Various

Two years after its actual 20th anniversary, upstart DC label Dischord Records finally releases the retrospective collection that had been promised. But the wait has been well worth it. The set features three CDs (73 songs and six video clips) and a 134-page booklet that chronicles not only the label but also the DC scene itself. The first two discs feature a song each from every band that has recorded for Dischord, however it is the third disc that is the real gem. It features 21 unreleased or impossible to find tracks from such bands as Minor Threat, Fugazi, Government Issue, Teen Idles and many more. It's also the disc that features six video clips from the early days of DC punk, including one of Henry Rollins' old band, SOA, back when he was a muscle-bound jock named Henry Garfield. (A Rollins by any other name...) The booklet offers comprehensive histories of each of the bands and draws a word picture of a complicated and tangled family tree that shows how tight knit the scene was from the beginning. This is an essential history lesson for any fan of American punk rock.