Various - Bands We Like (Cover Artwork)
Staff Pick

Various

Bands We Like (2003)

Fat City Magazine


Wow, when Fat City puts rare material on a comp, they REALLY put rare material on a comp. Everything on here is either rare, hard to find, a demo, or out of print. But you know what the most charming feature of this compilation is? It's free. Just pick up the issue of Fat City Magazine with Alkaline Trio on the cover and this baby is yours.

So who can you find on here? Well: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, One Man Army, G.G. Allin and the Jabbers, Dee Dee Ramone (w/ Paul Kostabi), Darkbuster, and more. But even with the several big names and legends, one band really caught my attention above the rest the: Street Dogs. Before I heard this song I had no idea what this band sounded like or who they were, I just knew that I didn't like their name. I didn't even know that Mike McColgan of the Dropkick Murphys was doing vocals (yes, I do live under a rock). Damn is this song ever catchy, especially Mike's vocals. This song alone is worth picking up this disc (did I mention it's free?).

There are other noteworthy standouts as well. Darkbuster is one of them. I had heard a lot about this band, but out of laziness, other bands taking their place on my list, etc. I never got around to actually checking them out. But I'm really kicking myself now (I'm double jointed), because "NRA" is a hell of a song. This straight forward punk rock song makes me want to search for more stuff from this band. The G.G. Allin song is G.G. Allin, I think you should know what to expect from this guy. The one song on here that I didn't like was by Sin Sin 77, this poppy, synth (?) laced track just didn't hit the spot for me,

I suppose the Dee Dee Ramone/Paul Kostabi song is good for nostalgia purposes, as it's a jam session between the two. I think this would've made a cool hidden track, after being preceded by a normal Dee Dee Ramone song, but I don't know what was available so I'm not going to complain..

Anyway, this is free, it's good, and oh yeah, it's free. Whereas a lot of compilations throw in some rarities, this one is made up of rarities.