Reviewed by Andy Long

Seattle's Tooth & Nail have spent the past decade tirelessly elbowing their way into the rock music gaps left between the shoulders of the Nashville CCM giants, and they can now boast a pretty big set of shoulders of their own.  In that time they've brought us some real classic stuff, and of course a few lemons too if we're honest. Thankfully there have been more aces than jokers and this six CD set brings together some of their finest hours. Always championing the underdog and the alternative, T&N began life as the vision of Brandon Ebel, who learnt the trade working at Frontline Records. In 1993 he released 'Pet The Fish' by Wish For Eden and the snowball started to roll down the ever-steepening incline of prominence. There have been hundreds of releases by bands too numerous to mention but if you were just to pick a few out of the hat you could do worse than: MxPx - if ever a band was before their time! Playing energetic punk rock not unlike the Blinks and Sums of today MxPx made several excellent T&N albums before finding a home with A&M. The OC Supertones were one of T&N's leading lights in the ska revival, alongside acts like The Dingees, who gave the trombone it's rightful place in new music, they rode the tide of ska alongside secular contemporaries like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The label was also a home for some gut-wrenching hardcore bands, Living Sacrifice, Embodyment and the unstoppable Zao, who, despite continuously shifting personnel, have remained popular on the US festival circuit. I once listed Stavesacre's 'Friction' as one of the all-time great Christian albums that I could not do without - I don't have it anymore which just goes to show what a fickle character I am, but it was great to listen to a couple of cuts from this excellent, grunge-influenced outfit again. The one thing that really disappoints me about this release is the packaging. If you're going to make an anniversary box set then make it a BOX set, don't just pop it into a cheap and nasty cardboard slip case. A well-designed, large format box, with a nice big commemorative book inside would have made me a happy listener.  Okay, the accompanying booklet is quite nice, with its brief history of the label and its nice collection of piccies. But without the box this is not a box set, it's just...er...some CDs?

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