What the fucking fuck is this?

[Sonic Libido]

<p>Besides pretty awesome, that is.<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=193541&amp;">http://interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=193541&amp;</a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>New "Deluxe" 60 Track version?</div><div><br /></div><div>It’ll be interesting to see what’s acoustic and what isn’t…. surprised to &nbsp;see somany re-recorded covers…. should be pretty cool!</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Here’s my guess as to what it is, based on the tracklist:</div><div><br /></div><div>The Hits… Expanded</div><div>1 Sell Out</div><div>2 Beer</div><div>3 She Has A Girlfriend Now</div><div>4 Everything Sucks</div><div>5 Trendy</div><div>6 <b><i><u>All I Want Is More</u></i></b></div><div>7 I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend Too</div><div>8 In The Pit</div><div>9 The Set Up (You Need This)</div><div>10 Somebody Hates Me</div><div>11 You Don’t Know</div><div>12 Suckers (This One’s For You)</div><div>13 Where Have You Been</div><div>14 Good Thing</div><div>15 Ban The Tube Top</div><div>16 Don’t Start A Band</div><div>17 <u><i><b>The Fire</b></i></u></div><div>18 Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)</div><div>19 Another F.U. Song</div><div>20 New Version Of You (new)</div><div>21 Party Down</div><div>22 Slow Down (single version)</div><div>23 <i><u><b>She Has A Girlfriend Now (live)</b></u></i></div><div><br /></div><div>SKAcoustic… Expanded</div><div>24 Sell Out</div><div>25 Take On Me</div><div>26 Beer</div><div>27 She Has A Girlfriend Now</div><div>28 Another F.U. Song</div><div>29 Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)</div><div>30 Suckers</div><div>31 Where Have You Been</div><div>32 Don’t Start A Band</div><div>33 S.R.</div><div>34 241</div><div>35 The Kids Don’t Like It</div><div>36 Scott’s A Dork</div><div>37 Nothin'</div><div>38 <i><b><u>I’m Cool</u></b></i></div><div>39 <i><u><b>Everything Sucks</b></u></i></div><div>40 <u><i><b>You Don’t Know</b></i></u></div><div>41 <u><i><b>Imaginary Friend</b></i></u></div><div>42 <u><i><b>I’m Her Man</b></i></u></div><div>43 <u><i><b>Good Thing</b></i></u></div><div>44 <u><i><b>New Version Of You</b></i></u></div><div>45 <u><i><b>One Hit Wonderful</b></i></u></div><div><br /></div><div>Covers (new disc!)</div><div>46 <u><i><b>Take On Me</b></i></u></div><div>47 <u><i><b>Brown Eyed Girl</b></i></u></div><div>48 <u><i><b>Kiss Me Deadly</b></i></u></div><div>49 <u><i><b>Boss D.J.</b></i></u></div><div>50 <u><i><b>Boys Don’t Cry</b></i></u></div><div>51 <u><i><b>Another Day In Paradise</b></i></u></div><div>52 <u><i><b>Nothin’ But A Good Time</b></i></u></div><div>53 <u><i><b>Monkey Man</b></i></u></div><div>54 <u><i><b>Veronica Sawyer</b></i></u></div><div>55 <u><i><b>Give It To Me</b></i></u></div><div>56 <u><i><b>Stray Cat Strut</b></i></u></div><div>57 <u><i><b>Untiy (live at the Alley)</b></i></u></div><div>58 <u><i><b>We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful</b></i></u></div><div>59 <u><i><b>Talk Dirty To Me</b></i></u></div><div>60 <u><i><b>We Close Our Eyes</b></i></u></div></div><div><br /></div>
</p>

[The Wind]

I’d normally just not post, but I need to point out just how speechless I am.

[Sonic Libido]

I’m excited to hear pretty much all of the additional tracks here. Super psyched for We Close Our Eyes.

[The Wind]

Honestly, I do want to hear this stuff and will buy it.
However, I mean, come on guys. MORE filler release? At LEAST do something original before releasing this again.

[Admin]

When I first heard about RBF re-recording all of their old stuff I did think it would include more than what was on A Best Of Us… For The Rest Of Us. So here it all is!

[El]

I hate to be “that guy,” but I’m not paying for this. I hate when bands release an album that I buy and then turn around and release a, well, “Bigger Better Bonus Deluxe Edition” a year later.

