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| Blink 182The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!)2000 MCA 
 Review by: fallingupwards84 See others by this writer Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on November 23rd 2007
If you're a small person, the front is not the best view. And if you hate seeing shitty bands, any of this is not a good view. This whole, everything, every seat here.I was sixteen when Blink-182 released their first and, what turned out to be, last live album. Back then, if you liked Blink you were picked on mercilessly by all the "punks" at school -- I just remember thinking Enema of the State and Dude Ranch were the greatest albums ever and not giving a fuck what that kid in the Dead Kennedys shirt said. Now in 2007, in a day dominated by Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, all of a sudden Blink doesn't even seem that bad anymore to the punk community. They're recognized as a pop-punk band that many listened to before discovering other punk bands. Personally, if my friend had never let me borrow that Blink CD back in high school, I most likely never would have even been exposed to this style of music in the first place. So for that, I'm thankful. Even if Tom DeLonge is a joke now. Now for the album. Released at the height of their popularity, the song selection naturally favored the multi-platinum Enema of the State. In fact, it so favors that album that the first five real songs (unless you count the hilarious "Family Reunion") are the first five songs from Enema. This is a disappointment and takes a lot away from the album, although the sped-up and energetic "Dumpweed" and "Don't Leave Me" are fantastic openers. Unfortunately, "Aliens Exist" and "Going Away to College" are quite unexciting in a live setting and by track six you're starting to get a little bored. The album really starts to pick up, however, when they dive into the batch of Dude Ranch songs. "Dick Lips," "Untitled," "Voyeur" and "Pathetic" are all showcased here, although "Josie" is mysteriously left out. The general consensus among Blink fans seems to be that Dude Ranch is their greatest album, so naturally this stretch of the live album is also going to be its strength. Of course, a common complaint of this live album is the fact that only five of the nineteen songs were chosen from Dude Ranch, which is certainly a valid criticism that I agree with. Mark and Tom's chemistry on stage in between songs is fantastic; the jokes are extremely juvenile and immature, but that was the point and they're still funny even today. The last 29 tracks on the album, in fact, are nothing but twenty-second clips of jokes and is arguably one of the greatest parts of the album (although the Satan jokes get old very quickly). It's amazing to listen to today and know that Mark and Tom hate each other and are taking music way too seriously now. Overall, this a decent live release. Not the best ever -- NOFX, Reel Big Fish, MxPx and the Descendents have all released far superior live albums. It would have been better if they mixed the Enema and Dude Ranch tracks together instead of isolating them into two distinct parts of the album. Also desperately missing are songs from Cheshire Cat; only two are represented. Despite these flaws, however, The Mark, Tom and Travis Show is still a fun album between the jokes and the songs that are represented; the bonus track, "Man Overboard" emerged as a fan favorite after this release. So will Blink ever get back together for a reunion tour when the cash starts running low? Probably, so don't worry if you never got to see these guys live. In the meantime, pick this album up on eBay -- it was a limited release, so you probably won't find it in stores. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
One of the greatest live albums ever. They make the Enema songs sound 10x better. Great Great Great. I give it a 10. Honestly, I love this album. I listened to it for the first time in like three years because of this review and nostalgia ensued. "Put those boobies away!" score is for the review ...blah i went to this tour. not one kid there paid attention to bad religion and nobody knew any songs pre-enema. i love this. soooo much. i consider blink as pretty good. but i definitely grew out of them. enema was the biggest disappointment of my preteen life. i thought that album sucked. still kinda do. i dont think it's all that unfair to stop listening to a band if they dont keep putting out good material. nothing after dude ranch is anything more than a 6. I will admit i never grew out of them. Although in saying that, I am pretty young, I still crank them on every single day, best pop-punk ever in my opinion. I dont see why you would be ashamed to like them Though they may have been the worst live band to ever sell out stadiums, this record is entertaining. I still enjoy blink to this day, and even though the jokes are about as immature as they come, I still can't help but smile at some of the banter between songs. "Man Overboard" is one of blink's greatest tracks. is anybody here not to cool to say they likes this in seventh grade and grew out of it? blink was awesome and still is and has made alot of great songs, I'd rather someone just think they suck period than say they used to like it, I can only imagine what amazing music you people that "grew out of this' listen to now. £7 Honestly, maybe the best live album I've ever heard. I can recite the jokes line for line. I'm sure with independent labels it varies. Bad Religion's Tested was great because it was not recorded like that at all. They carried a recording rig around Europe on a 60 day tour and used the best tracks from the tour for their live album. Any crowd noise came in through the stage mics. It's a pretty rad album. Funny, we just bumped this in the van yesterday. This album rules, and I feel real lucky to have been at the tour this recording came from. It was my first concert/show/whatever ever and it's like Geffen decided to immortalize my 14 year old moment-in-history by releasing an album of it. Totally stoke-provoking. (talking to the people below) what about bands on large independent labels...such as fat? are the NOFX, Lagwagon, and Against Me! live albums also overdubbed like other releases from major labels? and do they just do that to make the production sound better? i'm just curious because this is the 1st ive heard of such jibba jabba. Those dudes made it sound like it was a studio record with live noise. The large majority of live records by highly successful bands are recorded live with a bunch of microphones on the crowd as well. Then, the band goes back into the studio and "fixes" all the mistakes. Most live records, this one included are half studio overdubs. The only thing truly live about them is the crowd reaction and stage banter. This is the first time I've heard this isn't really a live record. Wow, I feel old , I was 22 when this came out and although I can't say I didn't like them when they first came out (Cheshire Cat is still a great record to me) this was pretty bad, but not as bad as their two bands today. Blink is still my nostalgia fix. This band was always so much fun. So, did anyone else NOT grow out of Blink-182. Band is amazing. If they'd never made it huge, they be talked about as godfathers of pop-punk. I remember going to pick this album up the week it came out back in 9th grade. At the time, blink-182 was my all time favorite band, and I thought this shit was classic. It's not a bad album, the jokes were funny when it came out, when I was...15, but they're just so immature and brainless I can't really get anything out of it anymore. For an album that was 75% recorded in studio, it's pretty good. Agreed about the song selection, but as mentioned they were still riding the Enema wave (what? lol), so, they probably sold a lot more than they would have if it had more dude ranch/cheshire (even tho it would've been way better)... I was already getting out of my Blink 182 phase by the time this album was released (I was getting REALLY into Very Proud of Ya by AFI), but I appreciate this review. My freshman year of high school consisted a lot of Dude Ranch, White Trash, and Misfits....good times for sure. Thanks for reminding us that Blink 182 was something we might look back at cringe at, on some occasions, but a for a few years there, they were the right band at the right time. i got into blink 182 when i was 11, pretty much right when dude ranch came out(thanks to 12 angry viewers on mtv hahaha). by the age of 12 i had that stomping rabbit t shirt and nobody in the 7th grade knew what the fuck it was. Hmm, there shouldn't be any need to go to ebay and pay the ridiculous prices, this cd was definetely re=released a year or two ago, it goes pretty cheapthese days. I think my local store has it for £7 Back then, if you liked Blink you were picked on mercilessly by all the "punks" at school I was never a huge blink fan, but I really enjoyed this record when it came out. Being fifteen, the fucking-my-sister jokes tickled my fancy. I loaded this album onto my itunes about a year and a half ago and I just listened to it because of this review. You're right, the Satan joke is pretty lame, as is most of the between song banter, but overall it's a pretty good release. It also reminded me of how much I like "Enema of the State." It's mostly Enema songs because they were touring in support of it when they compiled this live collection. I think you should have mentioned how it's not really live, just the drumming and the talking between songs. |
