Snuff

Snuff: Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other 1986-2002Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other 1986-2002 (2005)
Fat Wreck Chords

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

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Contributed by: jamespastepunkjamespastepunk
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 14th 2005Remember when you could smile on a press photo? It's been awhile, I'm well aware. Remember when double-time covers of pop songs didn't suck? I know, it's a long time ago. Remember when punk rock was fun? No, really. It was, once upon a time, and out comes Snuff's 2005 release Six Of One, Half A Doze.

Remember when you could smile on a press photo? It's been awhile, I'm well aware. Remember when double-time covers of pop songs didn't suck? I know, it's a long time ago. Remember when punk rock was fun? No, really. It was, once upon a time, and out comes Snuff's 2005 release Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other to remind us of that.

Snuff's retrospective / B-sides / greatest hits collection Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other is worth your money in every sense of the term, and that's the theme of the review.

Here's all the angles I can think of:

Value: You're getting 50 songs, 25 of them B-sides for $15. That's 30 cents a song, if you're just looking at the numbers.

Quality: Usually subjective, but even if you don't like a majority of the songs (which would be pretty odd), there's enough here that you'll definitely find something you do like. That said, it's also a greatest hits collection, so it's presumably the best of their material.

Collectors / Super Fans: There's 25 B-sides, 3 exclusive unreleased tracks ("Fucked up R'N'R Shit," "Any Old Iron" and "Indie"), and in case you're keeping track, a couple previously Japan-only songs, and hits from EPs (though how rare those are, I'm not sure).

History: Best known to me as "the band that inspired Less Than Jake," it's interesting to hear something from the UK that isn't the Sex Pistols, Clash, or Specials. Either way, its an intriguing piece of history, if not pretty obscure.

Artwork: Though not quite as comprehensive as Shai Hulud's retrospective, there's still quite the send-off, Steve Lamacq from the BBC Radio 1 writing a page booklet's worth of thoughts, and included in the booklet is a less-than-serious Snuff family tree, at points taking credit for Melanie C (as well as the rest of the Spice Girls), the Streets, Gorillaz, tank tops, Donald Sutherland, and the error page 404. Also included are notes on the production on some records, in which the group admits to have "found out our A&R guy was coming, recorded six songs live without overdubs, and then went back to playing table tennis" in a "very posh" studio.

New Band Syndrome: Perhaps this last sensation is for music nerds exclusively, but there's just something about finding a new band, and hearing the music fresh for the first time. Snuff delivers this in spades.

Comparisons to NOFX are inevitable, and for once, well founded. Both play fast punk rock, occasionally infusing thrash and ska, are lighthearted, aren't afraid to make self-deprecating remarks, and do cover songs jokingly, but well (listen to "I Think We're Alone Now" for proof). Sorry to break it to the peanut gallery, but this is punk rock. No prefixes or suffixes needed.

So why give this package a 9? What makes this worthy of your attention and cash? In short, it's the combination of value, bonus material, high quality, a light-hearted yet remarkably thorough CD booklet and most importantly, fun. Everything came together just right for this release. Really, the only thing I can gripe about is that some old tracks aren't newly remastered, as seems to be the case, but after such strong a showing, its an afterthought.

Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the season, or something different entirely, but this CD really found me at the right time. Perhaps it's the carefree nature of the CD, the playfulness of the tunes, but I'm really enamored of it. There's no bullshit, there's no tough stares or intimidating poses; there's simply fun, energetic punk rock music, and at the end of the day, you'll find these songs sneaking up onto your mixes, boombox, CD player or iPod. There's a glut of serious, overly technical CDs out this year, and I can't think of a better way to break the mood than Six Of One, Half A Dozen Of The Other.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

monthegers (February 25, 2010)

Excellent, really, it is. But I've got a serious issue with a couple of glaring omissions from the "greatest hits" disc. Here are the songs not included, that should be, in order of glaringness: 1) WHO. This is my favorite song ever. C'mon. Overall, they did a good job including a lot from Demmamusabebonk though. 2) COME AND GONE. A hidden gem on the Potatoes and Melons cover album...only it's not a cover. Just sounds like an old classic song becuase it is, just an original is all. 3) PINK PURPLE. (same as previous) 4) TAKE ME HOME (PISS OFF) Fuck, I love this song. So good. 5) TICKET 6)HILDA OGDEN AND THE THICK PLOTTENS 7) SWEET DAYS 8) ELF vs CONCRETE 9) PIXIES (you'll notice the last four songs are off Numb Nuts, meaning Numb Nuts is highly underrated, meaning buy Numb Nuts) 10) ANGELS 1-5 11) CHOCS AWAY 12) LIES (last 3 off Disposable Income, also underrated) 13)SLIPT. The #1 lesson with Snuff is that they have never made a lousy record. Buy it all.

