I was first introduced to Snuff via the Abbey Raid 1: Fuck EMI comp LP that came out, I believe, in the late ‘80s. On what label? I don’t know and I’m looking at the record right now. They play the Tommy James and the Shondells song “I Think We’re Alone Now.” I thought it was brilliant. Most of the stuff that was coming out of the UK that I was listening to was more crossover metal or thrash. To hear a band play with so much melody, but still had the rawness of punk fascinated me. When I saw a copy of their first 7" Not Listening, I bought it without thinking twice. I’m not good at being a completist when it comes to record collecting, but I have about fifteen different Snuff releases, including some of the offshoots like Guns and Wankers and a Dogpiss CD. They are on my all-time favorite list of bands. They are outside of the cookie cutter of bands and are a band that stands the test of time. You can listen to one of their early releases and listen to a current one and they both are incredibly enjoyable. So disc one is a good sampling for a greatest hits. Enjoyable from start to finish. Not a stinker in the bunch. Disc two is a real treat. It has so many tracks that I have not heard before: B-sides of singles I don’t own, unreleased tracks and bonus tracks from records that I never knew existed. But to make things go full circle, the first track is “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Even though it is referenced that it was on the Lie to Me comp, I know this has been on a number of comps through the years. But hearing a cover of Macy Gray’s “I Try” made me grin like a monkey with a banana. I’m not real big on greatest hits packages, but this one was done right and is quite enjoyable. Now if they would only come back to the states again to tour.
–don (Fat)