Sublime

There's a number of reasons to listen to this box set of rarities, outtakes and unreleased material, not least of all to remember what a compelling shape-shifter Brad Nowell was, even at his most discombobulated and boozy moments -- moments that are captured here in these mostly live cuts. As acerbic and fearless as Bad Brains' H.R. (who appears on a cover of his "Shame In Dem Game"), Nowell subsumes the vocal idiosyncrasies of Jimi Hendrix on "Voodoo Part 2" and inhabits the righteous ire of "Catch a Fire"-Bob Marley on disc three's "Marley Medley." This collection is a sonic history of a band in the process of becoming one of the more seminal purveyors of SoCal ska punk.