There’s something that has always really bugged me out the music industry; greatest hits compilations. These albums supposedly consist of the best music that an artist has done. However, for the most part I’ve found this to be radically untrue. The way that most of these albums are compiled is by looking at the chart performance of each of the singles and then slamming them onto a CD, generally in roughly chronological order. Here’s the kicker, what if the artist’s best work wasn’t released as a single and didn’t reach mainstream airplay?
With this in mind, I decided to compile my own best of album for one of my favourite artists; Barenaked Ladies. This prolific Canadian band have been going since the late 80s and released loads of albums, but unfortunately they only have 2 best of albums, and most of the tracks on those have been duplicated.
Why did you Choose Barenaked Ladies?
Good question! I chose Barenaked Ladies because I felt it needed to be done. They’ve done so many excellent songs, most of which most people will never get to hear because they aren’t featured on the albums that you wouldn pass in your everyday shop. I just want to share my favourites, and maybe help someone get into the band a little easier.
The Rules
So that I don’t just go adding tracks willy nilly I’ve decided to give myself some rules. They’re pretty simple.
- No track can have been already featured on a greatest hits compilation before – Quite obviously really. If I was just going to go through picking the ones off of the compilations it’d defeat the whole point of doing this, so all the tracks I’m allowed have pretty much only appeared on the album they were originally released on.
- Only 2 tracks per album – I decided on this to make me really think about which tracks I wanted. If I was only allowed two from each album, I’d try and choose the ones I felt most deserving and not just shove tracks in here for the sake of it.
Here’s my track listing
- Crazy [Gordon]
- Box Set [Gordon]
- The Wrong Man Was Convicted [Maybe You Should Drive]
- When I Fall [Born On A Pirate Ship]
- Just A Toy [Born On A Pirate Ship]
- Who Needs Sleep? [Stunt]
- Never Do Anything [Maroon]
- Take It Outside [Everything to Everyone]
- Aluminum [Everything to Everyone]
- Take It Back [Barenaked Ladies Are Me]
- Sound of Your Voice [Barenaked Ladies Are Me]
- Down To Earth [Barenaked Ladies Are Men]
- Fun & Games [Barenaked Ladies Are Men]
- Another Heartbreak [All In Good Time]
- Every Subway Car [All In Good Time]
- Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! [Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One Before]
If you’d like to I’ve compiled them into a spotify playlist so you can easily listen through to them like a proper album.
Happy Listening.
