This is the ultimate high-school angst album. I don't know anyone between the ages of 13 and 30 that can't relate to at least one song on this CD. The fifth and most latest installment from the comical trio known as Blink 182, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket is the best album they've yet to release. Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker seem to have reverted back to the days of yore - these songs are a little harder than those released on the number one album hit Enema Of The State of a few years back, but still have the happy-go-lucky feeling that Blink 182 are known for.

Blink 182 have become a phenomenon of laughing, farting, belching, midgit-loving boys trapped in men's bodies making listeners laugh and feel good all over the world, and this album certainly is no less than that.

Songs like "Anthem Part II," "The Rock Show" and "Reckless Abandon" have the well-known punk-rock power chord riffs that we've loved in the past, with Barker drumming out his usual in amazingly quick and constant drum rolls and speedy changes. Tom DeLonge is a classic with his leading screaming vocals and punk-power guitar chords, and Hoppus takes the cake with his strong always-on-key vocals and perfectly complimenting bass riffs. Hoppus's lead vocals in slower, more painful songs such as the verses for "Stay Together For the Kids" and "Shut Up" feel powerful with DeLonge's more high-piched whiny voice bleeding in the background. Hoppus and DeLonge's voices are so completely different, but complement each other perfectly when sung in duet.

This entire album brings back memories I never knew I had. I love the feeling of being back in high school just by dropping this in the CD player.

The best parts of the album are the two in-your-face comedy tracks not meant for the easily-offended listener. "Happy Holidays, You Bastard" is a simple, no-brainer song about the stress of Christmas, and the family problems of Labor Day, with an even more comic chorus. The hidden track, aptly named "Track 16", seems like a late-night sleepy-eyed jam session that wasn't meant to be recorded, but you'll be glad it was. It really makes you feel personal with the band - you can hear them chuckling in between verses, and you can nearly see them lounging in Lazy-Boys with a bowl of Doritos having a laugh.

This album is the greatest addition to a college-punk CD collection yet. The special edition CD also contains a PC and Mac compatible video for their B-side single "Man Overboard" featuring three Blink 182-featured midgets copying the scenes from a previous video. Blink 182 aren't in the music business to make money, or to become famous, or to be better than the next band, they're plainly obviously in the music business to have fun, and to tell the teenage genration they're not alone.

Rating: A

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