SUBLIME

SUBLIME
SECOND-HAND SMOKE (1997)
320 KBPS

Most posthumous albums are shrouded in a sense of morbid nostalgia and grim curiosity. In Sublime's case, there was also some cruel irony to contend with: the California nuevo-punk outfit's promising self-titled major-label debut and commercial breakout was released barely a month after frontman Brad Nowell's death from a heroin overdose--and their de facto demise. But such was the Long Beach band's longtime following that raiding the vaults, however sparse, was inevitable. Released 18 months after Nowell's death, Second Hand Smoke more than lived up to its title, cobbling together a collection of outtakes from their debut and padding them out with (sometimes multiple) remixes of old tracks like "Doin' Time," "April 29," and the Gwen Stefani duet, "Saw Red." There's a standout cover of Bob Marley's "Trenchtown Rock," but a lot of the rest feels like the incomplete discards and second (or third) choices they obviously were. Still, for the few brillant cuts available here, this is something somebody who enjoyed Sublime eponymous album should try.

1. Doin' Time (Uptown Dub)
2. Get Out! (Remix)
3. Romeo
4. New Realization
5. Don't Push
6. Slow Ride
7. Chick On My Tip
8. Had A Dat
9. Trenchtown Rock
10. Badfish
11. Drunk Drivin'
12. Saw Red
13. Garbage Grove
14. April 29th, 1992 (Leary)
15. Superstar Punani
16. Legal Dub
17. What's Really Goin' Wrong
18. Doin' Time (Eerie Splender Remix)
19. Thanx Dub