CD Review: The Goo Goo Dolls - Greatest Hits Volume One The Singles

While always a big fan of the ‘Dizzy up the girl’ album, I had never heard anything else from the Goo Goo Dolls, and was not sure on where they stood in my personal ranking of great bands. I think I placed them in that twilight area of mediocre type American rock bands along with Matchbox 20, Collective Soul and Counting Crows i.e. bands that are capable of some very good moments, but also, of far more very average moments.

The Goo Goo Dolls always struck me as a bit different in the sense that they at least had a more distinctive sound, using less traditional open-tuning on their guitars, and the distinctive vocals of John Rzeznik. Tunes like Slide, Broadway and of course Iris came across as very satisfying. Another aspect in the make-up that has impressed me has been the absence of media hype. John Rzeznik keeps a relatively low profile and the Dolls seem to be happy to carry on with their mission, which to me seems to be that of putting out solid ballad type rock.

So then, the question is – how great is a Greatest Hits album from the Goo Goo Dolls? They have stamped it as Volume One (the singles), which must imply that they expect plenty more Hits in the years to come. Of the 14 tracks, 5 are from ‘Dizzy up the girl’ but it must be mentioned that ‘Name’ is in the form of a new version, and 'Feel the Silence' is a remix (and also not from Dizzy...). This does then push the balance over whether to decide to buy the album rather than just stick with ‘Dizzy up the girl’. My question is, however, why not tag on the original versions of both those songs too, for the completists? Sure it’s great to have a new version of ‘Name’ – but it’s not the ‘Name’ that was the single, was it?

OK, I got a bit side-tracked there. How good is the album? It’s got all the best bits of ‘Dizzy up the girl’, and then the best of the rest too, so to me it’s pretty good. This compilation is evidence of a master song crafter and acts as an impressive display of his wares. Great to sing along to as well, who can resist the ‘..there’s a young man sitting in an old man’s bar…’ of ‘Broadway’, or ‘…Oh May, do you wanna get married…’ of ‘Slide’, or even the ‘da na na na da na na na da daa…’ of ‘Iris’ (you know what I mean)?

If you don’t have anything by the Goo Goo Dolls already, this is a good place to start. If you already have all their albums, then maybe don’t bother. Here’s hoping that they can give us another as good as this one at the end of the next decade!