Thanks to their power
ballad "It's Been Awhile," it'd be easy for some listeners to forget that
Staind got their big break thanks to none other than
Fred Durst, the king of lunkheaded mook
rock at the turn of the millennium. Not that
"It's Been Awhile" was fun -- like all
post-grunge hard rock of the late '90s/early 2000s, it was humorless and earnest, intent on catharsis -- but it had a strong hook that tempered the gloom and helped them cross over, even if their lead singer/songwriter,
Aaron Lewis, remained fueled by angst even after selling millions. Released in 2006 -- five years after
"It's Been Awhile" and a year after their fifth album,
Chapter V, topped the
Billboard charts without leaving much of a lasting impression -- the 15-track
Greatest Hits downplays their early, churning
Alice in Chains fixation and emphasizes songs in the vein of
"It's Been Awhile." Not that the
metal is completely absent -- their first single, the grinding
"Mudshovel" is here, for instance -- but brooding
ballads are pushed front and center; there are no less than four acoustic tracks tacked on the end of the record (including a cover of
Pink Floyd's
"Comfortably Numb," which does produce the mild revelation that
Roger Waters' narcissistic
rock opera did indeed influence
Lewis' lyrical outlook). In this context, such singles as
"Price to Play" -- which aren't quite
rock, yet not quite
ballads -- sound akin to power
ballads, which helps make this a good overview and introduction for those who were won over to the band via their big hit, yet for those who remember that
Staind was once a protege of
Durst & Co., they'd be better off sticking with their old copy of
Dysfunction. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine