Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but I've always found the careers of both AFI and the Flaming Lips to be rather similar in numerous respects. Both started off as bands long before their time of popularity and mainstream attention, both have a rabid (as well as strongly divided) fan base, and both bands sound a lot better now than when they started. Now, regarding AFI, I suppose you could argue that last point ad infinitium, but let's face it- musically speaking, new AFI could mop the floor with old AFI; there's really no comparison. Davey Havok certainly seems to think so.
"While we're really proud of our history and accomplishments we feel our career is really just getting started and feel slightly embarrassed by anything that hints at retrospect. There's plenty of time for that later when we're old. We'd rather move forward..." says the effeminate cult hero of his band's new career retrospective (read: greatest hits before they had hits) recently shat out by their former label Nitro just in time for the holiday season.
While surely this is a despicable move on the part of Nitro, the fact remains that-well, these songs are good. You can whine all you want about corporate exploitation, cash-grabbing, and "selling out," but I guarantee that if you loved "The Lost Souls" before AFI, it doesn't sound any worse on this record. The first ten songs are a pretty good overview of some AFI classics ("Fall Children," "God Called In Sick Today," "A Single Second") and a couple tracks previously unavailable on CD ("Lower It," "A Winter's Tale"). It is, however, unfortunately a total career retrospective, so the last third of the record is entirely devoted to the dregs of AFI's material: the mediocre, screeching skate-punk of songs like "I Wanna Mohawk!" and "Perfect Fit." Referring back to the Flaming Lips parallel, anyone who says they prefer the old, Offspring-esque AFI is just as clueless as those who claim to prefer the Flaming Lips from the 80's (give me a break, seriously).
If the compilation had focused entirely (or at least mainly) on AFI's better, latter days, I would've given it a much higher rating, but the inclusion of the crappy songs combined with the unethical, money-hungry air surrounding the whole damn thing makes AFI completely unessential for both fans and noobs alike.
