All Music review by Mark Deming:

Featuring 14 songs spanning 12 years (and five drummers), The Question Is No is not only a terrific introduction to Fastbacks, but an excellent summary of the early years when they were one of the dozens of Seattle punk bands who couldn’t get a hearing outside of Washington. While from the start Fastbacks were a band that loved first-wave pop-punk (think Ramones, Buzzcocks and Rezillos), theirs was pop-punk with a difference; Kurt Bloch was willing to betray his fondness for ’70s rock in his guitar solos, and his lyrics suggested the confused and angst-ridden internal monologue of an adolescent while dealing with the hopes, fears, and everyday realities of an adult. Bloch managed all this in a manner that was at once personal and unpretentious, thanks in part to the vocals of Kim Warnick and Lulu Gargiulo, who blend the offhand blather of punk with a sweetness that gives this band a very human warmth. Compiling singles, compilation tracks, and a few unreleased tunes (including one with a teenage Duff McKagan behind the traps), The Question Is No is as good a collection as you could ask for of the band’s formative period and features some of their most energetic, rollicking performances.

Released 6/1/92.