Track Listing

1. Spaceman (single B side)
2. Geppeto (single version)
3. Super-Connected 
4. Broken (single B side)
5. Hot Burrito #1 (single B side)
6. Trust In Me (single B side)
7. Feed The Tree (US radio version)
8. Dusted (live)
9. Seal My Fate (US radio version)
10. Judas Mon Coeur (French version)
11. Are You Experienced? (from the album ‘Stone Free : A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix’)
12. Thief (single B side)
13. Full Moon, Empty Heart
14. Now They'll Sleep 
15. Lilith (previously unreleased)
16. Slow Dog
17. Dream On Me (single B side)
18. Sweet Ride (single B side)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48179 in Music
• Released on: 2002-07-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly is not a proper greatest-hits album, even though it does have two of Belly's best-known tracks: the massive hit "Feed the Tree", and the US single "Now They'll Sleep". Granted, with only two albums to draw from (Star and King), the choices would at first seem rather limited for a collection like this. But Belly were no typical band--frontwoman Tanya Donnelly's beautiful voice and haunting-yet-catchy take on pop made sure of that--and this is no typical trawl through the archives: of the 18 tracks on Sweet Ride, only eight appeared on their albums (and of these, four are different versions anyway). The rest of this album is made up of b-sides, rarities and three cover versions, a collection of cast-offs that are nonetheless as good as any of the tracks that actually did make it onto their two albums. As Belly were one of the finest bands to come from the 4AD roster in the early 1990s, praise doesn't come any higher. --Robert Burrow

CD Description
Posthumous best-of from Boston band formed by ex-Throwing Muses/Breeders singer-guitarist Tanya Donelly. A combination of dreamy, melodic pop hooks and tight indie rock topped with Donelly's sweet, lilting vocals. Features tracks from their two albums 'Star' and 'King', including the top 40 singles'Feed The Tree' and 'Now They'll Sleep', as well as previously unreleased tracks, live and alternate versions.

Customer Reviews

Better than either of the official albums
Neither of the albums Belly released were masterpieces, in my opinion. They were both strong, but not genuinely great. This CD eclipses both of them. Every track here, with perhaps the exception of the Hendrix cover, feels vital. The B-sides featured here (Spaceman, Broken, Trust In Me, Thief, Sweet Ride) are all great, and superior to much of the material featured on the two official albums. Spaceman, in particular, is really powerful (the woman saying to the man she's just ditched: 'I'm not a unicorn; you can always find another one'). The best pop songs Belly recorded are here (Feed The Tree, Gepetto, Seal My Fate, Now They'll Sleep), but this is balanced with the slower, more reflective material that Tanya Donelly has always been known for. Sadly, there's no 'Stay', which was such a beautiful song, but it's hard to be critical of this compilation, considering the amount of rare material it contains, including the previously unreleased 'Lilith' which is really excellent, and deserves its belated exposure. The French version of Judas My Heart isn't as great as the original (which was genuinely great), but it could have been disastrous, thankfully it's not, it works. The title track, Sweet Ride, concludes the affair, and it's utterly gorgeous. This album shows, better than Star or King, what a memorable pop band Belly were. That Tanya brought alot of different facets to the tired old pop formula. She was capable of writing a perfect killer pop song (Now They'll Sleep being the best example of that), but also capable of going to deeper places, places that resonate, and extend beyond the ephemeral pop milieu. Belly were the best pop band of the nineties, and this compilation shows why.

The Best Of Belly is good indeed
This albumn covers not only the 2 releases King and Star, but much more than that delves into B-sides, French Radio edits and a Live Recording not to mention one previoulsy unreleased track. The end result is a stunning, whirling description of 4AD Indie Pop in the early and mid 1990's. The record starts slowly with Spaceman. This is a haunting track "I'm not a Unicorn, Go out and find another one". Seal my fate, Feed the Tree, Now they'll Sleep, Slow Dog and Superconnected are storming, whirling hook filled slongs that will remind you just how good Belly were and will astonish you that more commercial success was not forthcoming. Beyond these come the depth of the CD that will provide enough attraction for those already owning the 2 albumns to buy this becomes apparent - Judas Mon Coeur, Thief, Dream on Me and spectacularly Are You Experienced?,the Hendrix song which is good enough to justify £10 itself. Belly's quality is derived from a combination of lyrics that are elusive and descriptive, guitars that are never simple but allways melodius and vocals that are simply perfect. A sad day when they split but Sweet Ride is a perfect reminder of just how fantastic they were.

How I miss them....
This is a special album - most greatest hits centre around singles. With this compilation, not only do we get the hits, we also get the b sides and rarities - which gives a pretty good overview of one of the best guitar bands in the 90's. Listening to this album makes me really miss them.......where will you find such magic again?! Most tend to credit Tanya - true, she was the principal songwriter but let's not forget Chris, Tom, Fred (the early stuff) and Gail - they did work well together. Bonus point goes to the liner notes by Tanya herself.