Reviews

A Fire Inside. AFI. However you want to say it, the important thing is that you say it. I guess. AFI got famous in the blink of an eye after being this incredible underground force for so long. That's nothing surprising though, it's how it always happens with bands like that. Look at bands like Good Charlotte, All American Rejects and Taking Back Sunday. Their fame too, happened almost over night. There were of course the negative reactions, the "true" fans thumbing their noses, rolling their eyes and being spotted saying "I listened to them way back when..." while they waited in line to buy the new album as their music video played on a television nearby. But hey, these guys deserve every bit of fame they got. They worked their asses off for years and you don't see them complaining about being cool now, do you?
 
This is a sort of "greatest hits" type album, only it's just songs from the Nitro years, you know, before they were everywhere. From "The Art of Drowning," are "The Lost Souls," and "The Days Of The Phoenix." I would have chosen a different way to open up this album, maybe started from the bottom and gotten to the newer stuff towards the end. But I didn't make it, so I'll get off that subject now. From "Black Sails In The Sunset," is "The Prayer Position," and "Lower It," which was on the vinyl and not the originally recorded compact disc. A personal favorite, "Third Season," appears from the 1997 release, "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Ears." From "Very Proud of Ya" are "He Who laughs last," "Perfect Fit," and another vinyl only track, "Who Said You Could Touch Me?" Personally I don't think that song really belonged on there, it just isn't a great one. 
 
It's funny how "best of" cd's aren't really the best songs a band ever put out, but the ones that were hits. Maybe the two go hand in hand, but I would have liked to have seen a few songs on here that didn't make it. AFI's nitro years go back almost a decade ago, to 1995. Between AFI, TSOL and The Offspring, nitro's really had their fair share of hit-makers. I predict A Wilhelm Scream to be the next big nitro band...maybe they'll get an "essential retrospective" someday. Anyway, this album didn't do anything to impress me, it's nothing an AFI fan hasn't already heard and unless you're a diehard whose got to own everything AFI, you probably won't go out and buy this. I'd say 2 and a half stars, but since I can't do that I'm just going to go ahead and round down.