I’ll listen to it. I am excited for many of the new tracks, especially the acoustic tracks. (You Don’t Know? My Imaginary Friend? One Hit Wonderful? I’m Her Man?) What’s odd is that the original album’s bonus tracks aren’t on this release.

[Admin]

Seems the new covers disc is going to be called “The Best Songs We Never Wrote”.

[Alex]

Anyone got a hold of this yet?

[Surly]

If I find it cheap somewhere online I might pick it up. Never bothered with the first version.

Seems like they obviously re-recorded all of their old material before Scott left. Why not save people the hassle and release all of it?

[Sonic Libido]

Just ordered today. I’ll let you know what I think soon.

[GodKill123]

…this is what happen when I’m gone for a while?

yay rerelease…

[JTHomeslice]

Look I love supporting my favorite bands, but I just fucking bought this. Hopefully someone will upload it.

[Sonic Libido]

Got my set today, here’s what’s new:

First Glance:

Seems beefier, more definitive… rather exciting. Cleaner.

—————————————————————————————————————————

NEW! Packaging! 

Case:

Cover is cleaner with both front and back being ascetically reworked. Clean is the right word. Case is digipack, Opens to two panels: Left features a B/W live photo of Derek and Aaron, Right features the RBF zombie drawing and the set notes from Aaron that appeared in the original set. Set opens to four panels (three disc panels and a booklet panel (think, live album)). Disc panel backgrounds are RBF tattoo mash up photos, booklet panel is a photo mashup from the last year or so. Scott is still featured in group photos, however (understandably) not individually, Matt (Appleton) is not featured)

 

Liner Notes (Booklet):

Booklet: The only changes apparent in the liner notes are the altered color scheme (light blue instead of green, more attractive, IMO) and credits for the covers. anone expecting an extended retrospective ore whatever will be disappointed… that being said, there is still more here to chew on than is provided with many GH albums… so…. whatever.

The Discs:

Discs are adorned with MUCH NICER art. Cleaner and more professional. they will be a joy to have in the CD case…. I would upload pictures…. but fuck that.

BONUS!: also included is a B/W sticker sheet with small, “Re-usable” stickeers of the two variant fish logos and the graffiti logo.

———————————————————————————————————

NEW! Musical Content:

Disc 1: “SINGLES”

All I Want Is More – This is a cool version. the guitars are gnarly, the drums are pretty cool in person and there’s a cool drop part that’s nice. I like it. Different than the original, but in mostly good ways.

The Fire –  A Fine Version. Not as different from it’s OV as All I Want is More. the intro kicks pretty hard. the rest is… The Fire. Good. nice to see this track on the disc.

She Has A Girlfriend Now (Live) –  From You’re All In This Together, old news for most of us, but a better last track than Brown Eyed Girl, IMO. Certainly a treat for new fans.

DISC 2: “SKACOUSTIC”

She Has A Girlfriend  Now (W/ Nicole & Simone Olivia): Thank god they replaced that awful version from the first SKAcoustic… and with the girls from Tip The Van (R.I.P.)! Much appreciated, RBF! tTTV’s signature tight harmonies are present…. VAST IMPROVEMENT!

I’m Cool (SKAcoustic): Wow Wow Wow. Perhaps worth the price of admission alone… 1.) The first verse’s lyrics have been changed to a heart-pokingly poignant “You think I’m cool and all the guys wanna be my friend/and every little girl here they all wanna hold my hand (yeah, sure)/but I sold all of my songs/I’m probably gonna get sued/That’s alright as long as I‘ve got you fooled” Jeezz…. that was a moment. A really cool lyric change that takes what was a silly song and makes it pretty sad… in a good way…. Then the yeahs come in… it’s pretty beautiful… One of the best recording RBF has put out in a while, IMO…. pretty magical

Everything Sucks (SKAcoustic): Almost no drums on this track just a few sparse reggae toms and the rattlesnake thingy. even the intro is spoken (“One, Two, Ev-ery-thing sucks!”). I think it was a good decision, draws more attention to the acoustic guitar parts which are pretty interesting throughout (there are two guitars on this track). A fun listen… going on my summer playlist…. along with most of this disc.

