Various

Various: Live Fat, Die YoungLive Fat, Die Young (2001)
Fat Wreck Chords

Reviewer Rating: 3

User Rating:

Contributed by: maverickScott
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on March 25th 2001I'm going to try a bit of a different approach with this review. See, Fat took it upon themselves to make this entire compilation contain brand new, previously unreleased songs. I think that is a cool idea, no matter what bands are on it. So in the spirit of doing new things, I will listen to t.

I'm going to try a bit of a different approach with this review. See, Fat took it upon themselves to make this entire compilation contain brand new, previously unreleased songs. I think that is a cool idea, no matter what bands are on it. So in the spirit of doing new things, I will listen to this compilation once, and only once, for review. I will write a short sentence summary of each song [and band] as soon as the track is finished. You gotta figure that each band tried to put their best material on here to garner interest, so we'll see how it pans out. Here goes nothing...

Zero Down - This band is one of Fat's newest acquisitions, and they fit in just fine. They have a little bit of an Epitaph vibe, too, they remind me a bit of older Offspring stuff mixed with some Ten Foot Pole.

No Use For A Name - I love NUFAN, but their last album was less than great. This song is a definite improvement on "More Betterness!" but it's still not as good as their "Leche" stuff. If this was the first song I had ever heard of them, I would look into more of their stuff.

Anti-Flag - I just realized how much A-F's singer and the Saves The Day's singer sound alike. Good gang vocals in the chorus and a wacky talking part which reminds me of At The Drive-In's "Invalid Little Dept.". I like this song.

Good Riddance - Pretty unmemorable.

Fabulous Disaster - Better than their CD, but it's still really boring. Moving on.

Sick Of It All - I thought SOIA was supposed to be more hardcore than this. I can see where H2O got their sound from, though. It's pretty good.

Mad Caddies - What the fuck? There's no horns! It's a catchy song, but it gets kind of lost among the Fat Wreck shuffle without the horns.

Consumed - I really really like this band, and I thought their last album was great. This song would've fit perfectly on it, and it's a definite standout on this comp so far.

Strung Out - I thought Strung Out was metal. This is certainly not, but it *is* a rockin' good time of a song, with a killer guitar part. Standout #2.

Bracket - I hate Bracket.

Frenzal Rhomb - They win the award for best song title - "Prognosis: Fuck You." They don't even say that line until the very end of the song, but they tease you a couple times. Teasing bastards.

NOFX - Ha! They rip on Billy Corgan in the very first line. Major points there. They namecheck a Dead Kennedys song. More points. They rip on Hollywood almost the whole time. Tons of points. These guys will just not stop.

Rise Against - Oh, what a cheezy metal guitar solo. Lame.

Lagwagon - Oh, what a cheezy metal guitar solo. Awesome! This is very "Hoss" era with a neat breakdown in it, and I dig it a lot.

Wizo - Why does Fat Mike love this band so? The whole German thing is just kind of weird.

Propagandhi - It's one of the catchiest Propagandhi songs I've ever heard. This makes me want to get the new CD.

Tilt - I love Cinder Block's vocals. Good, gritty punk.

Snuff - This just sounds sloppy. There's an organ in the background, I think, and their bass player is jumping all over the place. I dunno.

Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - The best part about this is that the band takes themselves seriously. I love it.

Swingin' Utters - Sounds like a bad Mike Ness impression vocals-wise, and the music is actually pretty toned down for the Utters. Not the best way to end the CD.

Fat Mike and co. do a good job on making this comp worthwhile. All unreleased songs? It's a skater's dream. My biggest complaint? The comp was only 52 minutes long, and doesn't represent everyone on the label. Where's Less Than Jake, Avail, The Dickies, Hi-Standard? I'm not saying I like all of those bands, but a full 74 minutes would have increased the value of the CD even more. Regardless, you really can't get a better deal for under five dollars anywhere else. Plus, I do live fat [see my webcam for proof] and I probably will die young, so now I have a soundtrack.
[taken from a different kind of greatness webzine]

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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.

cannsaw (October 24, 2006)

"Good Riddance - Pretty unmemorable."
I doubt you really listened to the lyrics.

"Bracket - I hate Bracket."
Care to explain why?

"Rise Against - Oh, what a cheezy metal guitar solo. Lame."
What the fuck are you talking about on here, Rise Against's song was the best or second (behind NUFAN?) on here.

Except for those lazy parts, fine review sir.

Anonymous (August 20, 2001)

Hey, I just noticed- the chorus from the Propaghandi song ("War is peace, ignorance is strength," etc.) is from the novel 1984. Don't know if anyone else picked that up before me, but there you go.

Sr. Potpourri

Anonymous (August 12, 2001)

Where's Hi-Standard on this one?

-Senor Potpourri

Anonymous (July 16, 2001)

I am only 13 years old. I stumbled on this page a few months ago, having no experience with punk music before. I had been addicted to the radio crap for a while, so I was skeptical about all the stuff you guys were saying. Just two days ago I had the gall to get this comp, and I love it! I'm so new to punk that just about every song is great to me. I don't really like the hardcore stuff like Sick of It All but just about everything else is great. The NOFX song has instantly turned me into a diehard fan. The Wizo track is actually kind of appealing; it sounds so weird it's funny. One thing I like about this comp also is that they have the lyrics in the book, not just the name of the band, their song's name, and the recording company. It is really considerate towards the listeners that way. Also, I think that there is no cover art that can compare to this comp's. So to all of the people that post on this site, thank you for pulling me out of the endless muck of radio and MTV crap.

fathead (April 23, 2001)

i was talking about the good riddance song. im must have been drunk. hey.......i am drunk.

Anonymous (April 8, 2001)

That didn't make any sense (previous post)...

Nice idea for the review, but not really. Good Riddance's contribution kicked arse, More Betterness was NUFAN's best album yet, Mad Caddies sound great with or without horns, and i think in general you're a little out of your element. At least your rating was near accurate.

Anonymous (April 6, 2001)

so you dig it man.cool, far out, groovy, yeah that's a killer song,dude.HA! just messin' with ya. all my hippie friends say shit like "dig it". they're cool though, and they get the best dope around. that's what it's all about right, open minded unity?...(and dope)that is a damn good song from a damn good band.i saw em' in pitts at warped, and the p.a. fucked up so they only got to play like 4 songs, but they still rocked.i'll definitely see em' again

Anonymous (April 6, 2001)

I disagree with the reviewer. The Good Riddance and Rise Against songs are great

Anonymous (April 6, 2001)

i dont agree with the reviewer as far as the good riddance song goes. i really dig "always." its a pretty good song, among the best of the cd. but thats just my opinion

Anonymous (March 31, 2001)

I give this comp a 10 just for the Strung Out and NoFx songs.

Anonymous (March 30, 2001)

The propagandhi song is really not a new song. It's the exact same tune as "Fine Day", right down to the guitar solo. "Fine Day" is found on Where Quantity is Job #1. They just polished the song up a bit, giving it better lyrics and better sounding vocals. Leave it up to Propagandhi to screw over fat mike with an old "new" song.

Note: I haven't heard enough of the CD give it a rating, so my rating reflects the rating given in the initial review.

Anonymous (March 29, 2001)

While I agree with what you're saying, in theory a band SHOULD try to put their best song on a compilation such as this so people dig the song and will buy their other music. I'm sure some of the songs *are* rejects from albums, those are probably the ones I didn't enjoy too much.

Anonymous (March 29, 2001)

i disagree with you on ONE thing. the songs that are on the cd aren't the bands greatests songs, because most of the songs on them are rejects from the album.