The Rubinoos - Everything You Always Wanted To Know About (2007) 3CD

2007 digitally remastered three CD collection filled to the brim with pure, unadulterated Power Pop from The Rubinoos! Disc One features their first two albums (1977's self titled debut and Back To The Drawing Board from 1979) plus five rare bonus tracks. Disc Two features 24 tracks including cuts from their subsequent album releases, rarities, live recordings and more. Disc Three features a previously unreleased 12 song live show recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in April of 1978 plus a hidden bonus track! The Rubinoos remain one of the finest bands of the Power Pop genre and this is a perfect introduction and collectors item!
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Review by Stewart Mason
Just in time to capitalize on an unexpected bit of potential career luck -- Avril Lavigne's spring 2007 single "Girlfriend" blatantly (and without credit) plagiarizes the chorus from the Rubinoos' 1978 power pop classic "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" -- Castle Records has resurrected the Bay Area popsters' key work, most of which has been basically unavailable for years. The exhaustive three-disc set is the first career-long anthology for the group, from its pioneering early work for the great Berserkley label through its collaborations with Todd Rundgren and Utopia, all the way up to its most recent album, Crimes Against Music. There's even a complete live concert, recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1978. As with most power pop bands, the early work is the best, from a stonking cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" through "Boyfriend" to, improbably, the theme song to the quintessential '80s dumb comedy Revenge of the Nerds. The title is pretty much right on: this may well be all the Rubinoos most people will ever need.