Artist: Slick Shoes Album: The Biggest & the Best Label: Tooth & Nail Records Rating: 7 out of 10

First off, let’s get the title issue out of the way. Punk rockers Slick Shoes’ first retrospective is named The Biggest & the Best, and if the first part isn’t meant to be ironic, somebody is suffering delusions of grandeur at the band’s old record label, Seattle indie Tooth & Nail. However, give or take a couple of odd choices or omissions, this 18-track CD is both a good value and a strong summation of what the band does best: craft fast and catchy pop-punk songs that are neither too pop to be mainstream, nor too punk to be inaccessible. While it seems like a strange decision to start this collection with three newly-recorded songs, these diverse tracks nicely represent all of Slick Shoes’ primary modes of operating. There’s the hyperbeat, poppy punk of opener “Pretend to be the Same”; the mid-tempo, more-carefully-crafted “Ruled Out,” which would fit perfectly on the band’s excellent self-titled fourth album; and the appropriately-titled, old school-leaning “Spleen Puncher.” For fans who own all of Slick Shoes’ earlier releases, these three songs will likely be worth the price of admission, but for newbies, the next 15 tracks are solid listening too. Most of the band’s best are here, including fan favorites like “Angel,” “East on Tracks” and “Last,” which represent their respective records well. And if you never got around to purchasing the group’s debut EP, two of its five cuts are even tacked onto the end of The Biggest. Unfortunately, these are also probably the weakest here, which ends things on a bit of a down note. All told, though, the track selection is nearly perfect – in some parallel universe where underground punk bands dominate the radio airwaves, these songs would probably be Slick Shoes’ biggest hits, so devotees should be happy. And for newcomers who’ve just discovered the band through Far From Nowhere, their first album on new home Side One Dummy Records, The Biggest & the Best is a great place to find out where Slick Shoes are coming from, as well as where they’re heading. – Todd Thatcher