Troll fishing

or trawling

takes troll bait
baits trolls take?

you sure you want?
no meal they make

but throw it back?

leave on bank
keep for bait

like honey flies
or ants ants
trolls draw trolls

but how to get
the nibble?

greatest hits and so so ones

A measure of best ofs and the very best ofs is the amplitude of taper towards the end of the CD. Cover versions, remixes. Happy Mondays' Greatest Hits is the benchmark (and should've been released as a cassingle). The Beach Boys' 'Made in the USA' is going fine until four fifths through it hits a cover. After that the hits, from somewhere in the late 70s, aren't that familiar and the peachy beachy feeling flees. That's the taper. Granted, every Beach Boys song is, in itself, a cover - these songs have been heard so often they've become covers of themselves. The Beach Boys could just as well be the Beachy Boys, nay the original Beachy Boys.

After the less familiar tunes of 'Made in the USA' come songs famous bands put out when they've long done their dash that they hope 'fans' will buy because they've been recorded by a famous band they thought they liked, to wit Rock to the Rescue. Often these songs are covers. Excepting Happy Mondays' number, they're always at the end of the album, filling out that extra half hour the good inventor of the CD created so he could play Beethoven's nth symphony the whole way through without having to get out of his leather recliner to flip sides. Finally come the bonus tracks. I think I love Lee Remick is the best song on the Go Betweens best of. Unfortunately, 'Made in the USA' has no Kokomo.