Album Review: The Wallflowers’ “Collected”

Unlike many who follow in their parent’s footsteps in terms of a career, Jakob Dylan has managed to stay out of his father’s shadow, while achieving humble success within his own band, The Wallflowers. Collected is one of the more accurate “greatest hits” collections that I’ve seen in a long time, as it literally strips the hit songs from all four albums (minus the often-forgotten debut) and puts them in sequential order.

The album opens up with five tracks from 1996’s Bringing Down the Horse.

“Three Marlenas,” “The Difference” and “Invisible City” may have been minor radio hits, but they still contributed highly in making this album one of the decade’s best. And like Fiona Apple’s “Criminal” did in the same year, “One Headlight” gave The Wallflowers a glimpse of commercial success, while it overshadowed some of the albums other shining moments. One of these can be found in the album’s first single, “6th Avenue Heartache,” which is perhaps one of the most beautifully-written yet underrated songs of the nineties. Besides having Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) contribute to the song, Dylan himself shines through his vocals and lyrics, which of course resemble poetry more than lyrics themselves.

Letters From the Wasteland,” “Hand Me Down,” Sleepwalker” and “I’ve Been Delivered” are all well-written blues/rock songs from 2000’s Breach, while “Closer to You” is my favorite of the three tracks chosen from 2002’s Red Letter Days.

Collected closes up with two songs from 2005’s Rebel, Sweetheart- “The Beautiful Side of Somewhere” and “God Says Nothing Back”- along with the unreleased, “Eat You Sleeping.”

While the band could’ve witnessed mainstream success beyond “One Headlight,” their laid-back approach towards the music industry is most likely what kept their songs creatively modest yet tangible. One can easily hear the band’s sound transform between albums, and for that reason I think any Wallflowers fan will appreciate this assortment of music.