Switchfoot - The Best Yet

[murlough23]

You knew it was bound to happen. Columbia and Credential Records are teaming up to release a best-of for Switchfoot's six albums that were released on a label. Here's the tracklisting:

1. Dare You To Move
2. Meant To Live
3. Stars
4. Oh! Gravity
5. This Is Home
6. Learning to Breathe
7. Awakening
8. This Is Your Life
9. On Fire
10. Only Hope
11. Dirty Second Hands
12. Love Is the Movement
13. Company Car
14. Lonely Nation
15. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine
16. Concrete Girl
17. Twenty-Four
18. The Beautiful Letdown

All together now... HUH?

Obviously fans are going to have quibbles with the track listing on any best-of album, but this is yet another example of record label bigwigs being  truly asleep at the wheel. I suppose I should give them credit for being able to gather tracks from albums released on separate record labels (since there is material included from their Sparrow/re:think days), and it's good that they have 18 tracks instead of the bare minimum 10 or 12. And I think it's a given that tracks from The Beautiful Letdown were going to dominate the list. But there are still some serious issues here.

First, we all knew the early albums were gonna get the shaft. But seriously, only one song from The Legend of Chin? And it's "Concrete Girl"? "Chem 6A" was the song that got this band started. It should be there. "Underwater" would be the other obvious "single" from this album.

They at least got my favorite Switchfoot song from the early days, "Company Car". The album New Way to Be Human is still my least favorite of theirs. But leaving out the title track to that one was a major oversight.

From Learning to Breathe, they mostly got it right. "Poparazzi" is a personal favorite of mine but I can understand why it didn't make the cut. Leaving out "You Already Take Me There" in favor of "Love Is the Movement" really surprises me, though.

Even on SF's most popular album, The Beautiful Letdown, they really screwed up by leaving out "Gone", which was a popular single and remains a concert staple. I never understood what the big deal was about "On Fire", honestly. And the title track from that record was never one of the band's big ones. "More than Fine" also seems like a glaring omission.

"Stars" and "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" were the obvious picks from Nothing Is Sound. "Lonely Nation" is a good addition. "Happy Is a Yuppy Word" would've been worth considering, but overall, I think they got the picks from this album right.

Oh! Gravity is represented by its title track, "Dirty Second Hands", and "Awakening". They definitely hit the highlights there. "American Dream" would make a nice addition, though it would have been redundant after "Gone"... but wait, that one didn't make the cut either.

"This Is Home" is OK as far as non-album goodies go. It's not really that great of a song, but since it was a recent hit for the band, I suppose it's a convenient way for fans to finally get it on a Switchfoot album.

It's not like I expect best-ofs to contain all of my personal favorites, but this one isn't really an accurate overview of their career so far.

[Ian]

It's not bad.  New Way to be human, Love is the Movement, and Gone I wish were there, but at least they incuded some nice non-singles, especially The Beatiful Letdown, which imo is the best song from that CD.  Too bad Sooner or Later and The Blues aren't on there.  I'm glad they skipped You Already Take Me There and American Dream, I never got into those.  On Fire and Concrete Girl are the only tracks that I question being on there, but they're both pretty decent songs.  I do wish they would have used Chem 6A, Might Have Ben Hur or Edge of My Seat instead of Concrete Girl though.

Overall, I like it.

[murlough23]

It's not bad.  New Way to be human, Love is the Movement, and Gone I wish were there, but at least they incuded some nice non-singles, especially The Beatiful Letdown, which imo is the best song from that CD.  Too bad Sooner or Later and The Blues aren't on there.  I'm glad they skipped You Already Take Me There and American Dream, I never got into those.  On Fire and Concrete Girl are the only tracks that I question being on there, but they're both pretty decent songs.  I do wish they would have used Chem 6A, Might Have Ben Hur or Edge of My Seat instead of Concrete Girl though.

Overall, I like it.

You're basing this on personal preference, which is fine if you're making your own mix. I'm trying to base it on the songs that appeared to actually be Switchfoot's most popular. "Best" is subjective, so I usually take it to mean "greatest hits and fan favorites". Fan favorites tend to show up a lot in live setlists even after the album starts to age. "The Beautiful Letdown" is on neither list, regardless of how much you or I may like it (and it is a good song; there are no bad songs on TBL other than the iffy "Redemption" in my opinion).

NP: "My Deliverer", Chris Tomlin

[spacebrat311]

This tracklist just serves to highlight how much my music taste has changed. I would have had issues with the list, but loved all the tracks present nonetheless a few years ago. Now I'm pretty apathetic about it. I am interested in what Switchfoot does in the future, but their material hasn't really aged well with me.

[murlough23]

There are very few Switchfoot songs that I outright dislike. None of the ones that I do are on this list. "This Is Home" comes the closest because it's kind of generic.

[spacebrat311]

I rarely outright dislike them, but I rarely outright like them either. I find most of their music kind of predictable and generic... which is kind of a source of annoyance in and of itself. The only songs on this list I outright dislike are "Dare You To Move" and "This Is Home." On the other hand, the only ones on this disc that I outright like are "Love is the Movement," and "Dirty Second Hands."