Alkaline Trio: Remains

Alkaline Trio: Remains

2007

Vagrant Records

Format I Own it on: 1. Hell Yes  2. My Standard Break from Life  3. Dead End Road  4. Metro  5. Jaked on Green Beers  6. Queen of Pain  7. "While You're Waiting  8. Rooftops  9. Old School Reasons  10. Warbrain  11. Fine Without You  12. Hating Every Minute  13. Dead and Broken  14. Sadie  15. If You Had a Bad Time  16. Wait for the Blackout  17. We Can Never Break Up  18. Don't Say You Won't  19. Buried  20. Dethbed  (Live)  21. My Standard Break from Life  (Live Acoustic)  22. I'm Dying Tomorrow (Live)

This is their second release featuring one-off singles, b-sides and compilation tracks, picking up where 2000's "Alkaline Trio" left off  and it holds together just as well as that first compilation. I usually don't play this one as much as I should (probably because I can't stand looking at that ugly-ass cover! Yuck!) so I forget that a lot of my favorite Alkaline Trio tracks appear on this disc...

It kicks off with the "Hell Yes" single that Lookout! records put out in 2001.



 I  bought this  single when it first came out, through the little lookout Records catalogs they used to put in all their releases. (I was so obsessed with Lookout, that I ended up buying roughly 3/4ths of the labels output!)  It was later destroyed along with most of my other singles when my cat Padme (R.I.P) pissed in the  box where I kept all of my '45's.

Oh well...

Anyway, the "Hell Yes" single is one of my favorite releases from the band. The song "Hell Yes" is an incredibly great pop song about Anton LaVey, which  kick starts the band's whole tongue-in-cheek Satanism thing...

 The b-side "My Standard Break from Life" was just as good, with Dan memorably bitching about his achin' back... If you ever see this single, pick it up immediately!

This album also features the splits the band did with Hot Water Music and One Man Army...




 


I have fond memories of both these. I especially loved the One Man Army split, as it featured the band's knockout version of the Damned's "Wait for the Blackout." I think I like Dave Vanian's suavely crooned verses better on the original, but Alkaline Trio actually improve the chorus, giving it a little extra punch...The band also takes on a  smokin' cover of Hot Water Music's "Rooftops," which stands as one of their best covers, along with their mean version of Berlin's "Metro," that you just have to hear to believe (luckily it's included here too!).  Naked Raygun's Jeff Pezzati makes a surprise appearance on "Dead and Broken" doing his trademark "woah oh ohs"...

I'm telling you, there's really a million different reasons to check out "Remains"...The only weak point is the okayish live songs that close out the album (If you're in the mood for some live Alkaline Trio, I think you'd do better checking out the "Halloween at the Metro" dvd)...



But overall this is yet another enjoyable Alkaline Trio release. If slick, hooky pop-punk is your thing you can safely walk into your local record store and pick up any album by these guys...

 Hell yes! We're gonna listen to "Hell Yes'" by Alkaline Trio!