This greatest hits album is not just a hodge-podge of good tracks. No, it's much more. Okay, it's just a little more: It's a story of booze and women, which should not be terribly surprising if you've ever heard a song that Ryan Adams has written. What follows here is tribute to Ryan Adams: a reckless, self-indulgent story, most of which is unnecessary and should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Our story begins with Ryan leaving New York and the love of his life ("New York, New York"). Shaken, he reflects on the good times and bad times of his youth, and how he has coped with them (by getting high) ("To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)"). He heads back south and meets a new girl named Carol Lynn, or Carolina--we'll call her Caroline--and she can do no wrong in his eyes; he knows that "love is hell," but it's better than nothing, so he lets himself be sucked in yet again ("Gonna Make You Love Me"). As he sings that he doesn't wanna know why his new love likes him, we sense that the cycle of lost love is repeating ("Don't Wanna Know Why").

Things only seem to get worse from here, and now Ryan is just waiting for the relationship to derail ("Waiting To Derail"), and that's when it starts to hurt ("Starting To Hurt"). Sure enough, the fire in her heart goes out, but he's not ready to let go ("Wonderwall"). Finally, Caroline breaks it off with him, and Ryan realizes that he can't make her love him ("Silver Bullets"). Resigned, he leaves with only "pockets full of dust." As he feels sorry for himself, he begins to think that nothing in the world will bring her home again--not rain, not love, not even money ("Ballad Of Carol Lynn"). His self pity reaches its nadir when he decides to breaks his own heart, just to show Caroline that he can do it just as well as she can ("Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight").

Self pity turns to anger as Ryan burns his old photographs to remove the remnants of the relationship from his mind ("Burning Photographs"). Meanwhile, he's working as hard as he can while he comes to terms with the break-up, but he finds that working isn't nearly as hard as loving ("The Hardest Part"). Enough time has now passed, and Ryan is ready to meet up with Caroline, and offer her some support, and perhaps an apology, telling her to keep her chin up ("Chin Up, Cheer Up"). The two part with a smile and a "see you around" and we get the feeling this isn't terribly different from where we started this little tale ("La Cienega Just Smiled").

1. "New York, New York" - Ryan Adams - Gold
2. "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)" - Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
3. "Gonna Make You Love Me" - Ryan Adams - Gold
4. "Don't Wanna Know Why" - Whiskeytown - Pneumonia
5. "Waiting To Derail" - Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
6. "Starting To Hurt" - Ryan Adams - Demolition
7. "Wonderwall" - Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
8. "Silver Bullets" - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights
9. "Oh My Sweet Carolina" - Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
10. "Ballad Of Carol Lynn" - Whiskeytown - Pneumonia
11. "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight" - Whiskeytown - Faithless Street
12. "Burning Photographs" - Ryan Adams - Rock N Roll
13. "The Hardest Part" - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Jacksonville City Nights
14. "Chin Up, Cheer Up" - Ryan Adams - Demolition
15. "La Cienega Just Smiled" - Ryan Adams - Gold