The Verve Pipe
were one of the handful of
post-grunge
bands that had a hit in the mid- to late '90s that was ubiquitous, and then had the bottom suddenly fall out from underneath them. That hit, of course, was
"The Freshmen,"
a pained, earnest mid-tempo dissection of a relationship gone wrong that the band's lead singer/songwriter,
Brian Vander Ark
, wrote years before
the Verve Pipe
had formed. Starting as an acoustic
ballad
, by the time it turned into a radio hit it was given a brooding sensibility, heavy on heavy guitars and echo, that didn't just fit into the post-
Nirvana
landscape of '90s modern
rock
, it epitomized how
alternative rock
was no longer underground -- it was a commercial juggernaut. If
never had another hit to match
it was not for lack of trying, nor was it for lack of material -- as their first hits compilation,
Platinum & Gold Collection
, proves, they had similarly hooky material that fit well into mainstream
alt-rock
radio. And they did have other hits, like
"Photograph,"
"Villains,"
and
"Hero,"
but while sturdy, none of them became a touchstone like
"The Freshmen"
since they had neither the immediate hook nor the universal subject matter of that single.
might have been able to retain a small cult if their second major-label album, an eponymous 1999 effort helmed by superstar producer
Michael Beinhorn
, didn't tank, bringing their career down with it; by the time they released their very good,
Adam Schlesinger
-produced 2001 album
Underneath
, they were already considered a footnote to the
era. While they were by no means trendsetters, they were a solid, reliable band, and this compilation proves that out. This naturally relies very heavily on their one big LP, 1996's
Villains
, with three tracks apiece from
Verve Pipe
and a live version of the
Pop Smear
favorite
"Spoonful of Sugar"
added as a closing cut. It's an excellent summary of their three-album stint with
RCA
, and while this music is emblematic of its time, it does prove that of the one-hit
wonders of the second half of the '90s,
had one of the most consistent bodies of work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine