In an interview with Rhapsody at South By Southwest 2011, Black Lips Joe and Jared said they have no intention of releasing an album full of their singles. Collecting them all PHYSICALLY could turn out to be quite the task. Digitally speaking, though, they are riding the cyber-wave (thanks to NuRaveBrainWave for the Singles Club!) so go out and get it.
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“Best Napkin I Ever Had” – 2010 – Very nonsensensical, it reminded me at first of “Fad” and “MIA,” which is a very good thing. This, along with “Before,” doesn’t sound like much of a precursor to Arabia Mountain, but for the one-off kind of thing this was, it was nice.

“Before You Judge Me” – 2010 – Sonically, this is truly a post-200 Million Thousand kind of song. Joe is the lead vocalist, there’s some noisy guitar licks and other lead guitar fun, but the rhythm section is strong and steady — amongst the “tightest” we’ve heard the guys to date.

“Disconnection” – 2009 – Musically somewhere between Good Bad Not Evil and 200 Million Thousand, this is what I would put in the categories of straight, fuzzy, and simple. It is principally sung by Joe Bradley, but features backing vocals by the others.

“99 Victs” – 2009 – Cole does his raspy yowls on this fast, lo-fi noisy punk tune. Sounds like it would’ve fit nicely on We Did Not Know.

“You Know” – 2009 – Vocal samples and twangy instrumentals. A fun random tune.

“Born To Be A Man” – 2009 – An ole rockabilly/country thing that’s both fun to listen to/attempt to sing along to.

“Leroy Faster” – 2008 – “I look like a raptor and I know crack kills Leroy Faster!” sing the boys on the chorus of this one, which was a most worthy b-side off their Bad Kids 7″. The verses are humorous (“Rollin’ up another fag, you take a hefty drag, it looks cool when you gag”) with drug references (of course) and the chorus is great.

“Hasabe” – 2008 – Spoken-word and yowling by Cole backed by a basic drum beat and a repetitive guitar riff.

“Italian Sexual Frustration” – 2007 – One of the fastest tunes these guys have in their repertoire, it sounds light years ahead of their first two albums (quality-wise) despite employing the same sounds and effects that they’ve done from the start.

“Wild Man” – 2007 – A passionate and fun as can possibly be cover of The Tamrons 1967 classic.

“Make It” – 2006 – “This is a country song” are the words often uttered by Ian St. Pe before the Lips break this out in show. As a non-album tune, this has had the staying power in their set because it’s such a loving number and best of all — Cole gets to solo.

“Stuck In My Mind” – 2005 – Recorded in 2000, this was the first song that Black Lips ever wrote. The bass line and the lead guitar twangs pack punches.

“Stoned” – 2005 – A hard-hitting punk tune that’s got many an explosion and outburst.

“In & Out” – 2005 – This is pure ROCK and ROLL from start to finish. Done right. Joe knows best.

“Robitussin” – 2004 – Never officially released, Bradford Cox discovered a cassette containing this under his bed in 2007. This was supposed to be on We Did Not. Sure sounds like it. “Please please one more sip! I just want to robo-trip! Mommy, mommy, I’m so sick…Robo-robo-robo-tussin!”

“The Ballad of Ray Marsh” – 2004 – Penned by Jack Hines, this was a part of the above cassette. This is Bradford’s favorite Black Lips tune. Pretty noisy and a lot like the Robitussin narrative.

“B52 Bomberboy” – 2002 – Lo-fi for sure, but recorded really well. It’s pretty amazing to me that a lot of the band’s earlier cuts like this one and their debut album, in particular, were recorded so well in comparison to We Did Not and Let It Bloom.

“Ain’t Comin’ Back” – 2002 – The best or at least one of the best out of the bunch that they first recorded in their way early years. Displays the incredible vocal harmonies and fantastic chord progressions that have defined Black Lips all these years.