Almost All The Best Of Everclear - Ten Years Gone: The Best Of Everclear 1994 - 2004

The Good: Some truly classic, wonderful music, Generally great lyrics, Wonderful sound, Good vocals
The Bad: Some of the earlier punky tracks underwhelm, Repetitive sound
The Basics: With Ten Years Gone, Everclear presents a decent compilation of their greatest hits and many of their best songs worthy of any rock fan's attention and collection!


For years now, I have been looking forward to picking up and reviewing Ten Years Gone: The Best Of Everclear 1994 - 2004. The truth is, I am a fan of Everclear, despite not buying (or keeping) any albums of theirs before now. For sure, I have reviewed most of their albums. In almost every one of those reviews, I mention that the band has a repetitive sound and while I would probably like their "Best of" album, I find most of their individual albums difficult to recommend.

Now that I'm here with Ten Years Gone, I am amused to note that despite what the title of the album claims, this is not all the best of Everclear. I find myself missing some of the songs from prior albums. How "You Make Me Feel Like A Whore" from Sparkle And Fade did not make it into this compilations baffles me. How "Good Witch Of The North" from Songs From An American Movie, Part II: Learning How To Smile did not make it onto this disc disappoints me. Herein lies the irony; neither of those songs (or any of the half dozen others I'd wish were on this disc) were hits for Everclear - the latter was never even released as a single; this compilation is definitely the Greatest Hits of Everclear, but not all of the very best of the group (that might honestly require a two-disc set). There is another album called The Best Of Everclear, with only ten tracks, six of which are not on this compilation, which has twenty-one tracks. The additional four songs that had been released as singles that are on that compilation are not enough to either recommend that one or discourage a casual Everclear enthusiast from picking up this disc.

This is THE disc for the radio fans of Everclear. Yes, for those of us who like what we have heard on the radio but find it difficult to enjoy any of the full discs by Everclear, this compilation rescues us from a few bucks. It's all the meat without the fat. Sure, there is more meat on some of the random tracks on some of the individual albums, but for the most part, this is the essential Everclear for people who like the sound of Everclear.

For those unfamiliar with Everclear, Ten Years Gone is certainly a wonderful investment! With 21 tracks clocking in at over 76 minutes of music, this album illustrates the successful works of the rock trio that was Everclear for ten years. Everclear performs - usually - a pretty standard guitar, bass, drums set of rock and roll that has been classified as alternative rock and grunge rock. In the foreground of virtually all of their songs is Art Alexakis, lead singer and writer (or co-writer) of all of Everclear's songs.

Art Alexakis is a true poet and he's a decent musical artist. His songs tend to focus on his growing up without a father and his recovery from drugs. If breakup songs were meant to rock, they would virtually all be Everclear songs written by Art Alexakis. In the liner notes for this album, he details the history of most of the songs and it's easy to believe that a song like "Strawberry" was based on a nightmare. For sure, it's a very simple sense of poetry that declares, "Don't fall down now, you will never get up" ("Strawberry") but when put to a haunting melody that is repeated, it has a beautifully nightmarish quality. Indeed, "Strawberry" might well be the standout track that I had not appreciated on its original album.

Moment of truth: I like the sound Everclear developed that made them hits on the radio with songs like "Santa Monica," "I Will Buy You A New Life," and "Wonderful." They do not start with that developed sound. The song "Fire Maple Song" from their first album illustrates how they were not quite there from the beginning. Instead, that song has the poetry of Alexakis, but not the musical song and deftness of Everclear. In other words, the musical accompaniment is sloppy, Alexakis is shouting instead of singing and the song is more loud than musical. It is almost like at the beginning, Everclear was afraid to sound like a rock band with wonderful poetics. So, their solution was to simply thrash their guitars and obscure their lyrics.

This is not to say that the group does not rock out and bang on their guitars with their later works. Songs like "When It All Goes Wrong Again" from later in their career certainly rock in a very effortless and almost haphazard way, but the song works because the lyrics are not obscured despite the accompaniment. Actually, "effortless and haphazard" are great ways to describe the musical stylings of Everclear. Their melodies are often simple, repeated frequently in a song and have a quality to them that either seems easy and clever or like the band stumbled into the music by accident. It's a weird balance of simple guitar riffs (like on "Father Of Mine") and surprisingly complex, developed songs that degenerate into repetitive refrains ("I Will Buy You A New Life") and fast strumming without much of a tune ("When It All Goes Wrong Again" and "Heroin Girl"). This is not a critique so much as an observation. If one knows going into the album with the understanding that Everclear has a weird balance of quality unexpected from a group rumored to be "grunge" and, well, grungy/alternative rock and roll that makes the listener wonder what the heck happened to the group they heard on the last track, then the experience becomes simply exciting.

This is because Art Alexakis can write! In fact, it is almost offensive that So Much For The Afterglow's "I Will Buy You A New Life" is explained in the liner notes to Ten Years Gone as not ". . . a song about money, it's about love and helplessness and all the things we think money will fix . . ." This is pretty much a "well, duh," to anyone who has actually listened to the song! After all, Alexakis makes it quite clear with ironic lines like, "You say you wake up crying / Yes, and you don't know why /. . . Yeah, I guess I'm doing okay / I've moved in with the strangest guy / Can you believe he actually thinks that I am really alive? / I will buy you a garden, where your flowers can bloom / I will buy you a new car, perfect shiny and new. . ." ("I Will Buy You A New Life"). Most of Alexakis's songs are straightforward and clever enough without needing to be explained. And he writes with wonderful irony and emotion.

Perhaps the most famous track from Everclear is "Wonderful" from Songs From An American Movie, Vol. One: Learning How To Smile and that song is emblematic of Alexakis's poetry for his childhood. His eye for detail like referencing having a Star Wars poster in his room as a kid give a wonderful sense of time and place. He seems to enjoy playing with that, as he does on "A.M. Radio" as well. The lyrical quality is one of the two things that defines Everclear and it's unique style.

The other is the group's simple style and ability to constantly steal their own stuff. "Santa Monica" and "I Will Buy You A New Life" begin with the same riffs. The new track "The New Disease" sounds suspiciously like "When It All Goes Wrong Again." Everclear might not be the most musically sophisticated or diverse-sounding band, but they certainly work their niche quite well! By putting Alexakis's voice front and center in most tracks, they distract from the lack of complexity to most of their music. And it works.

Because Alexakis's singing is the primary instrument in most of the songs, the distinctive sound for Everclear is Alexakis. So, they use their own riffs a couple of times, even on their "Best Of" album. It works because that is what the group is. It's simple rock and roll with less simple lyrics.

Indeed, the true disappointment of Ten Years Gone is the cover of "The Boys Are Back In Town," which is not one of my favorite classic rock songs and is uninspired as an Everclear song. The compilation's only other cover song is "Brown Eyed Girl" and while I'm not usually a fan, Everclear does it fine. The two tracks unique to Ten Years Gone are "The New Disease" and "The New York Times." "Disease" in the lexicon of Art Alexakis usually refers to drugs or a bad relationship and it's amusing that his only notes on this song in the liner is "Another big Everclear rock song with bells...go figure." It's true. It's a pretty standard Everclear song in many ways and it fits here with so many of their other tracks.

"The New York Times" is a pretty standard Everclear ballad and it's a nice addition to their body of work. Rejecting the hate and fear prevalent in the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks, "The New York Times" tries to focus on hope and restoring decency. It's a refreshing change of pace.

But it's also very Everclear. So, if you're a fan of rock and roll with good lyrics and often-loud guitars and bass or simply like what you've heard of Everclear on the radio, Ten Years Gone is a great album worthy of your attention! Most of the songs are toss ups for the best track as this truly is a wonderful collection of emblematic Everclear songs, but "Strawberry" stood out in this mix in a way it didn't before for me. The weak link is easily the lame cover of "The Boys Are Back In Town."

For other works by Everclear, be sure to visit my reviews of:
So Much For The Afterglow
Songs From An American Music, Volume One: Learning How To Smile
Songs From An American Movie, Vol. Two: A Good Time For A Bad Attitude
Wonderful (single)

8/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the music reviews I have written.

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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