Reel Big Fish, Our Live Album is Better than Your Live Album

After getting released from their major label obligations to BMG, Reel Big Fish have jumped back into the DIY/indie-label pond. With their first live album, Our Live Album is Better than Your Live Album, the band puts out a monstrous amount of live footage. The three-album live set contains 35 tracks, plus an additional 20 tracks on the DVD. The live set is a virtual all-you-can-eat buffet of pop-punk/ska. It’s a great find for those hardcore Reel Big Fish fans out there, but listening to that much ska is borderline musical gluttony. Just remember to chew before you swallow, because this album is meaty.

Throughout the album, the band maintains an affable self-debasing demeanor, which makes for amusing segues between songs. They also show off surprising improvisational skill during their live set (I mean, it’s not jazz, no, but they manage). After listening, I even found a few songs that I hadn’t heard before that I liked. Overall, the album was entertaining and borderline good.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember where the good songs were because there were so many tracks, discs, and intros to rifle through. Once you start playing the album, you’re effectively about to hear the last ten years of ska as written by Reel Big Fish. Die-hard fans should love this, and while I admit to being a fan of the band, I’m not quite a die-hard one. I loved them until Turn the Radio Off came out, but after that, ska sort of dropped off the map for me. Goldfinger, Suicide Machines, Less than Jake, and Reel Big Fish all seemed to play more pop-punk than ska. I still listen to ska occasionally, but I haven’t heard anything new that was interesting enough to pique my interest. I’m going to bet that most of you guys don’t own one modern live ska album — sadly, nobody does.

All in all, don’t expect this album to rejuvenate your interest in ska; I’m still waiting for that next wave to roll in. Until then, give me some old Reel Big Fish, Operation Ivy, Link 80, or The Suspects.