"Better Than" is an alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 single/extended play

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 by Australian jam band

Jam band

-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...

 The John Butler Trio from their fourth studio album, Grand National

Grand National (album)

Grand National is the fourth album by the John Butler Trio. Somewhere between 22 to 25 songs were considered for this album, some created during or before Sunrise Over Sea....

. Produced by John Butler

John Butler (musician)

John Charles Wiltshire-Butler or John Charles Butler is an Australian musician, songwriter, record label owner and producer...

 and Mario Caldato Jr.

Mario Caldato Jr.

Mario Caldato, Jr. is a Brazilian record producer and studio engineer best known for his work with the Beastie Boys and Tone Loc. Born February 24, 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, he and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1963...

, it was released in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on 20 February 2007 as an online single, the third single in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and the first overseas single from the album.

The EP includes two previously unreleased tracks recorded in the Grand National sessions, and a special radio mix version of "Better Than" from US sound man, Chris Lord-Alge

Chris Lord-Alge

Chris Lord-Alge is a mixer who has worked on various albums. He is the brother of Tom Lord-Alge, another audio engineer. Chris Lord-Alge is known for his extreme use of dynamic range compression in both hardware and software plug-in versions....

.

The EP debuted at number sixteen in the ARIA Singles Chart

ARIA Charts

The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 on 3 September 2007. "Better Than" was also popular in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2007

Triple J Hottest 100, 2007

The 2007 Triple J Hottest 100 was announced on Australia Day, 26 January 2008. It was the fifteenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J....

 being voted at #4 and appearing on the compilation CD.

On 31 July 2007 the song was performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Butler

John Butler (musician)

John Charles Wiltshire-Butler or John Charles Butler is an Australian musician, songwriter, record label owner and producer...

Personnel

The John Butler Trio

• John Butler – vocals, acoustic/amplified 6 string guitar, harmonica
• Shannon Birchall – double bass, backing vocals
• Michael Barker – drums, congas, shaker, tambourine, cow bells, vibraslap, backing vocals

Production credits

• John Butler – producer
• Mario Caldato Jr. – producer, engineer, mixing
• Shannon Birchall – co-producer
• Michael Barker – co-producer
• Jarrad Hearman – assistant engineer
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Tom Walker – artwork