Blue Album an Outlier

As a precursor, this post isn’t a commentary on rank or emotions for an album - just an observation. For background, I’ve been a fan since ‘94 when I first heard Music and Grassroots.

Not sure how many of you listen to 311’s entire discography on random (Apple Music or Spotify), but lately, every time I hear a song from Blue, I feel more and more like it’s the most unique, and dare I say, least 311-like album they have. Don’t get me wrong - the album was their breakthrough into the mainstream and two (or three) of the songs define their career, but the album hasn’t really been replicated in any sort of way since. When you listen to Grassroots or Transistor (albums before and after), they share almost no commonalities with Blue, and the production doesn’t sound like any other, either. That said, one might argue every album is different in its own way, and that’s why we love everything about the band (although, I would say Mosaic, Voyager, and Full Bloom share more similarities than differences).

In the end, each musician brings a consistency that we all expect, and that makes everything enjoyable to listen to. Just thought I’d share.