"Best of" projects are always touchy subjects. Everyone has their own opinion of what the best songs by an artist are. Usually they cover the best songs off all their albums they've recorded. With this year's The Best of Bride, I am apalled at the album's selection, with me being a Bride fan myself.

The Best of Bride is as far from such as you can possibly get. I have been a fan since the mid-90s and have liked a lot of their work on Scarecrow Messiah and Snakes in the Playground. Pamplin took 5 songs from their last album, Oddities, 4 from the previous one, The Jesus Experience, and 2 from lead singer Dale Thompson's hillbilly blues solo album, Testimony -- which isn't even Bride! -- and tossed them onto one CD. Any Bride fan with Bride history knowledge would know that these songs are not their best and that it was arranged by their record company (since only Oddities, Jesus Experience & Dale's Testimony are the only projects by them on Pamplin). Not even the "Worm" video attached to make it an enhanced CD can save this "collection" (Besides, it's included on The Jesus Experience album. However they did include the newer "Under the Blood" video).

I find the project insulting to Bride fans and maybe even to the band themselves. If you want a good Bride collection CD, check out Shotgun Wedding which was released a few years ago.

- Review date: 7/26/00, written by John DiBiase