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*** Goo Goo Dolls

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT EGO, OPINION, ART & COMMERCE (1987-2000)

(Warner Bros.)

You won’t nd any of the Goo Goo Dolls’ recent hits on this excellent 22-song retrospective, which has tracks from all six of the band’s albums. But you will nd a couple of rock-intensive cuts from the hit discs Dizzy Up the Girl and A Boy Named Goo, along with a de nitive collection of the group’s pre-breakthrough recordings. Some songs have been altered: the band tacked a new intro onto “Naked” and recruited the rock-friendly string trio Rasputina to add a coda to “Acoustic #3.” They also re-recoüded the decade-old “Iris”/ÒName” prototype “Two Days in February,” a stellar example of chief Goo Johnny Rzeznik’s barroom sincerity and a tting showpiece for the album. The ddle-laced production on the Paul Westerberg–penned oldie “We Are the Normal” sounds a little dated, but that and the six other tunes from the group’s ’93 sleeper Superstar Car Wash all seem to foreshadow their imminent pop breakthrough. Even their crudest early recordings show a winsome knack for melody. The Goo Goo Dolls may never have been the most original band in the world, but it’s hard to argue with their consistency.

— Sean Richardson