***1/2 Supersuckers

THE GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD

(Sub Pop)

You won't get much argument on the title of this career-retrospective from us, though by last year Eddie Spaghetti was bestowing the titular distinction to his tourmates, Zeke. For a band who started out by declaring that all their songs sounded the same, the Supersuckers got better mileage out of punk-rock cliché than anyone since the Dictators -- they haven't had a stylistic tune-up since 1994's La Mano Cornuda, but they haven't needed one either. By the time they pulled off a mid-'90s foray into country, it felt almost obligatory. But then again a big part of the Supersuckers was their ability to redeem rock's obligatory gestures in the pursuit of nothing more serious than a helluva good time, and Must've Been High (here represented by three songs) allowed them to flash -- just once, never again -- the crocodile tears behind their joker's smile.

So yeah, over the course of a decade the 'Suckers danced with the Devil and Willie Nelson and Steve Earle, too, and most of their ideas were brilliant, though the second half of this disc yanks all their skeletons out of the closet. The cover of Ice Cube's "Dead Homiez" always sounded like a funnier idea than it turns out to be; and most of the assorted B-sides and comp tracks simply confirm the 'Suckers' judgment about which ones to leave in the can. Two songs from the band's early days in Arizona as the Black Supersuckers are included, as is one from an alter-ego appearance on Sympathy for the Record Industry as the Junkyard Dogs, but even diehards could probably take 'em or leave 'em. And I suddenly realize I've been talking about the 'Suckers in the past tense -- apologies all around. Truth be told, the new Supersuckers album (out in October) is at least as good as this and maybe better, about which more in a couple months.

-- Carly Carioli