Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly

by Belly

Overview

Belly arrived at a strange time for alternative rock. Prior to the early 1993 release of their debut, Star, they had released a series of critically acclaimed U.K. EPs that balanced the shimmering, otherworldly quality of Throwing Muses with an increased sense of songcraft from ex-Muse/Breeder Tanya Donelly -- dream pop that really emphasized the pop, while adding emotional undercurrents that could shift from sweetness to haunting within one song. Star, like the EPs, captured this well, and since it arrived when all things alt-rock had a shot at the charts, they actually had a gold album and a Billboard hit with "Feed the Tree." This led to semistardom -- not nearly as big as Kurt-n-Courtney or Eddie, nor as gossip-worthy as Evan-n-Juliana, but to a lot of appearances at festivals and even the cover of Rolling Stone, which meant that they wanted to broaden their audience and sound with their second album, the Glyn Johns-produced King. Though the selected songs were good, the big, glossy production didn't quite fit, but it came to define Belly -- deliberately, too, since they began to remix their British hits for MTV and modern rock radio. Rhino's 2002 collection Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly collects all of the singles, but not necessarily in their original form. Included are "Gepetto" in the remix version (which was, admittedly, U.S. single version); the live version of "Dusted"; a U.S.-radio mix of "Feed the Tree." There are a couple of key album tracks, and a whole lotta B-sides: a wonderful, slyly sexy version of "Trust in Me" from Disney's The Jungle Book, a cover of "Hot Burrito #1," and, of course, the tremendous title track. There's also some collector-bait ephemera here, okay King B-sides, a French version of a song from King, and a cover of "Are You Experienced?" ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/18/2002
Label:	Rhino
UPC:	0081227824624

Tracks

1. Spaceman
2. Gepetto
3. Super-Connected
4. Broken
5. Hot Burrito #1
6. Trust in Me
7. Feed the Tree
8. Dusted
9. Seal My Fate
10. Judas Mon Coeur
11. Are You Experienced?
12. Thief
13. Full Moon, Empty Heart
14. Now They'll Sleep
15. Lilith
16. Slow Dog
17. Dream on Me
18. Sweet Ride

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Belly   Primary Artist
Juliana Hatfield   Guest Artist,Vocals
Chris Gorman   Drums,Percussion
Leslie Langston   Bass
Fred Abong   Bass
Tanya Donelly   Guitar,Vocals
Gail Greenwood   Bass,Vocals
Dylan Roy   Bass
Tom Gorman   Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Chris Bigg   Art Direction,Original Sleeve Design,Design
Glyn Johns   Mixing,Producer
Gram Parsons   Composer
Andrew Catlin   Portraits
Chris Gorman   Photography
Randy Perry   Assistant
Daniel Hersch   Remastering
Tracy Chisholm   Engineer
Paul Q. Kolderie   Mixing,Producer
Bill Inglot   Remastering
Jack Joseph Puig   Mixing
Tanya Donelly   Composer
Lou Giordano   Producer
Wally Gagel   Engineer
Howard Gray   Remixing
Sean Slade   Producer
Richard M. Sherman   Composer
Jimi Hendrix   Composer
Thomas Gorman   Composer
Tom Lord-Alge   Remixing
Gil Norton   Producer
Chris Ethridge   Composer
Belly   Producer
Gail Greenwood   Composer
Robin Hurley   Assistant
April Milek   Assistant
Tim Scanlin   Liner Note Coordination
Leigh Hall   Compilation Executive Producer
Dominic Davies   Photography
Tom Gorman   Composer
Reggie Collins   Assistant