311 - Greatest Hits '93-'03

Ten years, seventeen tracks, four sides. Released in June 2004, this is the full case for 311 as one of the most durable American bands of their era, a group who built a reggae-rock-rap hybrid nobody else quite managed and then kept it working long after the genre it belonged to had collapsed around them.

It runs from "Down" and "All Mixed Up" through "Amber," "Come Original," "Beautiful Disaster," "You Wouldn't Believe" and "Beyond The Gray Sky," picking up "Flowing," "Transistor" and "Creatures (For A While)" along the way. "Love Song," the reggae reworking of the Cure's "Lovesong" cut for the 50 First Dates soundtrack after Adam Sandler asked for an island-vibe version, went to number one on the Alternative chart and became the band's only entry on the Hot 100. The Cure's original never got that high on Alternative. "First Straw" and "How Do You Feel?" were new here and appear nowhere else.

Played end to end it is a better argument than the individual singles ever made on their own: a rhythm section that could genuinely swing, two vocalists who actually complemented each other, and a run of hooks that stayed on rock radio for a decade straight. If you only own one 311 record, the case for this being it is strong.

Vinyl mastered and cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent, pressed at Quality Record Pressings, housed in a gatefold jacket with download card. On Volcano / Legacy.