You Don’t Know (SKAcoustic): Cool drum stuff on this part… guitars sound nice… pretty standard otherwise… still a great version of a great song… Just not all that different… since i’m more or less here to report on differences, that’s all I can give you. I enjoy it… but it’s pretty much just as you’d imagine it to be…. I like it.

Imaginary Friend (SKAcoustic): The intro to this version features both bongos and a toy piano. Shakers get fucking groovy on the choruses. a nice version. chill as hell. I like it.

I’m Her Man (SKAcoustic): HAHAHAHAHAHA wow… this track is just downright silly. The post-solo break especially… thanks again, scott. The guitar work is pretty rad as well. love it.

Good Thing (SKAcoustic): Intro is fucking awesome. trumpet solo is fucking jazzy. on par with it’s electric version, IMO. good version. gooooooooood version.

New Version Of You (SKAcoustic): as good as any version of this song we’ve ever heard. besides mybe the Aaron/Scott Guitar/vox/whistles version. fun. nice version.

One Hit Wonderful (SKAcoustic): …….. This…. is how this song always should have been. If WNHTYNH had ended this way it would have changed the way we look at that record. music and atmosphere fits perfectly with the lyrics and message. I know many of you won’t by this set…. and there isn’t a lot I could say to change your mind… your loss.

DISC 3 “THE BEST SONGS WE NEVER WROTE”:

Kiss Me Deadly: Finally, a Decent studio version of this cover. Live version is still more energetic, but this is a damn good studio shot at it. once again, thank you Scott.

Boss D.J.: wow. similar to CU, with some cool arrangement differences. as good as the CU version, if not better. relly cool re-arrange.

Boys Don’t Cry: Finally! A studio version! Is what it is! Imagine a studio version of the live album’s version… there it is! nice to have.

Another Day In Paradise: Yep, It’s new! and I like it. not so sure I love the filter used. Aaron’s vocal work is better than the MFNATCFF, IMO. more frenzied. I like it more, deal with it.

Nothin’ But A Good Time: It’s either new or remixed. Either way, it’s a bit flatter than the FF&F version, from a production standpoint. Other than that, it’s just what you’d expect. at least it sounds different enough to be somewhat purposeful… for those of you who hate buying tracks more than once.

Monkey Man: Pretty sure it’s new… might be remixed… sounds different, anyway. it’s RBF’s Monkey Man, though. you know it.

Veronica Sawyer: BETTER THAN FFF’s VERSION BY A LOT (imo). 

Give It To Me: Fantastic intro. Guitar work is tight. Could have used more of Scotts vox. beyond that, solid. hard one to top in my book, at least equal to CU’s B-side version

Stray Cat Strut: five rungs above the SC tribute version. Really nailed the atmosphere. very complimented performance. great version!

Unity (Live): remixed version of the You’re All In This Together version. Same as SHAGFN review.

We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful: Aaron’s vocals are (intentionally or not) pretty lethargic on this cut… far from the overly enthusiastic version found on WNHTYNH… might just prefer the first version better. oh well.

Talk Dirty To Me: Aaron’s voclas may be different, if not… it’s the FF&F version. still sexy.

We Close Our Eyes: Differs only lightly from the tribute album version. Still a beautiful track… even if at times i find the backbeat a little overbearing…

—————————————————————–

Verdict:

Worth he $15, even if part of me wonders why this version wasn’t the version released last year (admittedly, I can easily see this set being pitched, but cut down because best buy wanted it to be smaller for any number of random silly reasons. If you’d rather refuse to purchase on principle, have fun with that. I’ll be happy to replace the old set with this… whichever one of my friends has a birthday next is getting a green CD with an awful version of SHAGFN on it! 😛

More surprisingly…. it may even surpass OLAIBTYLA as the ultimate RBF starter package…. but just maybe.

[El]

“Tip the Van (R.I.P.)” WHAT?! Aw man, they were awesome!

Also, this CD sounds awesome. Is it online? Can someone use internet magic and make it be online? I really don’t want to pay $15 for an album I paid $10 for last fucking year, no offense to the Fish.

[Alex]

Fun fact: the drums in Sell Out are different than in the first Best Of. They’re mostly the same with a few minor tweaks, the most noticeable being a cymbal crash on the very first note.

