There is an old adage: If you add a teaspoon of fine wine to a barrel of sludge, you get sludge; and if you add a teaspoon of sludge to a barrel of fine wine, you also get sludge.
That said, as far as the neo-emo-pop-punk world goes, I only have a few interests. Alkaline Trio and Good Charlotte are two bands that I respect, for (obviously) differing reasons. I also have always had an affinity for Drive-Thru records, because they seem to have a discerning taste amid a genre of music that comfortably cranks out the same choruses and song structures over and over. Finch was a brilliant example of a group that was able to shine, and Halifax is a more recent genius in the sea of mediocrity.
The last thing I would want is for Drive-Thru to come up short on that discerning taste, and this offering comes dangerously close. I can tell that all 145 tracks (25 .wav’s and 120 .mp3’s) on this uber-comp were picked for some stand-out quality; but 145 tracks is nonetheless overkill, even if it’s the best 145 tracks, ever.
I suppose this could be considered an incredible value, especially for a kid with an I-Pod who just loves the pop-punk genre. But I find it to water-down the few shimmers. Having waded through the bog, a few standouts are The Juliana Theory, needless to say Halifax, HelloGoodbye, and Jack’s Mannquin. I’m sure there are more, but I stop being able to decipher quality after every 30 tracks, and have to stop for brain rehab.
