What I Learned About Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce

Album Review

It's hard to discern what exactly the purpose of Ego, Opinion, Art & Commerce is. It's a compilation, boasting remixes and remastered tracks, but it misses all of the Goo Goo Dolls' biggest hits. So, the best guess for its reason to be is to provide latter-day fans with a basic idea of what the Goos were about before "Iris" and "Name" — and, if that's the case, its release in 2001 is a little puzzling, since it's been years since they've broken through into the mainstream. In any case, this isn't a bad disc at all, since it does cherry-pick the Goos' albums rather gracefully, balancing almost-hits like "We Are the Normal" with a good selection of album tracks. Still, the audience for this must be pretty small — not the hardcore fans, since they already have all this, but fans of the early stuff won't need it, nor will the really casual fans, who just want the hits, since they're not here. So, it's for the listener that either wants an overview of the early years — and it's good at that — or for the listener that has "Name" and "Iris" and wants to dig deeper, without getting the actual albums. Small audiences in both respects, but for those that belong to that audience, it's a good bet.