What the world needs now, David Lowery, is a 13-track best-of from Cracker, augmented by three bonus tracks. And, by God, you're gonna give it to us. Although you'd never guess it, David Lowery and Cracker would never take themselves so seriously as to think their recorded output needed to be anthologized in a box set (can anyone say Alice In Chains?) or a multi-disc compilation. They surely realize that their accidental success was just that -- accidental -- and for those accidental fans, they've neatly summarized a rather prolific career with Garage D'Or. Kicking off with the very accidental hit that made them a household name for about 14 minutes, ""Teen Angst,"" and then plowing through a dozen almost-hits and great-but-not-for-radio songs, Garage D'Or is a succinct synopsis of the band's eight-year history to date. However, it's not the witty and well-crafted pop of the songs we know by Cracker that makes this set so interesting, it's all the goodies they've crammed in it as well.
In addition to the three stunning new songs that close out the ""hits"" disc, there's also an entire additional disc of rarities included in the limited edition two-disc run. And, to be clear, the dozen tracks on that disc make it well worth getting to the record store early to pick it up. For it's here that, in addition to hard-to-find compilation/soundtrack appearances (""Rainy Days And Mondays,"" ""Whole Lotta Trouble""), we also find some early demos (""China,"" ""Steve's Hornpipe""), outtakes (""Sunday Train,"" ""Hollywood Cemetery""), and other assorted gems. Now, for a band this young (not to mention for a band this active), it's quite a thrill to find them digging in the vaults to please their fans. And, rather than some archaeological expedition through the rusty old bones of some washed-up act, this is more a tidy summation of what the last eight years meant to Cracker. And that, my friends, is what a ""hits"" collection is all about.
