Live’s videos generally fall into three main categories: deeply weird, beautifully surreal and traditional, with live concert renditions that emphasize the band’s onstage vibrancy. However, stacking this band’s videos up in chronological order can yield some striking observations, particularly with respect to clips from 1997’s Secret Samadhi.

While the video for the first single, "Lakini’s Juice," remains perhaps the epitome of Live’s weird streak, the video for "Freaks," which seemed just as odd as its predecessor at the time of release, is now somehow more nuanced. Relating peer pressure to a glass of milk, "Freaks" suddenly looks like an extra creepy episode of "The X-Files."

Even more interesting is the juxtaposition of the two "Turn My Head" videos. The first is a study in contrasts: shadow and light, male and female, prayer and that which is prayed for. There’s a perfect stillness in the video that underscores the devotion in Ed Kowalczyk’s lyrics. Alternately, the second video for "Turn My Head" is softer. The band is shown walking through the streets and performing in an empty ballroom, interspersed with shots of an anonymous blonde woman. Aided by these visuals, the barefoot Kowalczyk is merely singing about romantic love. Not bad, but not nearly as powerful.

The strength of this DVD collection and its accompanying 19-track greatest hits CD is that it has everything you’d expect – and some things you never knew existed. The standout video is easily "They Stood Up for Love" – both funky and fun, featuring an in-studio jam session cut with people putting bananas and beer into a blender. Previously unreleased tracks such as the Throwing Copper outtake "We Deal in Dreams" and a recent cover of Johnny Cash’s "I Walk the Line" highlight the CD, while "Dance With You" emerges as a single that should have been.

Grade: A

Awake: The Best of Live is currently available.