Compilation: 3 stars; Economic value: 5 stars

Everclear has been kown primarily as a "singles" band (despite the ambitious "Songs from an American Movie Vol. 1 and 2" albums in 2000). A couple of years ago, a 'best of' was issued as "Ten Years Gone: The Best of Everclear 1994-2004". Now, without much fanfare, comes this new 'best of'.

"The Best of Everclear" (10 tracks, 39 min.) starts off with its 2 biggest hits, "Santa Monica" and "Everything to Everyone". Some minor hits that had been left off of "Ten Years Gone" are on here, such as "Heartspark Dollar Sign" and "One Hit Wonder". However, after that, it becomes a mixed bad, as lots of essential hits are simple missing: "Wonderfull", "Father of Mine", "I Will Buy You a New Life", "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" and "When It All Goes Wrong Again" all are MIA. Instead, there are miscellaneous songs such as "Brown-Eyed Girl", "So Much for the Afterglow", "Sunflowers" and "Annabella's Song", all of which sound pretty good. Please note that there are no liner notes whatsoever to provide credits or any other info on the songs or the band.

That said, this album is released at a rock-bottom list price of $5.99. If you think of it as a double A-side single ("Santa Monica"/"Everything to Everyone") with 8 bonus tracks, this is hard to beat as economic value. For a "complete" overview of Everclear, "Ten Years Gone" is clearly the better compilation. For a cheap and cursory introduction, "The Best of Everclear" will do.

I have seen other bands run out the last couple 'Contract Studio Albums' This is the same gig. You already own all the music on this disc, but if you have never listened to Everclear...this is not a bad way to knock off SOME of the good tunes from the band