The highlight of the set is definitely the Skacoustic disk. You Don’t Know, Good Thing (trumpet solo!), and Everything Sucks all surprisingly worked really well acoustically. I did miss the trumpet solo at the end of I’m Cool and the horns in One Hit Wonderful, but they sounded good enough that I could forgive it.

Also, I’m pretty sure that Nothin’ But A Good Time and Monkey Man are the same tracks as FFF. If they’re any different at all, it’s extremely minor. Veronica Sawyer is definitely different, Scott’s vocals in particular stand out a little more in this version.

All in all, definitely worth the fifteen bucks, even if you already have the first Best Of.

[El]

Is it in a digital format or only physical?

[JTHomeslice]

Alright y’all have convinced me. I’ll pick this up when I get the chance.

[Sonic Libido]

This set is, far as I can tell, currently only available on CD…. which is strange… almost as strange as RBF barely even mentioning this release… Anyway. the CD is available at most major online retailers.

[Sonic Libido]

Question to people who already have this. Do the opening vocals to “Suckers” sound re-done to you? I remember them sounding less pleasant…. I’d do a direct comparison, but I saved over my old edition with the new one and I do not want to re-rip.

[Alex]

Nope, listening to them side by side, Suckers is still exactly the same as far as I can tell. Oh well.

[JTHomeslice]

Hey, any of y’all wanna be a bro and upload some of the new stuff to youtube or something? I specifically want to hear All I Want is More.

[El]

I, too, would like to hear this new stuff.

[Sonic Libido]

By the way, welcome to the board alex.

As for uploading. someone will do it eventually. I will not, both because it’s a breach of forum policy, and because I think you guys are just being rather silly about an $8-$10 purchase you made almost a year ago…. That’s all i’m going to say on the subject.

[Keith]

I’m going to buy it eventually, but it’s nice to be able to see if it’s REALLY worth my money first.

[CannonBall]

I’m really ready to hear some new material from this band…

I’ve been watching some recent tour videos online and I do have to say that they sound pretty good. Matt is doing a great job on Sax which really fills out the horn section to what it was when they had two trombones. I actually think this sounds better than having two trumpets. His vocals are really good as well. 

They are a really solid group of musicians and it just pains me to have to hear these “new” releases over and over again. It must be hard for all the new members too. Aside from Dan and Aaron, all the RBF songs to the other members are just covers. 

I just hope that they are using the money from all these cash grab albums to record a really good new album with at least 16 brand new songs. 

I just don’t understand it, no matter how much I try, I can’t understand why this group of musicians is putting out these really sub par albums. All I mean by sub par is the quality of the recordings, the songs just sound cheap and mechanical. I really don’t like how they are recorded so rigidly to a click track and the drums are so bland even though their drummer is amazing. 

I really just don’t understand why the CD quality is so bad, the album I recorded with my band in 2002 sounds better than the stuff they have been recording. Not the musicianship, just the quality of the recording and we only spent about $3,000 recording it and it was done in storage units, but we did have a solid engineer. 

Talk shit about my music all you want, but I know that the quality of what I recorded about 10 years ago is better than the stuff RBF have been spewing out. Follow that link to my CD baby account and pick any song but “leave us alone” that one is a joke. But any song on there is a better quality recording than any of the 60 songs on the “new” album. 

The new lineup is great, they just need to all be part of a new album that isn’t recorded in the same studio, with the same engineer, as the last albums they have been putting out. I really want to hear a new album from them that sounds amazing. As much as I hate what this band has been doing over the past 6 years, I still can’t forget about them, I’ve tried, but they are too important of a band to me. 

[Keith]

That’s my main problem with the fact that they keep rerecording their own material — it sounded better the first time. The new recordings sound like they were done carelessly and hastily. I’m just hoping the only reason they keep doing this is to raise some more money for an original album. I asked Matt on facebook awhile ago, and he said Aaron’s been writing songs again.

I just wish they’d make another album that sounds like WDTRSH or Cheer Up.

[CannonBall]

Exactly, the first versions had so much more dynamic texture. There were cool production values that made the songs sound good. These “Best of Us” albums have the same production value as a live album without the energy of a live show. 

Even if they just stop recording to a click track that would make me happy, just record the rhythm section live, it always sounds better that way. 

