The Best of Goldfinger

Album Review

The year 2005 marks a decade of Goldfinger. As John Feldmann says in his entertaining liner essay, that's ten years of playing 2,000-plus shows, ten years of seeing bandmates naked too often, ten years of trying like crazy to just be entertaining. And The Best of Goldfinger is certainly that. Of course it kicks off with "Here in Your Bedroom," and as a ska-punk anthem and southern California jam, the cut still resonates. Alongside No Doubt's "Just a Girl" and Sublime's "What I Got," it's a relic from a summer that somehow seems much longer ago. The Best of Goldfinger's remainder highlights the band's Mojo and Jive output, adds a previously unreleased cut (the pop-punk 9/11 meditation "Innocent," co-written with Benji Madden), and tidies their soundtrack and tribute album appearances. "We've really only had one 'hit'," Feldmann says in the liners. "But I think we've got some other pretty cool songs." "Mabel"'s singsong chorus and "She's the bomb" punchline is a hoot, "Counting the Days" (from 2000's Stomping Ground) is a rowdy and pogoing primer for the Good Charlotte/A New Found Glory, etc. explosion of the early 21st century, and "Spokesman" is a solid enough, only slightly bitter rant against the plastic stars on MTV. The Best of Goldfinger also surveys the band's stock of punk-ified cover songs. Their take on the Cure's "Just Like Heaven" is a forgettable double-time skate-ramp shouter. But "99 Red Balloons" is brash, hyper, and totally great — Feldmann even sings the last verse in German. It also summarizes Goldfinger's approach, which as The Best of Goldfinger shows, has always been to be loud, funny, and fun. The collection also included a DVD with videos and live material.