All-around Breakdown: Best of Würst Liner Notes By Ray Castro "with A Little Extra Fact-checking By The Rest of Bracket" (SBÄM Records)

"I've always been a huge fan of Bracket. I love their unique sound and their catchy melodies. It all started with the idea to have them play my festival in Austria, SBÄM Fest. Every year I tried to fly them in just for the show. Without any luck so far—I still bother them and I won't give up until they play 😉 And since I'm a big fan of their music, I asked Angelo [Celli] if they have any unreleased stuff they wanna put out. The Rare Cuts songs are killer and they needed a proper release. So, Best of Würst (BOW) was born. [By the way,] Angelo came up with the title—I really love it. And here's a little spoiler... it doesn't end with BOW; we have some other plans for 2021. More news soon!"

- SBÄM (@sbamrocks)

01. "[Do You Remember] Rock "N" Roll Radio"

"We did this for an all-Ramones covers comp. album called Ramones Maniacs released in 2001 and played it pretty much in-line with the original, though, there are some noticeable Bracket touches (kazoos, etc.) That's Zack [Charlos] nailing the "DJ" intro and outro! Recorded at Prairie Sun and one of the first recordings after Angelo [Celli] joined the band."


02. "Hearing Aid"

"A fun song to play. Released on Fat Music, Volume V: Live Fat, Die Young in 2001. Not sure why it didn't end up on a full-length Bracket studio album (recorded at Motor [Studios] during the When All Else Fails sessions.) A live version is on our Live In A Dive."



03. "2RAK005" (Acoustic)

"This song had some popularity because of the exposure it got on the Fat Music comp. We get questions about the name. We used to refer to it as "5-3-5" at practices because of how it starts, which, at some point, stupidly morphed into "2RAK005" (one of our license plates, at the time) because it, also, had a "5" in it. Again, stupid, but it stuck. This is a slower acoustic version, recorded in the early 2000's at our own Trailer Park Studios."



04. "Oi!"

"This was recorded as part of When All Else Fails in 2000; our first album with Angelo in the band! It didn't make the final tracklist, but definitely sounds like a Bracket song with harmonies, a non-Punk sounding break, and riffy guitars. It would have fit it nicely with the rest of the album, but, then, it wouldn't be here!"



05. "Mother to Blame"

"This is an early Bracket song that was done during the [924] Forestville St. recording [sessions], but didn't make that album. It was released on an EP in Europe sometime after that album was released."


06. "Warren's Song, Part 8"

"We did this for Fat [Wreck Chords'] Short Music for Short People comp. It evolved over time as we played it live pretty much every set and, eventually, stretched into some open-ended exploration of other songs or styles making it, typically, many minutes longer than the original 30 seconds. It's more like a 3-minute, 30-second song..."



07. "Trailer Park" (Demo)

"This was done at Dancing Dog Studios in Berkeley. We recorded about 8-9 songs in one night, right before we recorded 4-Wheel Vibe. Don Fleming (producer for 4-WV) and Caroline Records wanted to hear some stuff early, maybe, for pre-production."


08. "Imaginary Friend"

"One of the first studio recordings we ever did as part of The Giant Midget E.P. a four-song collection we self-released in 1993 that, also, included "Why Should Eye.'"


09. "When I Think of You"

"Another early recording, also, from the 924 Forestville St. recordings. We had about 20 songs, but only released 13 on that album."



10. "[Everyone Is Telling Me I'll Never Win If I Fall In Love with a Girl/] Gal from Marin" (Acoustic)

"Another song about personal relationships that didn't work out. The song did, according to some. This is the acoustic version; the original came out on When All Else Fails back in 2000. Recorded during the same sessions as acoustic "2RAK" at Trailer Park Studios."


11. "867-5309/Jenny, (Jenny)"

"A cover we had a lot of fun with playing live. Can't remember what triggered that, but no one can argue that it's NOT a catchy Pop song. It was recorded for the comp. Before You Were Punk, which had Punk Rock super-stars (and us!) covering 80's songs. We played all of Tommy Tutone's other hits, too haha."


12. "Keep It Close to Me"

"A cover we self-recorded at Trailer Park Studios for a Superdrag tribute album released in 2006 with a number of other bands. It rocks a lot less than the original, but we made it our own. The physical "studio" has taken different forms over the years, as we've done the last several albums."



13. "Envy" (String Mix)

"The full mix of this song is on the once-unreleased Like You Know, which would have been our third album with Caroline Records. That didn't work out and the album sat for years, until we were able to release [it] as intended in 2013. This is the same recording, but mixed as strings and vocals-only."

- Best of Würst Liner Notes Penned By: Ray Castro "with a little extra fact-checking by the rest of Bracket"