Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've read several reviews of this album by committed TMBG fans, people who love the songs, but at the same time have given this compilation just one star because they see it as 1) corporate greed 2) selling out, or 3) they're angry that there are three previously unreleased songs that they'll have to spend $$$ on to own. Please. You people sound like those opera fanatics who insist that "supertitles" (where a translation of the lyrics is played high above the stage) corrupt opera. Those are the people who insist you must learn fluent Italian to enjoy opera or else just sit there and wonder what's going on. For years, I've heard "purists" of a particular rock band sneer at "greatest hits" compilations. They're the ones who insist that anyone who buys "Forty Licks" is a shallow tool of consumer culture. They don't understand that not everyone already owns all fifty or so Rolling Stones albums or otherwise doesn't have the money to buy them all. I realize that there are thousands of devoted TMBG fans, many of whom seem to spend their youth collecting graduate degrees in anthropology or third-world literature studies, who insist that a compilation doesn't capture the delicate pathos that TMBG have created with their music. Fair enough. They are gifted artists. But like those other gifted artists, the ones who hailed from Liverpool, their albums sell primarily because they are filled with catchy tunes. That's why I bought the Beatles' "One" and that's why I'm buying "Dial-A-Song": because I want some songs I can whistle to when I'm stuck in rush-hour traffic. Get over it. Finally, for those who are upset that their heroes have sold out to the man or whatever, I'd like to remind them that TMBG is the only band I can think of that has distributed hundreds of songs for free, long before the World Wide Web, over their unique Dial-A-Song service. It's been around for fifteen years. It's always been free. It still is free. So why all this anger about the injustice over having to raid your beer money to buy a few songs. (Besides, those songs aren't like cancer medication. Trust me, you won't drop dead without them.) Still, even if the Dial-A-Song line had never existed, I wouldn't begrudge TMBG's ability to use their artistic ability to make money. You enjoy listening to their music. In return, you give them money. Fair enough. It's known as capitalism. If you don't like it, go burn your collection of TMBG albums along with an American flag at the next Stop-the-World Bank and IMF/Ban-GM-Food/Elect-Nader/Free-Mumia/Meat-is-Murder protest. I digress. Forgive me. It's time for me to whip out my American Express and buy the greatest hits of TMBG.