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Album Details

• Artist: At The Drive-In
• Album: This Station Is Non-Operational
• Label: Fearless
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-08-30

First off, I have to state that this is one of the best named post-humous compilations I have ever seen. The At The Drive-In station is indeed Non-Operational so the label that put out the majority of their releases has now come up with this 18 song compilation to collect their favorite songs. I have to be honest too, I was a bit of a latecomer to the At The Drive-In camp but when I pulled up there was no way you were going to drag me away. I was one of the many who discovered this awesome band on their oh-so-momentous Relationship of Command. Then I went back and dabbled a little in their back catalog but other than that, I was a one album man when it came to ATDI. So this compilation comes as a good primer for me, and many others who have discovered this band through their affiliation with the two amazing bands Sparta and Mars Volta. The interesting thing with this chronological anthology is that the first few tracks are just as good, if not better than the latter material. Like "Lopsided" makes you wish that the two resulting bands would drop what their doing and resurrect this amazingly intense and diverse band. And then the song that turned so many people onto At The Drive-In, "One Armed Scissor". Such intensity is a rarity in punk rock. They threw on the hard to find Pink Floyd cover, "Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk", it's a take it or leave it track but it doesn't take anything away from the rest of it. This album comes with a DVD of some videos and footage of the band at their peak.
So after 4 near-perfect slabs of full-length material and a handful of EPs, This Station is Non-Operational does a pretty decent job of pulling the best of the best making it an essential compilation for anyone interested in At The Drive-In.

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