Reel Big Fish - Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album

Things were just so much easier in the summer of 1997. Nobody knew or cared that most of baseball's greatest sluggers were chemically-enhanced or that President Clinton was enjoying a few "cigars" with one of his interns on the taxpayers' dime. Michael Jackson still had a nose. Tom Cruise was still considered mentally stable. And ska music was still the bomb. Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live Album, the latest effort from the pop-punk staples Reel Big Fish, is like a postcard from this easier life. All the RBF classics are on this one, as well as a few snazzy covers that will bring back all kinds of good memories from the summer Mike Tyson snacked on Evander Holyfield's ear. Amazingly, all the cuts from the 1997 smash record Turn The Radio Off still sound fresh -- even "Sell Out," a track that has found a second life because of college basketball pep bands. The band's enthusiasm on "She Has A Girlfriend Now" also should bring smiles to anyone who was immature enough to laugh it back in the day just because thought it was straight out of Jerry Springer. Of course, no ska show would be complete without a few silly cover tunes. RBF whips out its now-classic tribute to A-Ha's "Take On Me." But they also bust out some new tricks with a hilariously well-played version of Tracy Chapman's "Talkin' Bout A Revolution." (On a side note, she might have been more successful freeing Tibet and solving the rest of the world's problems in the '90s if she had a horn section behind her. Seriously, think about it.) It's also worth noting that RBF sandwiched the live album with an in-concert DVD. Aging hipsters are probably better off sticking to the audio section -- a good hard look at the current state of RBF is guaranteed to make any old-school fan of the band feel OLD. [www.reelbigfish.com]