So there I was, a young Champ who had received his vinyl record a day early. I sat down and listened to it while reading over the lyric sheet fully taking in that we had a new blink album. Reading over the numerous typos and fun interpretations of what Tom was saying. Sadly, it was late at night and I had work the next day so I only got one listen in and was craving more immersion. So the next day, I go to work and come home and just go on a meandering walk through Georgetown in DC. I was still getting tripped up on Anthem 3 not actually ending with the extended portion, and just having no idea how to wrap my head around the massiveness that Turpentine was. The whole album seemed to just blow everything out of the water from the '09 reunion onward. I was able to get two full listens in and was fully in the excited/dating phase with the album and kept replaying pieces and hooks in my head. However, I forgot to inform my wife I was going on an hour+ long walk which she wasn't thrilled about.
Have a singular connection with this album. I got my first ear infection since I was a kid days before this came out so it sounded slightly detuned during my first listens through speakers. Got a second infection on the same ear days before the first anniversary. Last week, I finally got surgery to close the perforated eardrum that resulted out of both as it just wouldn't heal naturally. Hopefully, that means I'll be able to give this a more ideal listen with my headphones soon. Curious to find out if I suddenly notice production layers panned to the left I wasn't able to hear all along lol
My wife hated the titular track and told me to skip it every time, which my then two-year-old daughter picked up on. So my daughter would occasionally start singing the song in her two year-old voice and memory of how the song went just to troll my wife. Good times.
This is my kids favorite blink record by a wide margin and they have great taste. It’s their EOTS. My daughter in particular loves the pt 2 tracks. That might put it above Untitled for me in my power rankings behind TOYPAJ and EOTS.
Hard to believe it's been two years. I've been giving it a break because I think I overplayed it in 2024 but I'm gonna go in for a full listen here soon..
On my 3rd play-through withing the span of a month and still as fresh as the day it came out da oven.