:: Staind - Singles Collection

Staind

As you would expect, the parting of ways between Atlantic Records and nu-metal act Staind has resulted in a greatest package ripe for the Christmas season, and the inevitable result have eventuated as a somewhat mixed bag of what could have been, and what should have been for Massachusetts quartet Staind. As the title suggest, Staind’s best-of comprises of purely the singles over their decade long career to date, beginning surprisingly enough with a remix of ‘Come Again’ (which was originally released on their independently released debut album ‘Tormented’ from 1996).

From here, the album focuses predominantly from the band’s Atlantic Records debut ‘Dysfunctional’ (originally released in 1999, and represented here by ‘Mudshovel’ and ‘Home’), the group’s breakthrough hit ‘Break The Cycle’ (released in 2001, and featuring ‘It’s Been Awhile’, ‘Epiphany’, ‘For You’ and the live version of ‘Outside’, featuring Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst) and their somewhat sedate, and ultimately disappointing to most fans, 2003 follow up release ‘14 Shades Of Grey’ (‘So Far Away’, the up-tempo ‘Price To Play’ and ‘Zoe Jane’). As strong as ‘Right Here’ and ‘Falling’ are from 2005’s ‘Chapter V’, they obviously failed to reignite the labels interest in the band, and rightly so when compared to the band’s previous output.

In addition to the predictable studio tracks, ‘The Singles 1996 → 2006’ includes live acoustic versions of ‘Everything Changes’ (Which originally appeared on ‘Chapter V’), Tool’s ‘Sober’ (A track the band actually barely manage to pull off), Alice In Chains’ ‘Nutshell’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ (Both of which are completely soulless, and would have been better left alone).

Staind’s ‘The Singles 1996 → 2006: The Singles’ is nothing more than a contractual obligation, even though there are four exclusive acoustic bonus tracks. If you’re after a taste of Staind, I would suggest picking up their first three albums (where you’ll find stronger tracks such as ‘Fade’ and ‘How About You’), otherwise wait to see if the band have a genuine change of heart and truly start to dig themselves out of the self depreciating hole they’ve dug themselves into within the last four years.