by Stephen Thomas Erlewine


For a brief moment, Sum 41 occupied territory in the upper reaches of the Billboard charts. That moment was in the early days of the new millennium, when they rode blink-182''s wave right into the hearts of mall punks across America and their native Canada, racking up four modern rock Top Ten hits along the way: "In Too Deep," "Still Waiting," "We''re All to Blame," and "Fat Lip," their first big hit that went all the way to number one in 2001. All four singles plus their other six American hits (their 2000 debut single, "Makes No Difference," appears in a new re-recorded version; the 2008 Canadian digital single "With Me" being the only charting tune left behind) are rounded up on the 2009 All the Good Shit: 14 Solid Gold Hits 2001-2008, which is a North American reissue of the 2008 Japanese compilation 8 Years of Blood, Sake and Tears. That Japanese set contained three bonus tracks that are not on the standard edition of All the Good Shit but two of which -- the new "Always," a live "Motivation" -- can be found on the Exclusive Edition of the album found at Best Buy (and to complicate matters more, there is also a Deluxe Edition of the comp available, but that just has a bonus DVD with all the group''s music videos). What matters here are the basic 14 tracks offering all of Sum 41''s hits, which is indeed all their good stuff, giving a good reason to never put on their proper albums ever again.