When I heard that this compilation album was coming out I was so tempted to lambast the band for seeking more commercialism success in the face of them reforming this summer. The thing is that of course they were going to have some sort of release in the charts as they don’t actually have a new album coming out. And it isn’t in record companies’ natures to re-release older compilations when they can create a brand spanking new one that previous buyers (suckers) can run out and grab.
The trick here is to include most of the favourites to keep punters happy, and throw in a B-Disc full of B material so that completists just can’t resist the urge. The reason why I’m not totally annoyed is because they do all this knowingly, and it shoes in the hilarious title to the release itself.
Ok, so most of the usual suspects are here. Despite the fact that some of these songs weren’t even singles, yet alone hits, does raise an eyebrow or two. But there are also a few actual “Hits” missing. Where is Falling to Pieces? Where is that cracking track from the Bill and Ted movie, The Perfect Crime? But put quite simply, they all appeared on a previous hits disc. It is quite alarming though to see half of the Angel Dust album here. And as much as I’ll agree that it was indeed their best album, and even that there is no real flaw in the track listing, do we really need all these here. All the songs are good, but for example “Land of Sunshine” doesn’t belong on a greatest hits disc. I’ll give them Be Aggressive and Caffeine for sure as well as the singles that were released and maybe just about extend the courtesy to kindergarten on a good day, but there is far too much indulgency here.
But if it’s a case of these or none then of course I’ll take these. Hut they could easily have had alternate tracks from other albums. But to get into too heavy a debate is a spurious idea as essentially all you are doing is bitching about commercialism. The music is more than fine, it’s great to see them again, and yes it is here to mark their return to our stages, so, so what if they rerelease a singles album. If the B-Material isn’t enough to make your pocket jingle then don’t buy it. But a gig ticket instead, because on their last tour here a decade ago they rocked!
