ReviewMixed bag all round. Some incredible tracks like Tilt - Libel from their excellent debut album with Cinder Block's booming vocals sounding amazing against heavy guitars. NOFX's cover of Don McLean's Vincent which should be awful, but it's solid. Fat Mike has never been the best vocalist, but he sounds good on this over dreamy guitars. Germany's Wizo's raum der zeit has Husker Du style vocals albeit in German and jittery guitars and is catchy. Frenzal Rhomb's run is a fun intro to the band with a cheeky riff stolen from The Banana Splits theme song. Underrated band Diesel Boy put out a nice track with funny teen angst vocals that's good fun. Two good slices of Lagwagon who were a great signing for the label. The album finishes with Country Roads while not a patch on the original with Spike's vocals nowhere near as good as Jon Denver's (but whose are?) the hammer off guitar riffs make it a smile inducing bookmark.
For me the two Snuff tracks are on the mediocre side. Don't get me wrong I love Snuff, but for me these aren't their best. An OK track by Hi-Standard covering California Dreamin' - I get it, it starts with a cover and ends with a cover and while not horrible, it's just OK for me. Wait For The Sun by them I also find a bit meh. Mother Superior by Good Riddance also not their best work by a mile. Nation States by Propagandhi I love Chris's quickfire vocals, but it does nothing for me beyond that. They later went onto perfect their sound along with Strung Out (Rotten Apple's not their best) with incredibly difficult to play riffs and more emotional impactful lyrics.
The album is an early one, but it's not recorded that well. Sounds like it's been recorded through cotton wool. I've got similar albums from this era on other labels including Therapy's Infernal Love and they all suffer from quiet recording levels so it's no reflection on Fat Wreck, and to be fair this album does sound a lot better than their first compilation.