Greatest Hits Vol. 1 The Singles :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Another Satisfied Customer

2008-10-06
I am always fascinated buying used CDs from Amazon. The process is seemless and you really don't know that you are dealing with hundreds of other small vendors. The product quality was excellent as described and I played the CD for days on end when it arrived.

Goo Goo Boo Boo

2008-09-10
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 A Boy Named Goo) 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 What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce 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 Superstar Car Wash to the polished BonJovi balladeering of "Iris," their biggest hit. "Better Days," the best song off Let Love In, deserved a similar fate even if radio has moved on from the band. The four major songs from the top-seller Dizzy up the Girl 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 The Gin Blossoms or Toad The Wet Sprocket), this Greatest Hits of The Goo Goo Dolls falls far short of what it could have been.

GA GA for GOO GOO

2008-08-12
I started out a casual fan of the Goo GOO Dolls but was really surprised by all the really good songs they have put out after buying this, I found out. If what they do in the future is as good as this CD I will be back for more.

Where are the older songs?

2008-08-11
Many people have commented on the lack of pre-"Dizzy Up the Girl" hits such as "Name".
While this is a valid point, there is a likely reason for this: Before 1995 (release date for DUtG), drummer Mike Malinin was not a member of the band. Therefore, the previous albums do not feature him on drums (George Tutuska is the man behind the percussion there).
So while their previous stuff is good, it's not really the work of all the current members. This also explains the new version of "Name".
In my opinion, the Goo Goo Dolls are one of the greatest bands of the late-90s and on. Their longevity only further proves this. What other 90s band do you still see pumping out hits and continuing to expand their fan base?
Mike has been a large part of this, so I think it's natural that the majority of songs include him as the original drummer.

One of the best

2008-06-12
Since I tend to like Rock, Top 40, and artisits like Jimmy Buffett, this album was a great collection of hits, while not being too hard in the rock category. If you liked what you've heard on the radio from these guys, then you'll love this album.

Almost There

2008-03-20

The Goo Goo Dolls Photos

More from The Goo Goo Dolls

Let Love In

Dizzy up the Girl

A Boy Named Goo

Superstar Car Wash

Gutterflower [ENHANCED]

What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce

Let Love In (CD/DVD) [SPECIAL EDITION]

Live in Buffalo: July 4th 2004 (CD & DVD) [ENHANCED] [LIVE]

Hold Me Up

Something for Everyone

2008-02-25
This is a great compilation release from a band that often flies under the radar. It has something to please casual fans as well as long-time diehard supporters. The new version of Name is close enough to the original to please someone who wants to hear the radio version, but the new vocals are more raw and powerful, which gives the fan who already owns everything they've released a little extra something as well. Well worth it.

Greatest Hits Vol. 1 - The Singles

monochrome delirious

2008-02-22
It's not the best idea to get to know a band by way of a greatest hits album. It's the Cliff Notes approach to music, worthy only to the degree that it leads to deeper immersion.

My son gave me this CD for Christmas. Prior to this, I knew the Goo Goo Dolls mostly via the preternaturally beautiful `Better Days'. But I'm beginning to get it.

They could have chosen no better tune from their repertoire to introduce the album than `Let Love In'. The driving drums, the brooding but persuasive lead vocals, the trademark harmonization that you only really penetrate on a fifth hearing or so, they're all present and accounted for in this first track. A guy wants to hear more.

The Dolls oblige with `Dizzy', a very different, edgy, unleashed kind of sound employed as a paean to rough love, after which they work their way through a number of sturdy pieces before settling on the `Feel the Silence'. This tune leans towards the more balladesque end of the GGD continuum, yet with a punch energy that is altogether convincing. The lyrics wax evocative and mildly drunk with well-spoken pathos, an almost creedal statement of Complicated Love:

You lie awake at night
With blue eyes that never cry
All you remember now
Is what you feel

The truth remains
In midnight conversations
I asked for this moment
But you turned away

Sad like a lonely child
Broken the day you're born
I held the light to you
But I was so vain

And you remain
A promise unfulfilled
I ask you for more
But you push me away

And if we feel the silence
Holding this all inside
Everything means more now than
Words could explain

And if we feel the silence
Holding this all inside us
Looking for something more to say
I don't know where I'm going
Only know where I been
But you move through my soul like a hurricane wind
We've been so lost for so long
I don't know how to get back again
And we're drowning in the water
That flows under this bridge
When you're fighting the current
You forget how to live
And I wanted to reach you but I don't know where to begin
And you remain
A promise unfulfilled until today

And if we feel the silence
Holding this all inside
Everything means more now than
Words could explain
And if we feel the silence
Leaving this all behind us
When it's gone what will you say

How do we hold on
How do we hold on
How do we hold on
How do we hold on
How do we hold on

You lie awake at night
With blue eyes that never cry

Could there be a more complete and provocative juxtaposition of two hits than this melancholy ode followed by the battered-but-still-alive hope of the band's finest hit. That would be `Better Days', whose melody any Goo Goo Dolls fan is probably already humming:

And you ask me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
Cuz I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And desire and love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again

After hearing these anthemic pieces a reviewer's quota of times, this greatest hits album has done its job: I'll be listening to more of the Dolls.

Quick delivery - everything as expected!

2008-02-15
CD arrived very quickly and matched the description exaclty. Gift recipient was extremely pleased!!

A missed opportunity.

2008-02-10
I gave it four stars because there really isn't a bad song on here. However, it could have been a definitive collection if they hadn't felt compelled to write out their prior history. I understand not wanting to dive into the pre-Boy Named Goo days (there's another CD for that anyway), but they had some genuine hits from that album that aren't seen here... like Long Way Down (also on the Twister soundtrack) and Naked. Plus, the re-recorded version of Name is a nightmare decision. Why release a greatest hit and change the song that made your career? The new version is awful, it sounds so glossy, where the appeal of the original was its raw honesty. Also, Give a Little Bit should probably be here too. Those gripes aside though, they've made some great tunes over the years and there's nothing on here that makes me want to hit skip (aside from Name of course).