Friday 10th March see alt-rock legends Cracker releasing their “Greatest Hits – Redux” album after years of persistent requests by a legion of their devoted fans. “These songs rock better, somehow, than they did before. I can just hear these guys taking back the rights to their own music in every note,” says an anonymous post on the band’s weblog, posted just after a recent sneak-peek at the new recordings. The 13 track album features Cracker’s best-known radio singles including 1994’s Low, the band’s biggest MTV and radio staple, as well as radio hits Get Off This, Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) and Eurotrash Girl. Redux features higher fidelity recordings of the band’s work than the originals, and subtly re-interprets each track without departing too severely from its classic form. The songs on Redux have simply evolved over time, according to the band, which has toured constantly, releasing five original recordings and three compilations since its formation in 1991.

“Fans have been asking for us to record versions that were truer to our live performance ... and now we’ve got 15 years more playing under our belts,” said band members in a live web chat about the Greatest Hits. “We loved doing these versions.”

The timing of the album’s release, as well as fan-submitted questions in the Redux liner notes, suggests a secondary motive for the re-dos ... a defiant nose-thumbing at the band’s former major record label, whose own release of the original recordings comes out this month. Cracker frontman David Lowery and co-founder/guitarist Johnny Hickman don’t deny their disregard for their former label’s interests, claiming, “We wrote songs 15 years ago that are still getting regular radio play today, and even more songs that would have gotten play if the industry hadn’t become so corrupt during the peak of our popularity. A lot of bands suffered in that era, many were forced out. We survived through loyal fans and grueling hours of work without a major’s support. We own these songs, and now, we own the new recordings.”

Lowery is considered one of the genre’s smartest and most influential songwriters, and Hickman’s unforgettably catchy guitar riffs and trademark style have made Hickman Lowery’s equally influential counterpart. Greatest Hits Redux features ten-year veteran drummer Frank Funaro, veteran keyboard player Kenny Margolis (who is featured on the cover), and guest bassist David Immergluck (also a multi-instrumentalist in the Counting Crows, as well as friend and peer to original Cracker bassist and songwriter Davey Faragher).

The songs on Greatest Hits - Redux include the well-known hits as well as fan favorites, songs which show the breadth of Cracker’s scope and influence, from true indie rock to southern rock, alt-country, and improvisational / jam. Full track listing as follows :

1. Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)
2. I See The Light
3. Mr Wrong
4. Low
5. Get Off This
6. Lonesome Johnny Blues
7. Euro-trash Girl
8. Sweet Thistle Pie
9. Big Dipper
10. The World Is Mine
11. Duty Free
12. It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself
13. Something You Ain’t Got