Reviewed by Stephen Luff

Contained here are the San Diego rockers' first three albums, 2000's 'Learning To Breathe', 1999's 'New Way To Be Human' and the first, 1997's 'The Legend Of Chin'. The original intention was to market the band to the mainstream, but as Re:Think was bought by Sparrow, Switchfoot were initially targeted at the "Christian" market. Three of the songs from this collection were featured in the film A Walk To Remember - "Dare You To Move", "Learning To Breathe" and "Only Hope". Subsequently a lot of label attention followed and they signed to Columbia. This collection contains the three albums in their original format, but disappointingly without any extras. That said, this will give new listeners a chance to investigate the band's musical routes across the three good but patchy albums. 'Learning To Breathe' is the best of the three, and a strong indicator of where the band were going, with the title track and the anthem "Love Is The Movement" as indicators of their future direction. The album received a Grammy nomination. 'New Way To Be Human' offers the infectious title track and the commercial "Incomplete" and the lyrically challenging "Company Car" while 'The Legend Of Chin' contains the insightful "Chem 6A". All in all, a useful box set if you caught up with the band after 2000.

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