[CannonBall]

<meta charset=”utf-8″> 

[gwiz210]

I hate to be that guy, but could some upload this? (or at least the tracks not on the 2010 release)

[Alex]

Here, somebody posted this sample video on the band’s facebook. The video has short samples of Kiss Me Deadly, Another Day in Paradise, Boys Don’t Cry, We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, Everything Sucks (skacoustic), Boss DJ, and Good Thing (skacoustic). Check it out if you’re still on the fence about buying the album.

Interesting note, Matt Wong is no longer listed as an “additional musician” for the Monkeys songs, maybe Derek rerecorded the bass on those tracks?

[El]

Still hate hate hate hate hate the production. I’ll wait for a discount.

[Keith]

Got the set for $10 at a concert last night. It’s definitely worth the money, in case anyone still has their doubts.

[peterr peterr]

[url=http://www.outlet-coachstores.com]Coach Factory Outlet    
[/url]
  also very good

[AngryOpossum]

I listened to the FFF and MFNACFF tracks along side the ones on 3 Disc Best of … What I mean is… I played one in the left headphone, and the other in the right headphone. And listened to both versions simultaneously. This makes differences stand WAY out, because they’ll only be on one side and clash with the opposite.

What I’ve found is that everything sounds identical instrumentally, but two tracks have alternate vocals. That isn’t to say that these haven’t been remixed, but they sound virtually the same … For the most part, the Best Of versions do seem flatter, like someone already said.

I think the bass is still by Matt on the Monkey tracks, perhaps excluding him in the book was a mistake? Or they thought nobody would notice? Who the hell knows? Probably just screwed up, that seems like the most reasonable explanation.

NOTICEABLE CHANGES FOR THE BEST OF:

Another FU Song – The lyric “Fuck this song” is replaced (toward the beginning) with “Fuck cursing.” Everything else sounds identical

Party Down – None

Nothin’ But A Good Time – None

Veronica Sawyer – Major vocal changes, particularly the background vocals. Instrument tracks sound unchanged.

Monkey Man – None

Brown Eyed Girl – None

Talk Dirty to Me – None

[Alex]

The drum parts are changed for a few songs. it’s to the point where most people won’t notice, though, so it’s not a huge deal. (i’m a drummer, I notice these things)

Party Down – The most noticeable difference (at least for me) is during the “choir” part after the second chorus. During that whole time, the ride cymbal is being hit rapidly instead of the crash cymbal from Monkeys. Also, the second high hat “set of hits” that goes with the solo bass part after the first chorus is slightly off sync (if that makes any sense to anyone). These are the things that stand out the most for me, and I’m pretty sure the whole drum track is rerecorded, but it’s trivial anyway.

The Set Up – The only thing I noticed here is that they took out the tambourine hits overlayed on the track. It’s a minor thing, but it does sound alot better during the horn section solo right before the guitar solo. Of course, this version is still vastly inferior to the other 2 versions anyway (WHY DOES SCOTT’S VOICE SOLO SUDDENLY SUCK HERE) but it makes it slightly more bearable for me.

I’m sure nobody cares about these, but i felt like typing them out anyway 😀

[AngryOpossum]

I actually came back to point out the drums on Another Day in Paradise… They’re noticeably different when listening to both.

I’m just going to list them all in my iTunes as “Remastered” and all the rerecordings as “Reprise.” Its too much of a pain to figure out ALL the details. Its sort of annoying that there are differences between the 2 disc and 3 disc. But whatever, I have both so I’ll shut the hell up.

Besides, if I can’t even tell, then what the fuck’s the point in over-analyzing? If one sounds better, I’ll listen to it. If they sound the same… Then I’ll take one off my iPod. I have like … 1000 tracks with all the live bootlegs and crap, but only about 150 without alternate versions of any sort… That means that 85% of my RBF collection is repeats.

By the way, anyone know anything about the Slow Down single? This is all I can find, and the track time on the front is for the album version…??? This shit bugs the hell out of me.

http://www.musicstack.com/item/111697542

[Desensitized]

Sigh.

[Aldaway]

Was anyone thinking about uploading the bigger better bonus deluxe unique tracks?

[Sonic Libido]

I honestly just completely replaced my original ABOUFTROU (2 disc) with the ABOFTROBBBDE (3 Disc) everything is either improved (imo) or only slightly altered and I didn’t need the headache of deciding which one had a better vocal take or drum track…. that’s just me, though.

[Author]

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