Creed: Greatest Hits (2LP, reissue, etched) [CRAFT]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP reissue spreads 13 hits over three sides and finishes with an etched Side D. The collection gathers every U.S. single from the band's first three albums and has gone double platinum.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Etched side D
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Creed came out of Tallahassee in the mid-90s with My Own Prison, and within five years Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti were filling stadiums. This collection, first issued in 2004, traces that rise single by single, from the brooding early songs to the arena-sized anthems that followed. Every U.S. single from the first three albums is here, in roughly the order they took over rock radio.

"My Own Prison," "Torn" and "What's This Life For" are the heavy, searching early material, all produced with John Kurzweg. "Higher" and "With Arms Wide Open," from Human Clay, took them to the top of the radio dial, and "With Arms Wide Open" won a Grammy. From Weathered come "My Sacrifice," "One Last Breath," "Bullets" and "Don't Stop Dancing," the last with Amie Stapp and the Tallahassee Boys' Choir on backing vocals.

Tremonti and Stapp wrote every song here together, and the riffs and the big choruses still hit hard, with Stapp's baritone and Tremonti's drop-tuned guitar carrying every one of them. Side D is etched rather than played, which makes it the quietest side of Creed ever pressed; we checked.

Also at Kops: more Creed on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Wind-up / Craft Recordings, a reissue of the 2004 compilation.