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Arizona Daily Wildcat November 17, 1997
Soundgarden's greatest hits, and then some
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Soundgarden
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1997 will mark the year that, among other (more important) things, Soundgarden called it quits. Ending a career that spanned over 12 years and spawned five albums, numerous E.P.s, singles and soundtrack and compilation contributions, they chose to disband at what could arguably be called the height of their success.
Now, while these days it seems almost any excuse (a reunion tour, a hiatus between albums, just for the hell of it) is good enough to warrant the release of a "Greatest Hits" collection, Soundgarden's A-Sides (A&M Records) at least makes sense. After all, it's only natural that this compilation of (almost) all their singles would appear at some point to sum up the band's career, so why not sooner than later. Besides (B-sides?), they have a wealth of rare live and import-only tracks that guitarist Kim Thayil has already expressed interest in compiling for the future, so, like Nirvana and many other broken-up bands, there will still (most likely) be future releases anyway.
A-Sides is an honest and appropriate title for a project like this. In fact, now that they've come up with it, other bands should follow suit and use it as a title to replace "Greatest Hits" in the future. Because, aside from the great luminaries (Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, etc.), there are few artists who can actually fill an entire album with "hits." Although Soundgarden does come close. At least half the tracks on A-Sides, including "Black Hole Sun," "Outshined" and "Pretty Noose" were bona-fide "hits" at one time.
But the earlier tracks, such as "Flower" and "Loud Love" were indie successes at best. Which is too bad, because the albums they represent, Ultramega OK and Louder Than Love are some of the band's best, most uncommercial work. Hopefully, fans who are only familiar with the more recent, more radio-friendly Soundgarden will be able to discover the older brilliance through the few samples here.
Also included are the tracks "Ty Cobb," which was a limited promo single only, not for radio release (only natural, since it features the refrain, "Hard headed fuck you up") and "Bleed Together," a European B-side from the Down On The Upside sessions, now an A-side in its own right, having been released as a single off A-Sides.
So, the legacy, and the marketing, continues.
