Greatest Hits

Album Review

Enuff Z'Nuff are largely remembered for their hybrid of psychedelic and hair metal aesthetics during the glam rock heyday fostered by MTV during the late '80s. But peel away the exterior and there's a band ripe with a generous helping of power pop to complement their most well-known songs. So it's only fitting that a greatest-hits compilation acts as more than a marker for their entire career, it helps to break through the hairspray and ambiguous fashions to prove the band can rock just as hard, if not harder, than many of their contemporaries. Of course the biggest hits "New Thing" and "Fly High Michelle" start off Greatest Hits with a potent one-two punch, but skip beyond those two tracks and there's a plethora of thoughtful, carefully crafted pop numbers that rock just as much as they strut. Guest appearances by fellow Chicago artists Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), and James Young (Styx) find them all taking guest solo appearances on various tracks. Corgan in particular sounds refreshingly loose on "Everything Works if You Let It," especially in comparison to the seriousness of his tenures in Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan. It's also interesting to hear how these artists conform to Enuff Z'Nuff's sound, rather than the other way around. This compilation is pretty much anything and everything a casual fan will ever need from Enuff Z'nuff, and die-hard fans will enjoy having all of these fan favorites on the same disc.