The fictionalized Reggie and the Full Effect get their debut [and unarguably their best] album re-issued. Big deal, right? Why buy it if you already own the Second Nature version?

Well, this version contains 3 new songs, 1 remix, and 3 rare/compilation tracks.

But are they any good?

Well, not really. Outside of James Dewees' insane cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood," there's not much worth giving a second listen. The much-balleyhooed-about "Lord Of The Bling Trilogy" is rather bland and disappointing - the songs don't really go anywhere. The remix of "Your Girlfriends Hate Me" doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from the album version that appears only 16 tracks prior. "Only With Me" is boring, and "Everyone Is Crazy" sort of spins around in circles but never really goes anywhere. All of this convinces me that James Dewees ran completely out of ideas after the original version of Greatest Hits 84-87 came out 5 years ago.

If you already own this album, then there really isn't a reason to purchase it again. The original disc itself hasn't been remastered or anything, and there's still the annoying 3 minutes of silence between "Better For You" and "Everything's Okay," an oversight that should have been caught by now, one would think. However, if you don't already own this, the best album out of the trio that Dewees has put out under the Reggie moniker, it is still as good as it was half a decade ago - keyboardcore to the absolute max. Listening to this album again reminds me of being 17 and blaring this out of my '91 Sundance's windows as I drove home after the last day of school before the summer. The songs are ridiculously poppy and sugary, to the point where you're already singing along to the chorus before the song's even over. This really was Dewees at his creative peak, and is worth picking up if you didn't already own it. I just can't in good conscience tell you to drop 12 bucks on a re-issue unless you're a die-hard fan.

MP3
The Fellowship of the Bling (Featuring Hungary Bear)