by Jason Damas 　　As was the tradition with artists like the Beatles and Robbie Williams, record companies often drastically alter albums before a U.S. release. The Wannadies first U.S.-released album is a perfect example of this perplexing situation: In essence, The Wannadies is the Bagsy Me album with two tracks deleted, three of the singles from 3/4 a Girl added and the track order shuffled. The title was also changed, adding to the confusion as the Wannadies have already released a self-titled album in Sweden. It's puzzling why the album was hacked apart, but The Wannadies works as an effective U.S. sampler for the band's music, although hardcore fans will want to get the actual albums. The music contained on this release is considerably mellower than what was found on 3/4 a Girl; there are several ballads and a more lounge-friendly sound (featuring a horn section) is employed to fill in the sound. This doesn't mean that the band has abandoned their trademark loud pop, though; "Friends" and "Shorty" carry on the tradition began by the last album. There are a few severe missteps, most notably the eight-minute closing opus "That's All," which is fortunately the only severe mistake. Overall, this is another very strong release from a band that made some of the best pop music of the 1990s.