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| Modern rock No. 1 No Rain, plus Galaxie, Tones Of Home, Soul One, Change, Soup, Mouthful Of Cavities, Paper Scratcher, Soak The Sin (live), etc. |
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| 1 Tones of Home |
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| 2 Change |
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| 3 Paper Scratcher |
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| 4 No Rain |
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| 5 I Wonder |
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| 6 Time |
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| 7 Galaxie |
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| 8 Mouthful of Cavities |
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| 9 Walk |
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| 10 Toes Across the Floor |
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| 11 2 X 4 |
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| 12 St. Andrew's Fall |
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| 13 Soup |
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| 14 Pull |
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| 15 Soul One |
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| 16 No Rain |
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| 17 Three Is a Magic Number |
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| 18 Soak the Sin |
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| 19 Deserted |
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Album Review
"Best of Blind Melon" takes six tracks each from the eponymous 1992 debut and its follow-up "Soup," pairing them with highlights from the 1996 rarities comp "Nico", some unreleased live material, and the band's run through "Three Is A Magic Number" from "Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks." It's a thorough and worthy retrospective, particularly when you add the available bonus DVD with videos and concert footage. Sure, there was "Classic Masters" in 2002. But for fans "Best of" feels like the one, since it's fully remastered, plays out in order and includes a thoughtful, even touching liner essay from guitarist Rogers Stevens. "I believe we never got to make our best music," he writes. "But I'm happy with the songs that are here." Opener "Tones Of Home" begins as a rather typical jammy rocker, but as soon as Shannon Hoon starts singing there's something more, sun-dappled grace alternating with a hard-edged blues wail copped from Robert Plant. "And I always thought this would be/The land of milk and honey/Oh but I come to find out/That it's all hate and money." Stevens reveals that "Change" was the first song Hoon ever played for the band, and the hit "No Rain" retains its homespun pop jones here, even if it was one of the most played-out tunes of 1992. (Thankfully there are no "What's Bee Girl Doing Now?" vignettes here.) The "Soup" material is strong too, in particular "Galaxie" and the Hoon/Jena Kraus duet "Mouthful Of Cavities" that prove Blind Melon wasn't always about jangling acoustic guitars. The gentle "Nico" outtake "Soul One" should be in the repertoire of every undergrad coffeehouse guitarist in America, and two live cuts dating from 1993 reveal Blind Melon to be a tight live act, and more raucous than you might remember. And that's what's nice about this set. It helps us remember Blind Melon as a band, beyond the death of their singer or the resonance of one big single. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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• Biography
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Other albums by: Blind Melon |
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