Disco de Goo Goo Dolls: “The Goo Goo Dolls Greatest Hits Vol. 1: The Single”

The others who have reviewed this CD obviously don't know the purpose behind this CD. The CD is called "Goo Goo Dolls Greatest Hits VOLUME 1: THE SINGLES. This is a compilation of the 12 hits that cracked the Billboard Top 10 list, along with the song from the Transformers Soundtrack (Before It's Too Late) and a remix of "Feel The Silence" off their newest album, Let Love In. The band has made it very clear that the purpose of this CD was to release the most famous/newest material they have, then to release another greatest hits with all the other great songs. This way, if casual fans buy this CD and like what they hear, they will buy Volume 2, which will be full of more underground stuff.

For those of you who are casual fans (i.e those of you who immediately think "Iris" when u hear the band's name) this is the perfect compilation to start out with. For those of you who are hardcore fans, such as myself (i.e those of you know who George Tutuska is), I would simply recommend buying this CD for two reasons: 1. The remastered audio sounds great 2. Simply for the new version of "Name"

I myself think the Superstar Car Wash - A Boy Named Goo era was the greatest, but either way, this is a good compilation. If you want a great Goo Goo Dolls compilation thats a little less commercial, buy "What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art, and Commerce"

If you look through the album credits you will realize that NONE of the tracks are from their Metal Blade years (1987-1995). Every song is from their last three Warner Brothers albums. This is really odd since Metal Blade is a division of WB. Surely it must be a licensing issue; why else would they re-record "Name"? The version included here is horrible.

If you already own

, and

, then this album makes a fine companion, even though it is inexplicably missing "Give A Little Bit". For a better overview of the Goo Goo Dolls Metal Blade years, check out

.

The Goo Goo Dolls are a very good band, with a charismatic front man (John Rzeznik) and his competent backing band. They have come up with better than average albums and a pretty decent selection of songs. But this "Greatest Hits" fails on several levels.

For starts, the Goo's breakout song "Name" (from

) has been re-recorded for this set. Given that it's the song that introduced most folks to the band, it's not acceptable. My guess is that The Goo's legal fights with Metal Blade over royalties may have fueled the switcheroo and led to no other "Boy tracks on this set. All albums prior to "A Boy Named Goo" are ignored, likely because

covered that territory and the previously mentioned legal issues.

But for covering the Warner years (The Goo Goo Dolls' exclusive label after "Boy), the songs show the band evolved from the scruffy Replacement Styled roots of

to the polished BonJovi balladeering of "Iris," their biggest hit. "Better Days," the best song off

, deserved a similar fate even if radio has moved on from the band. The four major songs from the top-seller

are here, including the magnificent "Black Balloon."

Missing in action would be a couple of the band's great covers (Tom Petty's "American Girl," Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit") that would have made nice bonus tracks, given the skimpiness of the listings. For the fans of this late 90's and early 00's sound (think

or

), this Greatest Hits of The Goo Goo Dolls falls far short of what it could have been.

As has been stated, if you are a fan off the Goo Goo Dolls then Superstar Car Wash and Boy Named Goo are all you'll ever need before the world of the Top 10 corporate machine castrated this band.

This is an amazing album. I absolutely love it and can't even count how many times I've listened to it, since I bought it two weeks ago. Strong songs. Thoughtful lyrics. Exceptionally talented musicians. Can't go wrong with this one! By the way, when the CD was first released, I found out that the Goo Goo Dolls were going to perform at a local L.A. electronics/CD/DVD store. I'd never gone to any of their concerts before, and I went there, expecting to hear, maybe, three songs performed in some corner of the store. WRONG! A full-size stage was set up in the parking lot, complete with elaborate lighting and sound. About 300 lucky fans were treated to a nothing-held-back, 35-40 minute concert. (You can probably find it somewhere, online. Cameras, camera phones, and video cameras were allowed.) Afterwards, Warner Bros. workers handed out free posters and the three band members signed autographs inside the store. Very nice guys. Very, very, very good CD.