The Best we Could do

This compilation makes an excellent introduction to Taylor's iconoclastic songwriting, with music that frequently sounds like a new-wave Christian sideshow…

Andy Grammer returns with a new CD that may be the most rewarding and introspective recording of his career. The disc features 13 stellar performances, all of which Grammer is credited with co-writing. Bookended with singles "Smoke Clears" and "Give Love", the album features stellar grooves and the positive vibes that Grammer is known for, but there are plenty of tunes which celebrate the complexity of being a human being. Life is messy seems to be the message of some of these selections. On the stellar "Workin' On It", Grammer opines "we all got monsters that don't see the daylight, skeletons you're hiding ain't going to leave overnight", concluding that the best we can do is to be "workin' on it". The title song "The Good Parts" actually refers to the failures and faults that we hide deep inside, insisting that we need to be vulnerable enough to not "leave the good parts out".

If you're a die-hard Steve Taylor fan from back in the day, you'll already have almost everything included in this compilation. The only previously unreleased material is a demo for a song called "Dream in Black & White" (faded after the second verse) and a medley of early demos called "Shark Sandwich"…