Anonymous (August 12, 2005)

Score album infinity score review crap

siropsycho (June 16, 2005)

score is for the Orioles

i've waited 7 fucking years for the team to overcome that prick Angelos

piratasmuertas (June 16, 2005)

Chicago vs. Washington or Baltimore vs. St. Louis are pretty good options.. for now anyways.

Things get different after all star break.

Karasu (June 16, 2005)

On The Might of Princes was a damn good buy. I thank this site for introductions.

Scores for OTMOP.

damn you Revalation.

jamespastepunk (June 16, 2005)

I don't really follow basetball, so can someone tell me who'se winning the series?

piratasmuertas (June 16, 2005)

Haha well the the Washington Nationals look pretty good but I don''t care about baseball too much.

I think I will stay with the Detroit Pistons ; )

jamespastepunk (June 15, 2005)

Thanks. Oh, and what baseball team did you decide on pirates?

piratasmuertas (June 15, 2005)

Oh jesus Primeevil! I thought you referring to the OTMOP album "Where You Are And Where You Want To Be". Buy it tomorrow.

It's epic.

Anonymous (June 15, 2005)

Try www.revhq.com - they usually carry other releases by Revelation bands.

OC

jamespastepunk (June 15, 2005)

Where can I find their non-Rev stuff?

Anonymous (June 15, 2005)

Yes...everything by OTMOP is worth owning. better get it now though. their non revelation stuff will probably go out of print soon.
----Travis

jamespastepunk (June 15, 2005)

Sadly, On the Might of Princes broke up. Is the rest of their catalog as good as Sirens?

Anonymous (June 15, 2005)

Snuff is great...
to the comment below:
one the might of princes...what the fuck happened to those guys? Good band.

Anchors (June 15, 2005)

"The Water Vs. The Anchor" is the reason for this username.

Sucks they broke up, the only chance I had to see them was with Cursive and The Blood Brothers, but they couldn't leave long island due to whatever hurricane came up there in October of '03. Damn would that have been an even better show.

piratasmuertas (June 15, 2005)

On the Might of Princes. That was an awesome buy. Seriously.

jamespastepunk (June 14, 2005)

That's exactly right, because everyone I know has heard of Suff.

Err...Snuff.

*curses the lack of an edit button*

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

...and Four Letter Word, No Choice, Former Cell Mates, Ruin You!

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

One word: Leatherface.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

WWait so you're on this website reveiwing cds and just apparently never picked up a Fat comp these guys are all over those mofo's how could you only have found out about Snuff now kid how the hell old are you?

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

Snuff are unbelievably good!
In response to posts earlier there is so much amazing English music, punk particularly but these bands are finding it hard to get the support needed to continue. One reason, and this is by no means criticizing the bands, but the UK punk/hardcore scenes LOVES american bands and buy all their records, goes to their shows etc when there is so much talent from the UK.
However, many UK bands take US bands on tour in Britain and it would be so cool if American Bands returned the favour and helped out British bands. But, unfortunately, they don't resulting in a high number of amazing bands splitting up.
If you like snuff, you may like captain everything (www.captaineverything.co.uk) who are on householdname records of london (www.householdnamerecords.co.uk). I would also suggest checking out Howard's Alias, No Comply, Fastlane, Five Knuckle, Cry For Silence, Capdown and Knuckledust.

ElVaquero (June 14, 2005)

Why is this not a 10? I paid money for it.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

Snuff ruled, as did Dogpiss and Guns and Wankers. Gonna probably buy this, it will be my first fat wreck purchase in about 4 years.

-Ken

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

Foo-king Brilliant.

jamespastepunk (June 14, 2005)

"Best known to me as “the band that inspired Less Than Jake,” it’s interesting to hear something from the UK that isn’t the Sex Pistols, Clash, or Specials"

Yeah, because UK music is so obscure isn't it?

That's exactly right, because everyone I know has heard of Suff.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

CrookedSuperhero (June 14, 2005)

I'm gonna grab this for the b-sides.

pastepunk (June 14, 2005)

The b-sides disc is fun for one or two listens, but the greatest hits portion is awesome. It's one of the few rare cases where the chronological ordering of tracks truly works to the band's advantage.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

Snuff get boring after about three songs. After fifty songs I imagine they make you want to kill yourself.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

the artwork is just fucking disgusting.

Anonymous (June 14, 2005)

Their work as Guns and Wankers remains their best.

OC

jamespastepunk (June 14, 2005)

Hell, I picked it up on a whim, because I couldn't find Less Than Jake's Goodbye Blue and White or Refused's remasterd EP comp at Best Buy. (Hey, I have $ there from relatives.)

One of my best whim purchases ever, along with

On the Might of Princes
Over It
the Falcon
and Lifetime.

aubin (June 14, 2005)

I really loved this compilation. I was late to Snuff, discovering them like most people when they made their first Fat comp. appearance, but since then they've always been fun.