Greatest Hits

Blink 182 have been at the forefront of punk rock for the last 10 years, and this is a fitting send off for a great band.

All the mainstream songs are here; my only minor niggle with album is the exclusion of some of their earlier genius; my all time favourite Blink song "Apple Shampoo" would have been a welcome addition. I'm glad "I won't be home for christmas" makes it on to the UK disc as this is also a great track.

Also, Blink fans will already have "Not Now" which made it onto the special tour edition of the self titled "Blink 182" album, so it's not really a new track!

Regardless of this, it's still a great best of album. If you've never got into Blink, or you've only heard stuff like "All The Small Things", get this now and prepare for some serious musical enjoyment.

Thanks Tom, Mark, Travis (and Scott) for 10 years of great music!

There are four main punk bands that led us into the nineties - Rancid, Green Day, Offspring and blink-182. Except for blink-182, they're all still going, so while the others may have released compilations, this is a truly comprehensive retrospective because there is no worry of another album to be released after it. As such we can use this compilation to judge blink's previous career as a whole, instead of having to consider future material.

Sequenced chronologically bar bonus material, wisely there aren't many songs included from the band's first two albums, Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch; both of those albums are terribly produced, and no-one in the band could really play. While a few great tunes emerged, some of which are here - 'Carousel,' and in particular one of their career-best tunes in 'Dammit' - most of it was unlistenable dreck. Dude Ranch managed to go multi-platinum, however, and gave them the resources to learn to play and sing by their next album.

1999's Enema of the State, represented here by three of its lesser songs, was a punk classic. Fusing pop with punk is no new trick, but doing it in such an affecting, amusing and simply fantastic fashion is more difficult, and on that album blink-182 had made their first masterpiece. The album tracks, however, are better, despite the high quality of the singles presented here, particularly 'What's My Age Again,' which saw them go global.

2001's follow-up Take Off Your Pants And Jacket was the opposite; a handful of stupendous singles, all included here - with particularly 'Stay Together For The Kids' being a signpost for the future and a great song all round - and then an album's worth of filler. Then there was 2003's untitled album, where the band finally reached maturity and made their second masterwork, a fantastic, eclectic album. This is well indicated by the inclusions from that album, the lovely 'I Miss You,' one of their career pinnacles in 'Feeling This' and the excellent 'Always.' It was a great way to sign off.

Though not their best album material, this album is still almost uniformly great. There's also a wealth of non-album songs here. 'Not Now,' while stricly speaking a bonus track on the UK edition of their last album, is still a great song; The Only Ones' 'Another Girl, Another Planet' is decent; 'I Won't Be Home For Christmas' is entertaining and euphoric; while a live take of 'Go,' one of the untitled album's best songs, has pride of place closing everything. However, the holy grail is 'Man Overboard,' the bonus studio track from a previously out-of-print 2000 live album. Speculated to be about ex-drummer Scott Raynor, it's a fantastic juxtaposition of their upbeat riffs and their two vocalists' distinct styles. A brilliant sugar rush, it's always been one of their best tunes.

So while this Hits collection - note that it is a Hits, not a Best Of - doesn't have all the best tracks and could be considered as not being comprehensive, it's still utterly brilliant, with very little dip in quality. If you only buy one album, make it this one.

This was a fantastic buy, an amazing 'Best Of' album for any Blink fan. It has a great coolection of classic songs, some I didn't even know of but now adore and play in my car probably too much! The product turned up within the expected delivery time and was in great new condition. Great purchase.