What’s the difference between 1981 Britain and the United States in the year 2000? The answer is, if you’re the Dropkick Murphys, absolutely nothing.

Even as punk rock goes, the explosion of oi! bands such as Sham 69 and the Business wasn’t really a big chapter in the world of music, so it’s always with a little suspicion whenever the street-rock contingent makes a run for punk rock supremacy. After all, if the lid hasn’t been blown of the syle in 20 years, chances are it’s not quite as volatile as somebody would like to believe.

Case in point: the Dropkick Murphys. Sure, as oi! or street punk or whatever those acts are calling themselves this decade sit, Dropkick Murphys are about as versed as they come. With an obvious background of classic punk influences ranging from oi! to the Clash as well as a strong grasp on both skinhead subcultures and working-class politics, the Dropkick Murphys prove to be the working-class intellectual foil to the crowds of thick-browed thugs lurking about in the street punk underground. With takes of the live versions of "Boys on the Docks," a boisterous take on the act’s restrained studio version, or "Far Away Coasts," featuring a flavorful tin whistle, the band shows both its ability to make a nod toward the sharper underpinnings of punk while still setting out to kick teeth in.

With all songs collected from the era of singer Mike McColgan, this compilation ignores much of the band’s more interesting folkier material. Songs like the raging "John Law" or the obvious choice of cover with the Pogues’ "Billy’s Bones" playing up the act’s Irish American background, put more stock in blasting guitars and screamed vocals than in textures younger than Bart Simpson. It’s a formula relying on tradition and ties to the past more than innovation, a fact driven into the ground with three separate Clash covers ("Career Opportunities," "Guns of Brixton" and "White Riot") showing just how proud the band is of its roots.

For a band so well versed in the Clash, then, it’s surprising the band didn’t heed some of its idol’s advice when it comes to rehashing rock sounds, as taken from "Death or Glory": "If you’ve been trying for years, we’ve already heard your song." It’s been almost 20 years with oi!; by now everyone’s familiar with the refrain.