Goldfinger – The Best Of Goldfinger CD/DVD Review

I hate to say this, but time hasn’t been kind to Goldfinger. Many of these songs don’t age well, especially in today’s alternative and rock radio world of pop punk and new wave. Goldfinger started in 1994 and this band from L.A. came out of the shadows of No Doubt and Sublime during the latter part of the nineties.

Goldfinger helped usher in a new genre of music: skateboard punk. But this genre is misleading to a band like Goldfinger because the band’s music can also be considered “boardwalk” music, if that is even a term. Walking on the boardwalk, looking at the waves, hearing people laughing and being hit by the sun is the perfect mood for Goldfinger. In this Best Of compilation, Goldfinger shows off its stuff.

Goldfinger isn’t even your typical punk band. There are distinct horns in “Superman” and “This Lonely Place.” In “This Lonely Place” the lyrics “Be true to yourself / now and let it go” describe Goldfinger’s vibe in that it wants to flow as the wind does. Goldfinger’s cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” is a rare misstep for the band. Having the original be such a personal favorite, speeding up the tempo loses much of the emotions that the lyrics have. There is a quick ode to oldie songs in “San Simeon” with its smooth beginning and later as a smooth riff, which is juxtaposed to the anti-war lyrics of “99 Red Balloons” – “Call out the troops now in a hurry / This is what we’ve waited for / This is it boys, this is war / The president is on the line.”

What might be more misplaced on the CD than the cover of “Just Like Heaven” would be “Open Your Eyes” with its noticeably edgier guitars and metal screeching. Is this the same band who made “The Innocent” that is oddly similar to Good Charlotte’s sound? I can’t blame Goldfinger, so my option is that any blame should be directed toward Good Charlotte.

To say that Goldfinger hasn’t aged well isn’t fair. It’s not the band’s fault that the music vibe itself has changed so much, as it often does. What the band has made is good music. The problem is that the connection from us to the music has faded.

The bonus DVD includes many, not sure if it’s all, of their music videos. The videos are very accurately depict Goldfinger’s music. The video “Mable” begins with something out of a Weird Al video. “This Lonely Place” starts off futuristic. It’s fun music, but the video seems misplaced. There is no doubt that it is Alien-inspired. The music is sunny music, but the spaceship itself is dark. There are many short clips of the band in various forms of action. My favorite is when one of the members showing off his torn ACL by wiggling his knee in several directions.

CD Track List:

1. Here In Your Bedroom 
2. Mable 
3. Miles Away 
4. Superman 
5. If Only 
6. This Lonely Place 
7. Just Like Heaven 
8. Counting The Days 
9. San Simeon 
10. 99 Red Balloons 
11. Tell Me 
12. Open Your Eyes 
13. Spokesman 
14. The Innocent (previously unreleased)
15. Vintage Queen (bonus track)
16. Hopeless (bonus track)
17. Rio (bonus track)

DVD Track List:

1. Here In Your Bedroom
2. Mable
3. This Lonely Place
4. Counting the Days
5. 99 Red Balloons
6. Open Your Eyes
7. Spokesman (House Of Blues live performance, 2003)
8. Stay (House Of Blues live performance, 2003)
9. Bonus Footage