The album is the first of Alice in Chains's
best-of albums, and also served as a sampler for their
Music Bank box set.
Nothing Safe contains newly remastered tracks from previous albums
Facelift,
Sap,
Dirt,
Jar of Flies,
Alice in Chains and
Unplugged, as well as the previously unreleased track "
Get Born Again", recorded between September and October 1998. Despite the "Best of the Box" album subtitle, this compilation includes several tracks not found on the
Music Bank box set. The demo version of "We Die Young" was previously unreleased and did not appear on
Music Bank. This track remains exclusive to this collection. The live version of "Rooster" found here was also previously unreleased, and similarly did not appear on
Music Bank. However, this track was re-released in 2000 on the compilation,
Live. The remastered, "unplugged" version of "Got Me Wrong" was also omitted from
Music Bank. The version of "What the Hell Have I" that appears here is the original version mixed by Andy Wallace, not the version remixed by Toby Wright that appears on
Music Bank. The newly remastered version of "Again" that is found on
Nothing Safe was also left off of the
Music Bank compilation in favor of a techno/electronic dance remix of the song called "Again (Tattoo Of Pain Mix)". Unlike the version found on
Music Bank, "Iron Gland" is featured with the beginning drum found on the
Dirt track "Dam That River". Because of these differences, many fans consider
Nothing Safe to be a companion piece to the
Music Bank box set. A
Best Buy-exclusive issue of the CD included a bonus disc in a cardboard sleeve, with live versions of "Angry Chair" and "Man in the Box". ==Release and reception==