The Band was a very album-oriented group, and only had two Top 40 hit singles. So one could argue that a single-disc greatest hits compilation, or best-of anthology as this might more properly be called, is not the optimum way to dig into their repertoire. But if you're limiting yourself to one Band collection and your budget or patience does not ...
For over 20 years, Bob Seger was one of the best mainstream rock & rollers in America, developing a distinctive body of honest, hard-rocking songs. More songs than can be put on this single-disc set, unfortunately. While many of Seger's trademarks are here -- "Turn the Page," "Old Time Rock & Roll," "Night Moves" -- there is no "Rock and Roll ...
The Now series is known for crossing the boundaries of record labels in its attempt to provide definitive collections of hits -- usually from contemporary hits, but also of different eras and styles from the past (at least in its U.K. incarnation). Thankfully, the double-disc, 36-track collection Now That's What I Call Christmas! lives up to the ...
In 2003, when "deluxe editions" and "definitive collections" were the name of the game in reissues, it was refreshing to see Bob Seger's defiantly retro Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 hit the shelves. The title and the approach hark back to the days when a hits compilation was followed a few years later by a supplement, covering roughly the same territory ...
The record industry's blatantly greedy ploy of remastering and "upgrading" CDs is shameful. The sonics are usually improved, but the CDs could have been mastered properly the first time. But then fans wouldn't buy the same titles twice. The Allman Brothers Band's indispensable compilation A Decade of Hits 1969-1979 was reissued in 2000, just nine ...
Under the Table and Dreaming, the Dave Matthews Band's first major-label album, was their popular breakthrough, bringing their mildly eclectic sound to a mass audience. Although the group appeals to the same audience as Blues Traveler, Hootie & the Blowfish, and the Spin Doctors, the Dave Matthews Band has more influences than their peers. Fusing ...
Since Pure Disco was a success, Mercury decided to assemble a sequel, Pure Funk. Like its predecessor, Pure Funk is a terrific 20-track collection of funk classics, from Rick James"Super Freak" to Parliament's "Flashlight." A couple of songs are marginally funk -- it's hard to call the kitsch-fest "Kung Fu Fighting" or Earth, Wind & Fire's sultry ...
The Dave Matthews Band made their reputation through touring, spending endless nights on the road improvising. Often, their records hinted at the eclecticism and adventure inherent in those improvisation, but Before These Crowded Streets is the first album to fully capture that adventurous spirit. Not coincidentally, it's their least accessible ...
Pure Disco contains 12" mixes and remixes of classic dance and disco songs from the late '70s, including "I Love the Nightlife," "I Will Survive," "Celebration," "That's the Way (I Like It)," "Funkytown," "YMCA," and "Dancing Queen." Though there are a few original versions of these singles on the disc, most of it is comprised of remixes, which ...
The soundtrack to the sequel for Eddie & the Cruisers follows the basic blueprint of John Cafferty's songs for the first film -- they're all high-energy, pounding three-chord rock & roll, sounding a bit like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger. There may not be a song as good as "The Dark Side," but the music is still enjoyable for hardcore fans of the ...
Instead of breaking from his high-energy, high-voltage blues-rock, Kenny Wayne Shepherd offers more of the same on his second album, Trouble Is... While the record lacks the surprise and impact of Ledbetter Heights, it's clear that Shepherd is growing as a guitarist, developing a cleaner, more nuanced technique. He still suffers from the lack of ...
Billboard Top Hits: 1979 offers a solid cross-section of what was in retrospect a really good year for pop radio. With disco still at its commercial zenith, dance hits like the Village People's "Y.M.C.A.," Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell," and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" dominated airwaves, but there was also room for everything from power pop ...
Like all greatest-hits or best-of compilations, this one is missing some key ingredients, namely "S.O.S. (Dit Dit Dit Dat Dat Dat Dit Dit Dit)" and "Just the Way You Like It." Since the band didn't record tons of material and was only active a short time, the omissions are hard to fathom. It's not like they didn't have room on the CD; only ten ...
The best studio album in the group's history, electric blues with an acoustic texture, virtuoso lead, slide, and organ playing, and a killer selection of songs, including "Midnight Rider," "Revival," "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'," and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" in its embryonic studio version, which is pretty impressive even at a mere six minutes ...
A tribute to the dearly departed Duane, Eat a Peach rambles through two albums, running through a side of new songs, recorded post-Duane, spending a full album on live cuts from the Fillmore East sessions, then offering a round of studio tracks Duane completed before his death. On the first side, they do suggest the mellowness of the Dickey Betts ...
In conjunction with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' ten-part 2000 PBS special, Columbia/Legacy and Verve teamed up to issue a special series of reissues covering much of the history of 20th century jazz. The central release of this program is the five-CD box set Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music, its 94 selections covering the history ...
Live in Dublin by Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions band documents the final show of the group's long tour in support of the album that took them across the U.S. and Europe. Along with performances from the album itself, the show is peppered with Springsteen's own tunes. The deluxe double-CD contains 23 songs performed by a 17-piece band ...
Although there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary of Pure 80's, it nevertheless is a good, basic collection of 20 new wave hits, highlighted by such classics as "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Our House," "Relax," "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," "Video Killed the Radio Star," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," and Soft Cell's timeless ...
With all due respect to the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, it took the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with this album to come up with a merger of rock and country music that worked for both sides and everyone involved. The opening number, "The Grand Ole Opry Song," set the tone for the album, showing that this band -- for all of their origins in ...
No other band in rock's history went to such great lengths to shut down bootleggers as the Dave Matthews Band. They shut down stores that sold live boots of Matthews' concerts and they shut down labels that pressed the bootlegs, essentially crippling the underground industry. That didn't stop the boots completely, however, and Matthews finally ...
Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s. His debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, saw ...
Zydeco is the favored social and dance music of Louisiana's Creole population, who are the descendants of African and Afro-Caribbean slaves and free people of color. The related Cajun style occupies a similar place in the lives of a nearby white community, whose ancestors were a colony of French settlers called Acadians. Creoles are proud of their ...
Edwin McCain's second album, Misguided Roses, doesn't differ greatly from his debut. It has the same jangly, anthemic rock that made his music a favorite of such contemporaries as Hootie & the Blowfish, only with a slightly heftier electric kick. His songwriting and singing have improved and the best moments on Misguided Roses surpass those on ...
Like many Rhino compilations, this is geared more to the novice or the casual fan than the aficionado, but that's not a criticism. If someone wants a basic primer of the bluegrass sound past and present that manages to be accessible and avoid unduly clichéd track selection, this 18-song compilation fits the bill well. Most of the biggest names are ...
Greatest Hits 1974-1978 collects the majority of Steve Miller's biggest hits -- "The Joker," "Take the Money and Run," "Rock 'n Me," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Jet Airliner," "Jungle Love," "Swingtown" -- and seven album tracks that received a fair amount of airplay on album rock radio. The collection only covers a total of three albums -- The Joker, ...
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