It isn't often that a band that is essentially a nobody in the music business gets to put out a record of "rarities, b-sides, demos and outtakes," but back in 2000, The Aquabats were just so lucky.

Myths, Legends & Other Amazing Adventures Vol.2 was released in December of 2000, barely a year after their third full length studio effort, The Aquabats Vs The Floating Eye of Death. That effort was marked by the band becoming a bad lounge act for way too many songs, and for the most part, it missed the energy and spunk that had become a trademark of sorts for the band over the course of their first two releases. So perhaps it isn't all the surprising that the band wanted to wash that bad taste out of fans' mouths.

Surprisingly, two of the songs from this record have become two of the band's most popular numbers at their (sporadic) live shows. Pool Party and Pizza Day are a pair of songs that reflect the band's sense of humor, while also being musically solid, showing off the band's numerous influences, ranging from the Ramones to Devo. Many people seem to prefer Pool Party, possibly for the outrageous breakdown and rap, but I love the driving energy and nostalgia of Pizza Day, which is a song about school lunches.

For out and out hilarity though, nothing quite beats the parody I Feel Asleep On My Arm, which manages to make fun of Korn (and their song Blind), Rage Against the Machine ("Corporate America makes pencils for man with the left hand, they make pencils for the man with the right hand, but what about the man with the numb hand?"), and Limp Bizkit (with a breakdown reminiscent of LB songs like Re-Arranged).

Tracks like Danger Woman and Worms Make Dirt are also solid, though Worms Make Dirt is just patently ridiculous (in the good way).

Unfortunately, there's more than a few stinkers on here as well. Given the amount of material under consideration for this record, its hard to imagine there not being something more worthy of opening this record than the terrible instrumental Robot Theme Song.

Dear Spike has some energy and bounce to it, but after only a minute or so, the song becomes outright obnoxious, making me never want to listen to it again. Radiation Song finds the band moving back to that horrible lounge sound that ruined the last record, while The Baker is cheesy (in the bad way), even by The Aquabats standards.

Myths, Legends & Other Amazing Adventures Vol.2 isn't a bad record, but it really isn't essential for anyone but diehard fans of the band. Newcomers to the band would still be best checking out the 1997 classic The Fury of the Aquabats as a starting point.

3 stars.



Recommended: No