. It Hurts - Not Blink-182
9. Good Day - Not Blink-182
10. Start Machine - Not Blink-182

Here's how it compares to other Tom releases...

1. Blink-182 - Blink-182 - B+
2. Blink-182 - Enema of the State - B
3. Boxcar Racer - Boxcar Racer - B-
4. Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket - C+
5. Blink-182 - Dude Ranch - C
6. Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need To Whisper - C-
7. Blink-182 - Chesire Cat - D+
8. Blink-182 - Buddha - D

Some musical thoughts to take with you...

1. Dead Man's Curve - Tom and Mark (Jan and Dean cover)
2. No, It Isn't - Plus 44 demo (Mark Hoppus' band)
3. Another Girl, Another Planet - The Replacements (Blink covered this song)

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Tower Records Online: Angels and Airwaves - We Don't Need To Whisper
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