ASIDES From [Audio CD] Buffalo Tom

In the case of pop bands who've grabbed the charts' brass ring, best-ofs and singles compilations are usually synonymous. But for acts who, like the quintessentially college-rocking Boston trio Buffalo Tom, spent their career on the more interesting margins, singles-only compilations can be a litmus test of a different kind of success--namely, holding fast to a creative vision against the siren lure of polishing up or toning down for widespread consumption. In this case, the essential, lovingly-assembled Asides neatly reaffirms the nearly-men's consistency at elevating the wearily autumnal everyday into little hymns for the (bewildered and ageing) kids, from a bittersweet "Summer" and stubbornly roaring "Sunflower Suit" to the Stonesy fervour of "Tree House". If critical opinion holds that 1992's Let Me Come Over was their high-water mark, the inclusion of later gems like a poignant "Postcard" and valedictory "Wiser" here show that the heartbroken spirit powering the glorious "Taillights Fade"--closer kin to the Afghan Whigs' blackened soul and Husker Du^"s heart-on-sleeve epics than the "Dinosaur Jr. Junior" Buffalo Tom were originally tagged as--continue undimmed. This 18-tracker mixes it up chronologically, but the magic ingredients that made them cherishable--Bill Janovitz's alternately gentle and go-for-broke delivery and his bandmates' raw-knuckled dynamics--are present throughout. If you've yet to hear the slouchy swagger of a Band-like "Kitchen Door" or their slow-burn cover of the Jam's "Going Underground", there's no time like now. Wherever you were in the 1990s, it's never too late to let 'em come over. --Jennifer Nine