release date: Jun. 1987
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 4. "The Man With the Dogs" - 5. "Insight" - 7. "A Child and His Lawnmower" - 9. "I Fought the Law" - 11. "Pull My Strings" (live) - 13. "Straight A's" (live) - 16. "Night of the Living Rednecks" (live)
A compilation album released after the band had split. This is so far the only compilation released on Alternative Tentacles, the record label that released all their original studio material. It's a rather fine collection with tracks from their initial period and a majority of tracks that are previously unreleased or in alternate takes. It also contains a couple of rare and very special live recordings, i.e. the hilarious and famous "Pull My Strings" live performance in front of guests at a music award show where the band had rehearsed and was scheduled to play "California Über Alles" but to everyone's surprise they stopped the song at the very start, and continued with a song written for the occasion and built on "My Sharona" by The Knack, but with new lyrics about selling ones soul for money, which of course was hinted at the whole music industry, and a majority of the invited guests. The satirical chorus goes: "Is my cock big enough - for you, to make me a star?" Another fine live recording is "Night of the Living Rednecks", which is a fine example of Jello Biafra's spur-of-the-moment spoken word story, accompanied by bass and drums, about an experienced incident, just to waste time while the band's guitarist was changing a guitar string.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
