''The Greatest Hits'' is a compilation album self-released by
Babybird
Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first use ...
(aka
Stephen Jones) in 1997. When it was released,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
helped market a release of the album distributed by the
Alternative Distribution Alliance
Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...
. It consists of 20 songs, chosen by a vote of British consumers, each taken from one of Babybird's five previous indie albums. Atlantic's goal in marketing the album was to introduce Americans to Jones' numerous songs, none of which had previously been widely available in the United States.
Critical reception
As
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
put it, "Of course, the title is ironic -- irony is one of Stephen Jones/Baby Bird's fortes. It's ironic because the double-disc Greatest Hits doesn't contain "
You're Gorgeous
"You're Gorgeous" is a song by British musical project Babybird, released as a commercial single by The Echo Label on 30 September 1996. Babybird member Stephen Jones wrote the song and co-produced it with Steve Power. It was their only top-10 hi ...
," the number two U.K. single that established his career. It's ironic because Greatest Hits is Baby Bird's first U.S. release, meaning that he hasn't had time to have any hits, let alone great ones."
Allmusic: The Greatest Hits by Babybird
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Track listing
All tracks written and composed by Stephen Jones.
Disc one
# "Goddamn It, You're a Kid" – 3:07
# "Man's Tight Vest" – 4:14
# "KW Jesus TV Roof Appeal" – 3:58
# "Bad Blood" – 3:54
# "Kiss Your Country" – 4:04
# "Hong Kong Blues" – 3:35
# "Razorblade Shower" – 3:55
# "Sha Na Na" – 2:42
# "Aluminium Beach" – 4:34
# "Alison" – 3:38
# "Why" – 2:37
# "I Didn't Want to Wake You Up" – 3:25
Disc two
# "Grandma Begs to Be 18 Again" – 2:35
# "I Was Never Here" – 3:53
# "Petrol Cigarette" – 2:35
# "Losing My Hair" – 3:42
# "Saturday" – 2:29
# "Invisible Tune" – 4:02
# "Failed Old Singer" – 3:34
# "Swinging from Tree to Tree" – 2:37
# "Not About a Girl" – 2:32
# "In the Morning" – 2:13
# "Past Lasts Longer" – 3:13 (not listed on the discs or the artwork)
# " Good Night" – 3:24 (not listed on the discs or the artwork)
References
External links
''The Greatest Hits'' at Bad Pages''The Greatest Hits'' at Rate Your Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatest Hits
Babybird albums
1997 compilation albums
Self-released albums