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Rhino Records is set to release The Best of Sugar Ray on June 21st. The fifteen-track hits compilation culls from the Southern California quintet's five studio albums and features Top Forty tracks like "Fly" and "Every Morning." The disc will also include new and previously unreleased material.
Sugar Ray -- singer Mark McGrath, guitarist Rodney Sheppard, bassist Murphy Karges, drummer Stan Frazier and Craig "DJ Homicide" Bullock -- were formed in 1992 and released their debut, Lemonade and Brownies, three years later. 1997's Floored was their breakthrough, on the strength of the relentless radio play of "Fly." 1999's 14:59 went triple-platinum, and their self-titled 2001 album debuted at Number Six on the chart.
The Best of Sugar Ray features the new song "Shot of Laughter," as well as a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time." The previously unissued track "Psychedelic Bee," penned by shock jock Howard Stern and recorded during sessions for their 1992 debut, is also included. Other material on the compilation includes "Someday," "Falls Apart," "When It's Over" and the band's cover of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
McGrath, now also a co-host of TV's Extra, sees the Best of disc as a transition for Sugar Ray. "How do you go out to pasture, be a relevant recording artist and still be able to tour? That's the phase we're at right now," he told Rolling Stone. "The fans have just been so great to us. We're lucky, and we still have a record deal."
As for an album of new material, McGrath is skeptical: "I think a new record is pretty ambitious . . . We're going to see how people react to [Best of] and certainly tour off it and take it from there. I'm focused right now on getting singles back on the radio: We want to taste that again, because it's just an amazing feeling. I think we can do it again."