Exellent album from now the worst band around

This album boasts exellent quality. Everything seems right. But still to this day I am left wondering; what happened to this Blink 182.

Blink 182 have gone against the world. Simple as that. They decided to become more commercial and have now sold out, which is a truly awful thing to do. But that's now in 2002, whilst back in 1996 this trio were in a stage of utter brilliance.

Dude Ranch smells of sheer greatness. It canot be faulted, mainly due to what Blink have now become. This is a Cd that shows true abilities and feelings for music, not the fake-ness of Take off your pants and jacket, and even worse, the Box car racer album with it's "true and down to earth" lyrics. Rubbish. If you listen to this album then you will see true lyrics. You will also never think of Blink in another way. You will also be horrified at what they have now become.

Dude Ranch is everything you want an album to be. It's well written, quite smart, cleverly produced and well co-ordinated. Each note sounds perfect and nothing ever gets boring or unfunny. Each joke still is as funny now as it was when I bought this album over a year ago. What really stands out is that each song sounds individual and so listening to the CD doesn't feel like a chore which only about 4 other Cd's have done to my knowledge. The main driving force behind this Cd is the well executed guitar riffs, exellent vocals and equally exellent hardcore drumming. The guys really tried on this album and you can hear the quality and energy. But what beams through is the commitment and the constant feeling of that the band are saying to themselves "can this actually be happening".

What is great about this album though is Mark Trombino. He produced it and added keyboards and piano's. He makes it feel complete, where as the previous two albums were under budgeted and very rough sounding this knew cleaner sound is a welcome change. What Mark Trombino did get seriously right was that it did not sound too clever and polished, where as Take off your pants and jacket feels far too authentic and over produced (This is also probably due to the change of record producers). So what we are left with is something that sounds like actual punk rock.

Blink 182 were great and had some exellent tunes which will never be forgotten but if they still constantly sell out and act like they are gods. If only they showed a little more respect and true punk rock qualities then maybe there knew tag of pop punk will be destroyed. They have to act like Dude Ranch: cool, funny and a whole heap of fun to listen to. I think that everyone will want the old Blink back. The Blink of Dude Ranch, not the Blink of Take off your pants and jacket.