A Best of Us... For the Rest of Us [CD] [PA]

This album is awesome. 36 songs for $8? Sounds to good to be true. And the fact that 14 of them are never-yet heard "skacoustic" songs makes it even better. After I bought this I brought to a concert for them to sign. They were excited that I had a copy of it. They also took joy in looking at the booklet with me as they had yet to see it. Best buy you can get at Best Buy.

I was skeptical at first about this album. I'm a huge fan of the band, and like others have said, a brand new CD would have been excellent. "A Best of Us...For The Rest of Us" is a great CD, no doubt about it. First off, 36 tracks! That's 3 times as many tracks you'd typically see on a CD. The amount of content for the price is unbeatable. If you're about value, this album has it. The music, while nothing new to any long time fans, this CD has really breathed new life into old favorites. While they may lack a bit of the scratchy character the JIVE recordings had, these new re-recordings more than make up for it. The band has grown in talent, and it shows. The vocals are great, the horns are snappy, Barrett (who is terribly underrated) wails on the guitar, incorporating some new and modified riffs from live shows. Purists may not be so fond of these recordings, but I enjoyed listening to old favorites with the new crispness and clarity. The Skacoustic bonus CD, is great. I'd have paid the $10 for this itself. These acoustic re-imaginings of many favorites sound great. Very chill, very fun, and who doesn't love to hear a new spin on something they already enjoy? Bottom line, if you're a Reel Big Fish fan, grab this CD set. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Although I'd rather they start releasing new material, Reel Big Fish has managed to release a really solid "Best Of" collection of their own. There is already a best of Reel Big Fish that was put out by the major label they used to be on, but this one is done by Reel Big Fish on their own independent label. Since they don't have the rights to the original recordings or master tracks, they've re-recorded all of their "hit" songs and released them on their own label. The best of contains a 22-track best of re-recorded Reel Big Fish songs and a bonus disc containing 14 "skacoustic" recordings of some of their classic songs. If you're a new comer to Reel Big Fish, this album is a great place to start for the price and amount of content. If you're an existing Reel Big Fish fan, getting this alone for the "skacoustic" disc is worth it to hear old favorites re-interpreted in a new, fun way. Also, it's worth hearing the best of disc for the newly polished and re-recorded versions of their classic songs. It's great to hear their tracks off of their earlier discs with much sharper production and more noticeable backup vocals. With a list price of $11 and 36-tracks worth of music, it's hard to not recommend this to any Reel Big Fish fan, new or old!

As a long time Reel Big Fish fan, I can safely say that this album is entirely worth every one of the (only!) ten dollars you will spend on it. The new recordings are fresh and original takes on undisputed Reel Big Fish classics. Specifically, the Rabbit shows his true stuff in this album, with some truly exemplary drumming. And of course all the other instrumental work is just as solid as ever. The vocals are fairly tight, with some slightly off-key parts that aren't ever glaring, and only really show up if you listen for them. However, even if you do find yourself looking for them, you can also appreciate the matured tone Scotty and Aaron have grown to adopt. And if the brand new re-recordings weren't good enough, for the same $10 you get the bonus Skacoustic disc! Skacoustic features chilled-out and quieted-down versions of some of the songs from the greatest hits disc, and even some other b-sides. In this disc Aaron uses an acoustic guitar, and often times the drums are simplified to tambourines along with snare, bass and hi hats (sometimes), and an occasional crash. An acoustic RBF collection is long overdue, and it does not disappoint. All in all, this album is easily a buy for any Reel Big Fish fan worth his or her salt. Do yourself and your ears a favor, ignore the bad review on here, and buy this album!

If you have been a Reel Big Fish fan for many years, chances are you have at least some of the albums these songs originally appeared on. This compilation album appears to have been created for counter Jive Records Reel Big Fish compilation (which was done right after they were dropped) as well as to spruce up songs that the band felt weren't completely up to par, much like Streetlight Manifesto's cover of Catch 22's Keasbey Nights (The main singer/guitarist/songwriter left Catch 22 for Streetlight Manifesto). Reel Big Fish fanatics who have been listening to the same versions of the song for years may find some songs in this compilation off-putting, as some of the notes are different as well as some the solos. However, that's what having different versions of a song is all about. All of the songs sound well-produced, with every instrument and vocalist coming in clear. I would have prefered they took all of the songs from their Jive-owned releases, which includes everything on here except their "Brown Eyed Girl" cover, "Another F.U. Song", "New Version of You", "Slow Down", and "Party Down". They're good songs, but I don't think enough time has past for the band to really change up these songs from their originals, although "New Version of You" and "Slow Down" are listed as different from their album versions. I was almost certain the rest were taken straight from their original albums until I heard "Another F.U. Song" had the words "this song" replaced with "cursing". The bonus disc of "Skacoustic" tracks is a bit hit or miss. Although I understand that horns and drums are in fact already acoustic, and they are turned down a bit, a lot of the songs could have benefited from even less, especially the horns, which almost drown out the acoustic guitar when they are on. Many of the harder, angrier songs don't quite work, such as "The Kids Don't Like It" and "Don't Start a Band", while others were practically made to be played this way, like "S.R" (and if you've been to a live show, you know this song is universal anyway), "241", and "Where Have You Been?". All and all, this is a solid collection of songs, and if you have yet to buy a Reel Big Fish album, this is a great place to start. If you own the original albums these come on, there is value to be had, and at $11 in store, $8 online, for 36 tracks, this is a good way to hear how Reel Big Fish has evolved over the years, and hear upgraded versions of songs you probably already love. And if you pirated these songs in the past, well this is a good way to make up for it, now isn't it?

At first i was not very excited for a "best of" album from a band that I already own most of if not all of their music because I figured I could just make my own mix. Reel Big Fish actually took the time to re-record all of these older and newer songs making them sound better and crunchier and ska-ier than ever before! It sounds like they put alot of time into re-doing these songs without losing the old charm of the originals. The vocals and guitar riffs sound amazing! A great CD to blast in your car. Also the Skacoustic songs are surprisingly awesome too!! My favorite is Skacoustic BEER!! I've been listening to this cd non stop ever since bought it!!

If you want a greatest hits album buy this one! Ignore the greatest hits album released by Jive. Not only does this album include more songs, but it also includes some "Skacoustic" versions of songs. To top it all off, it's only $7.99!

If you like RBF, you need to buy this cd. First of all it's only 8 bucks, so why would you not? But more than that, not only is the track list much better than their previous best of album (which was not released by the band) but most of the tracks are newly re-recorded. On top of that there is a 14 song acoustic disk that it totally worth the price of admission by itself. Buy it for yourself. Buy it for a friend who needs better taste in music. Just buy it.