Alkaline Trio - Remains (Vagrant)
4/5
By: Jacob Dunkley
Rarities albums are an odd thing. Most serious fans will probably have their hands on the large number of difficult to find tracks a band compiles to put out and charge you for, so what makes this new stop gap between the last and the next 'Trio record any different?
For a start, simply, it's good. No, not as good as their last record proper, but for an older fan, or for those who were pulled to the band by the gravity of the last record, it'll certainly help whet appetites for the next one. Secondly, some of these tracks are genuinely really difficult to find (even an avid fan like myself only had about ten percent of them prior to owning this compilation).
We'll start not with the record itself but with the accompanying DVD, as this is a great package in itself. It's not unlike some bands out there in this money grabbing world to release something like this as a standalone product, but to have it sitting alongside the extensive collection of songs in the CD really adds something. The DVD has a great documentary alongside a collection of music videos from the past three studio albums and is a great watch from start to finish.
Alkaline Trio, starting as a punk band in the true sense of the word, have released a series of splits (with the likes of Hot Water Music and One Man Army amongst countless others) and hard to get hold of singles over the years, so for the many of you who missed out on these records first time round these make a great addition. The compilation doesn't run chronologically, something which stands as a testament to the fact the band have been consistently high class over the past decade from which these tracks have been culled. Although people often like to argue that their favourite band has gone downhill since they gained popularity, refreshingly Alkaline Trio's older songs sit neatly alongside their newer compositions without any danger of us moaning like that.
True, despite being decent recordings, the live tracks at the end feel a little tagged on. Yet that's the only thing to complain about in a collection which provides 22 songs and a DVD, so it's a small niggle to level against such a varied and well written collection of pop punk songs that seem to show there is far more to this band than their album releases attest. It's not only a must own for an Alkaline Trio fan, but perhaps also a good starting point for new fans who want to get an overall idea of what this band are like and capable of. And how many rarities compilations can you say that about?
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