Track Listing

1. Dig (Live)
2. Silenced (Demo)
3. Dull Boy
4. Death Blooms (Demo)
5. Fall Into Sleep (Demo)
6. Not Falling (Demo)
7. -1 (Live)
8. Happy (Demo)
9. (Per) Version Of A Truth (Demo)
10. World So Cold (Live)
11. On The Move
12. Goodbye
13. Skrying (Demo)
14. All That You Are (Demo)
15. Forget To Remember (Acoustic)
16. King Of Pain

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17324 in Music
• Released on: 2007-11-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.com
Comprised of tracks picked by Mudvayne fans and versions of those tunes picked by the band, By the People, For the People hardly comes off like a smash-and-grab affair. Loaded with rarities--demos, live versions, and two new tracks ("Dull Boy" and a cover of the Police classic "King of Pain")--plus brief spoken word interludes to introduce each cut, the collection proves cohesive and fascinating. Demos for "Silenced" and "Death Blooms" almost overshadow the finished album versions (from The End of All Things to Come and L.D. 50, respectively), while the inclusion of wholly unbridled readings of "On the Move" and "Happy?" demonstrates why both have become fan favorites. The live cuts ("World So Cold," "Dig," and "-1") are both noisy and forgettable, but neither distracts from the overall wow factor of this collection. --Jedd Beaudoin

Customer Reviews

By The Label, For The Cash
To occupy the time it will take HELLYEAH -- the supergroup featuring Mudvayne's Chad Grey & Greg Tribbett -- to run it's course and to further stall a new studio album that has been in the works for almost a year, the members of Mudvayne have decided to release something every fan wants: demos, live songs, demos, acoustic numbers, demos, b-sides & demos all wrapped up in a nice little package dubbed "By The People, For The People." Appropriately titled, as the tracklisting was handpicked by fans, during a poll held on the band's official website. The name works almost as a disclaimer, as if to say "If you don't like this CD, tough. You chose the songs. Deal with it."

Listening to the whole thing, one can't help but feel like they were duped out of some hard earned cash. Sure, b-side albums can be good -- just look to Static-X's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink "Beneath, Between & Beyond" for example -- but despite being chosen by the fans, this one falls extremely short. For starters, way too many demos. With the exception of one or two ("Silenced" comes to mind) they don't differ all that much from their counterparts and serve virtually no purpose. The live tracks -- including a sloppy version of "Dig" -- are leftovers from 2003's Summer Sanitarium Tour, which has already been documented in the form of a DVD and a live EP. It's a bit boring to revisit a tour from over four years ago so many times, especially when the band has logged many more since. Two b-sides from "The End Of All Things To Come" rear their ugly heads, and while "Goodbye" has a somewhat fresh sound to it, "On The Move" isn't even worthy of b-side status. On a brighter note, two new studio tracks are thrown in to help ease the pain. "Dull Boy," the album's token single and first taste of new music from the band in over two years, is a fun, catchy little song that you will find yourself singing along to quickly. "King Of Pain," a song ripped from The Police, shows that Mudvayne are more than capable of changing things up stylistically and begs the question of why they haven't in so many years.

If you're a hardcore fan, this could be considered a worthy purchase. Even if most of the material is throwaway at best, frontman Chad Grey pops in between songs to give some rough background details, and it's a nice touch. It's a bit troubling though that there aren't some rarer tunes to be found here. I mean, c'mon? Demos? You've made three studio albums (four counting their indie debut), surely there's more you're not showing us. "By The People, For The People" would have been a better deal if it had revealed more gems, not recycled fluff that's been released elsewhere.

good for the fans
This is a good album, a real treat for the fans! I like the idea of demoed songs and live versions of songs picked by the fans themselves!

mudvayne rocks
The reason I gave four out of five stars is because most of the the songs are pre-recorded songs before they actually came on the the albums, other than its pretty good specially their new song dullboy.