Featuring virtually all their singles (including all of their Canadian chart hits, as well as unexpected items like their goofy non-album romp through "White Christmas" and "It's Got to Be Monday" from Doug Bennett's solo LP),
Slugcology 101 sums up
Doug & the Slugs' career quite effectively, and contains all the
Slugs most people will ever need. Affable, unpretentious, well-played jumpy pop/rock, there's nothing on this compilation that's especially revolutionary, but
Slugcology 101 shows that, at their best (as on "Too Bad," "Making It Work," or "Who Knows How to Make Love Stay"),
Doug & the Slugs were a hard-working pop band with humor, hooks, and heart. Still, missing in action on
Slugcology 101 are fan favorites "Partly From Pressure" and "Nobody But Me," and some first-rate album tracks like "I'm the One." It's also curious that for a supposedly career-spanning retrospective, there's nothing here from
Doug & the Slugs' final album, released the previous year on the same label (although as Tales From Terminal City wasn't the band's strongest album, that's no big loss). Finally, some fans may be a little disappointed with the lack of rarities, especially as there's still room left on this disc to fit both sides of the
Slugs' legendary Bennett-less "solo" single ("Running Around" b/w "Be the Best"), as well as the original indie version of "Too Bad", and the non-LP B-side "The Move." However, despite all those quibbles, it's hard to deny that the tracks that eventually made it to
Slugcology 101 pretty much all deserve to be on a
Doug & the Slugs best-of. Turn it up and have a Slugfest! ~ Rudyard Kennedy