3 Doors Down – Greatest Hits

It’s always difficult to review a greatest hits album.  You’re reviewing a band and their music that has been around a good while, in 3 Doors Down’s case since 1996, and whose music is also well loved enough that they can spawn a greatest hits album.  Fans ignore the review for the most part because it’s songs they all know (with the exception of the three final tracks of the album), while you have to try and convey just what the band is about to those who may think this is a good introduction to a band they may not have come across before.

For those who haven’t heard of US rock stalwarts 3 Doors Down, the resilient fivesome, formed in Escatawpa, Mississippi in 1996, have blazed a trail as the quintessential rock band, attaining massive mainstream success over the years across five albums and continue the form as they release their Greatest Hits album.

Renowned for their non-stop gigging and seemingly at times permanent residence somewhere in the American Billboard 200 chart, 3 Doors Down have a knack of producing radio friendly rock that’s something akin to Nickelback but without the corporate manufactured sheen that Chad Kroeger et al seem to carry about themselves.

For those of you listening to them for the first time you’ll find this the perfect album to get your teeth into and wrap your ears around.  Be it their breakthrough single and album opener, Kryptonite, with its anthemic stylings and easy southern groove or alt-rock feel of Loser, both from debut album The Better Life in 2000 to their more recent hits like the commercially tinged It’s Not My Time from their self-titled 2008 album.  All tracks have been given a good going over to brighten them up and the sound fantastic with a real clarity about them.

Not content though with producing just a greatest hits, the band have seen fit to include three brand new tracks for this album that also close it out.  Current single from the album, One Light, is a great rock out number that still manages to keep that commercial edge with some great melody and thumping chorus while There’s a Life continues this feel albeit with a much slower and studied approach.  Final track, Goodbyes, may perhaps send fans into a panic that it may be a swansong track and farewell to everyone but it feels more like a closing of a chapter of the band’s history than anything else.  It’s a huge radio ready rock ballad in the grandest of styles that is sure to go down well, in particular with the US public I think.

As I mentioned above, if you’re a 3 Doors Down fan, it comes down to whether you feel owning the same tracks with a few bonus numbers is worth parting with your cash.  However, if you’re looking to get into 3 Doors Down for the first time then this is the absolute perfect way of doing it.  This style of rock is something that American bands, and 3 Doors Down in particular, have down to an absolute fine art.

3 Doors Down, Greatest Hits is available now through Spinefarm Records

Rating: 8/10

 Tracklisting:
1. Kryptonite
2. When I’m Gone
3. Here Without You
4. It’s Not My Time
5. Let Me Go
6. Be Like That
7. Loser
8. Away from the Sun
9. Duck and Run
10. One Light
11. There’s a Life
12. Goodbyes 

3 Doors Down are:
Brad Arnold – Vocals
Chris Henderson – Lead Guitar
Todd Harrell – Bass
Greg Upchurch – Drums
Chet Roberts – Guitar

LINKS:
www.3doorsdown.com
www.facebook.com/3DoorsDown
twitter.com/3doorsdown

 

About Scott Watson

Part time guitarist and wannabe rock star. Long time lover of metal, xbox, football and my family while writing and editing for Planetmosh.com