0724359628806. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. Being billed as a best-of compilation for the Juliana Theory A Small Noise is not exactly the career-spanning collection of hits that listeners might expect. Thus to serve as a better album guide this record shall henceforth be titled at least for this review Best of the Juliana Theory: The Tooth and Nail Years (1999-2001). After all songs from only three of the band s previous releases are accounted for here and all three -- Understand This Is a Dream Emotion Is Dead and the EP Music from Another Room -- were released during their time with Tooth and Nail. If one can look past the slight detail that Love and Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat are ignored altogether this track listing isn t necessarily a bad thing -- after all some of the Theory s most-loved songs came out of these earlier albums -- it s just a bit limited. Moving past this discrepancy the tracks are situated on the record in chronological order per album and all the expected contenders are present. Hard-hitting rockers like To the Tune of 5 000 Screaming Children and If I Told You This Was Killing Me Would You Stop? highlight exploding drumbeats and searing guitars while Duane Joseph and Breathing By Wires among others showcase Brett Detar s powerful vocals. Other shining moments can be found in the bouncy affectionate We re at the Top of the World and the delicate engaging soundscapes of You Always Say Goodnight Goodnight August in Bethany and The Closest Thing. A Small Noise seems to be a rather modest title for a compilation such as this; though arguably an oftentimes unassuming band the Juliana Theory have successfully made a name for themselves over the years among the indie rock/emo scene as making fierce emotionally charged and powerful music. This disc captures a young Juliana Theory doing what they do best but seeing as not all of their work is evenly represented it s hard to look at this release as a greatest-hits-type record. Instead this is like a really good mix-CD that someone s Juliana Theory-obsessed best friend made to introduce a virgin Theory listener to the guys back catalog. ~ Corey Apar Rovi