Reviews

Alkaline Trio

Remains

Digg this review.
Add to del.ico.us.

Review Date: 2007-03-26

Typically, B-Sides albums are reserved for diehard fans and label money grabs. Usually bands only release one B-Sides album in a career if they even release one at all. And if B-Sides albums are any indication of a band’s popularity than the Alkaline Trio are doing really well, especially in light of not jumping to a major label. So here we sit with the second of two Alkaline Trio B-sides albums appropriately titled Remains, the first B-Side being released seven years ago. It’s a fairly consistent collection of the Trio’s best compilation tracks, split releases, live tracks, and odds & ends. The real questions that one should ask oneself (deep shit I know): Is this album worthy of recommending to people who don’t know the Alkaline Trio? Is this release only designed to gratify their legions of devoted fans? Is this release an essential addition to a pretty solid catalogue? Or does this suck?

If you’re like me, which you’re not, you might have picked up a few of those cheap punk compilations over the years when cd’s were expensive and you thought working for minimum wage was worthwhile. In those days (which are kinda like these days) some bands use to record a lot of non album tracks for benefits (ie. Plea for Peace “My Standard Break From Life”) or cover songs for label samplers (ie. Berlin’s “Metro”). And if you’re like me, which you might be but I’m probably better looking, you’re quite fond of some of these one off songs and long for a day that they might be collected in one place. In any case, the songs on this cd don’t appear on any of the Trio’s albums but they do or did appear somewhere which is probably hard to find for anyone who buys their music from Best Buy.

The Alkaline Trio are an emotion-fueled, angst-ridden bunch. Their sound rarely delves out of realm of dark pop punk but a compilation like this does a swell job of showcasing their eclectic sound. Not unlike Lagwagon’s Lets Talk About Leftovers or The Lawrence Arms Cocktails and Dreams, Remains is a collection of interesting tunes that don’t just serve up a plate full of hotdog filler; they serve up a potluck of awesomeness. In fact, I’m not even a big Trio fan but some of my favorite Alkaline Trio songs (“Warbrain”, “Jaked on Green Beers”) are on here. As for the DVD that accompanies the album, it’s a nice bonus but not essential. The 22 tunes are enough.

Remains is a good starting point for anyone looking at getting into the dark pop punk sounds of the Alkaline Trio. It showcases the variety of styles that the Alkaline Trio can pull off and also shows some territory that they might not be willing to explore on their focused full lengths. It might lack a bit of cohesiveness but sometimes Chinese buffets can be just as good as your grandmothers roast beef dinner.

Score: 8

- Mark Browdy