The Blink 182 spin off tree continues today with Angels and Airwaves. In addition to having the lead singer of Blink, they've got the drummer from Offspring, guitarist from Boxcar Racer and the bassist from 30 Seconds to Mars. Whenever I get into a subgroup of a band I was never a huge fan of, I always get a little worried. Coming into today, I had no idea what type of music these guys were putting out and no clue what style would be influenced the most out of the supergroup. This was the first A&A album put out, and it came out back in 2006. My first go around with this - wow...it's nothing like any of the 4 bands mentioned above. It's actually a lot more synth than I was expecting for a mid 2000's record. I haven't heard this that much electronics in a rock band since Boston. I've always felt that the Blink music was really hmm...what's the word? Immature? This record is simply the opposite from that word. This is like a Blink meets Styx meets U2. I'm not a huge fan of the songs all being fairly long with 2 minute intros, but I guess that's probably something that wears off in time. This seems to be one of those albums you've probably only heard if you were a big time fan of one of the other bands and you heard a member formed this group. Similar to 'Crooked Vultures' I did a while back - I'm amazed how I've gone years without knowing this even existed. Well, I'm glad my followers have shown me the light, because I actually dig this record. I think that different sound is pretty cool - and I'm always a sucker for drawn out synth stuff. I mean, I made my own Boston Greatest Hits record while in high school. Go figure. I highly recommend checking this one out, as I intend to get to their other two albums sometime soon as well. It's a great start to your Thursday!
TRACK LISTING:
1. Valkyrie Missile
2. Distraction
3. Do It For Me Now
4. Valkyrie Missile
5. Little's Enough, A
6. War, The
7. Gift, The
8. It Hurts
9. Good Day
10. Start the Machine
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. The Adventure
2. Distraction
3. Do It For Me Now
FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars
I saw Angels & Airwaves when they were touring for this album. At one point Tom wanted the crowd to all sing "I'll be your disaster". I think it was very fitting because they were a disaster. Horrible. Probably worse than that Limbeck show I saw in 03 or 04.
ReplyDeleteI will have to politely disagree with your kudos to this album...but then again, you and I very rarely agree on what we consider to be good music.
Ouch! Harsh words for A&A!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you not like about it? I think part of what I enjoyed is since I'm not a big Blink fan, this being completely different was a nice surprise. I guess if the show was bad, that's another critique that I could comment on if I ever go to a show of theirs.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think this record is going down on my Top 5 of all time - but it was neat. If you don't like synth work over stretched out guitar and vocals, I guess this isn't for you.