The Greatest View is from Silverchair's fourth album, Diorama. I'd found an import copy of Diorama in Essential Music in Southampton sometime before it had a general UK release, which seemed to make me a lot of temporary friends at college as everyone was very keen to hear it. Sadly, Diorama wasn't as great as the first three Silverchair records but did mean that they finally played the UK, giving me a chance to see them.
The Greatest View starts off with a pretty heavy sounding guitar but quickly turns back to the softer sound they were playing around this time. Not a classic. The b-side contains two songs that didn't make it onto the album (which is more than twice the average number). Asylum is a nice-enough, piano-led song but, again, not what I really want from Silverchair. I do remember them playing it the time I saw them and thinking it was a nice treat for the small number of us in the crowd who had this import single. Pins and Needles has something Neon-Ballroom-y about it but with the added style of Diorama in places (yet also the lower quality production you often get with b-sides. I'm not quite sure how it can sound both over-produced and under-produced at once, but it does).
The strangest thing about this record is that the a-side plays at 45rpm but the b-side plays at 33rpm. I don't think I've ever started playing the b-side at the correct speed. This was particularly a chore during the golden years when I had my Rega turntable which required lifting the platter off to change the speed.
Format: 7"
Tracks: 3
Cost: £3 new
Bought: Record Fair, Southampton
When: 26/10/02
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
