All my money's been spent on a DIY lobotomy!
Chicago's morbid Punkers, Alkaline Trio have always served up a dark brand of Punk so much different from anyone else, and here they bring it together with an 'Odds & Sods' compilation of bonus tracks, or songs previously released on split albums or compilations. Die hard fans will probably have most of these, but then die hard fans would probably get this album anyway – such is their fanbase - especially as it comes with a DVD. The DVD features a whole host of goodies from live performances, to radio interviews, the making of 'Burn' video, and backstage acoustic songs to name but a few.
The album starts with recently released (and also recently reviewed by Room Thirteen) single, 'Hell Yes', before we have a song that sums up this album quite well in, 'My Standard Break From Life'. This is a song that is simple and slow but has some great lyrics. 'Dead End Road' has always been a favourite of mine and can be found as a bonus track on 2003's album, 'Good Mourning'. It's fast and punky but with great classic Alkaline Trio lyrics like, "I thought that you were sleeping // When I saw you led in bed // When I touched you, you were freezing // It turned out that you were dead." Later on we have the other bonus track from that album, 'Old School Reasons' which has chunky guitar riffs and pounding drums and again is another good reason why 'Good Mourning' remains one of my favourites of theirs.
We have the blistering Punk Rock of the fantastically named, 'Jaked On Green Beans' which appeared on the first Atticus compilation album, and was named after a throwaway comment by their friend Erik Anderson. "Once the laughter subsided," Matt remembers. "We decided we had to name our newest song that!" Later on we have 'Warbrain' a song that appeared on the first, 'Rock Against Bush' compilation album. The song is not actually an anti-war song, but was written after Matt and his buddy Craig Fairbaugh (Transplants/ Plus 44/ Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards etc.) coined the phrase, "Warhead" that described the way their heads felt after staying up all night drinking!
Alkaline Trio have always been a band to reach out wherever possible, and here we have their tracks from the split albums that they have done with the likes of Hot Water Music and One Man Army. Included in the latter selection is the original version of, 'Sadie', which of course went on to appear on the band's most recent studio album, 'Crimson'. This is controversially about Sadie Glutz aka Susan Atkins from The Manson Family. The most notable thing is that the band decided to have Susan Atkins' testimony from the infamous murder trial read out by the band's long time merchandise girl Heather Hannoura, which gives it a haunting edge, in the same way that Jane's Addiction had Ted Bundy's actual denial of his murders on their song, 'Ted, Just Admit It'.
Elsewhere we have a cover of The Damned's song, 'Wait For The Blackout', and the b-sides to the band's most recent UK single releases on 'Time To Waste' with 'We Can Never Break Up' and 'Don't Say You Won't', the former being what Matt describes as , "...a theme song for the band...", and then the b-side to, 'Mercy Me' with 'Buried' which is a simple, gentle song with all of the expected haunting feelings. The album finished with three live songs.
When you think about the price of CD's, and what you get for your money, then this has got to be right up there. With, 'Remains' it shows that the band have a whole army of songs that aren't on their 'studio' albums, but that still remain just as good as the songs that are. Some bands release these albums as an extra money cash in, or because they are having a break, or perhaps splitting up, but with this album you can see that the album is for the fans. Each song has the lyrics as well as the bands take on what they think of it which is a nice little bonus, and they should have a new album in the shops within the next few months so there's no talk of a break.
It is also worth noting that not only should you try and find the albums that these songs originate from, but do yourself a favour and get the album from Matt Skiba's electro-influenced version of the band, Heavens. It is truly superb, and also grab some of his solo stuff; his split album with Kevin Seconds is an acoustic masterpiece.
Alkaline Trio have steadily been gaining more momentum in the music world with great live shows and a cult following, and this gives some of the newer fans a slice of what they've been missing. Here's to the next 10 years of songs about murder, suicide, abuse and alcoholism. Cheers!