Another dip into the vault. 1998 live performances by Rob Flowers and myself.
"Blown Away" - the 'single' from our '98 CD and the source of this blog's name.
"Soda Jerk" - our cover of the Buffalo Tom song.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Friday, October 24, 2014
If You’re Only Going to Buy One Greatest Hits Set From… The Who
Like Elton John, The Who showed remarkable restraint during the bulk of
their recording career in terms of releasing greatest hits sets to the
public. Unlike Elton, however, The Who
hasn’t maintained this restraint during the CD era.
“Substitute” (non-album single)
“Happy Jack” (A Quick One/Happy Jack)
“I Can See for Miles” (The Who Sell Out)
“Pinball Wizard” (Tommy)
“See Me, Feel Me” (live, from The Kids Are Alright soundtrack)
“Summertime Blues” (live, from Live at Leeds)
“Baba O”Riley” (Who’s Next)
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” (Who’s Next)
“Join Together” (non-album single)
“The Real Me” (Quadrophenia)
“Love Reign O’Er Me” (Quadrophenia)
“Squeeze Box” (The Who By Numbers)
“Who Are You” (Who Are You)
“You Better, You Bet” (Face Dances)
“Eminence Front” (It’s Hard)
“Dig” (from The Iron Man, the Townshend album mentioned above, but it is Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle)
As for solo greatest hits sets:
Since 1989, MCA/Geffen, now part of Universal/Polydor (which is also
Elton’s label) has released five
single-disk collections, a pair of two-disk sets, and a box set. During that time, the band has recorded one
entire album (Endless Wire), and by
my count, six additional songs (“Dig” and “Fire” on Pete Townshend’s The Iron Man album, “Saturday Night’s
Alright for Fighting” for an Elton John tribute disk, “Real Good Looking Boy”
and “Old Red Wine” for the single-disk Then
and Now!, and “Be Lucky” for The Who Hits 50!, to be released October
27.)
The Who had 23 Top 40 hits in the U.K. (“Substitute” made it twice) and
15 in the U.S., so a one-disk versus a two-disk set is debatable. On the other hand, some of their most
important songs weren’t Top 40 hits (“The Kids Are Alright,” “Baba O’Riley,” “Love
Reign O’Er Me”), while some lesser songs did hit the chart (“Magic Bus,” “Relay”). So, tread carefully, and go for the studio
albums if you can.
The best option easily obtainable:
Greatest
Hits
Nine bucks for a one-disk set on Amazon is always good, and it’s $6.99
for the download as I write this (Amazon’s prices change like the weather,
however). It’s sometimes found with a
disk worth of live versions, which I assume would boost the price considerably.
If you need a two-disk set, The Who: The Ultimate Collection is
currently $11.88 for the two-disk set on Amazon, but $18.99 for the download (see
above comment on Amazon’s pricing policies, and be grateful I can’t find my
soapbox right now). My feeling, however, is that while one disk worth of Who
hits may not be enough, two may be too much.
(Four songs from Face Dances?)
And now, the endless list of Who anthologies:
- Magic Bus
(The Who on Tour) was a typical-of-the-era ripoff record from 1968 courtesy
of Decca Records in America (Track Records in the U.K. did not have a similar
album), which included a few assorted A- and B-sides, three songs from the
previously released A Quick One and The Who Sell Out albums to fill it up,
and a title that made buyers think it was live (it wasn’t). The band was not happy about this release,
and it hasn’t been available in the U.S. in years.
-
Meaty
Beaty Big and Bouncy (1971)was an oddly timed greatest hits set (it came
out just two months after Who’s Next)
that most people my age owned on vinyl instead of their first three studio
albums and the aforementioned Magic Bus. (I did buy a twofer of A Quick One and Sell Out
at a book fair for a dollar.) It may be
one of the oldest rock greatest hits sets still in print today, and it’s just
five dollars for the download on Amazon (although it’s $24.99 for the physical
CD – no, Amazon isn’t trying to corner the digital market; why would you
suggest that?). On vinyl, it was a
terrific deal, especially since a few of the songs weren’t on any other album;
on CD at this point, well, it’s okay, but just keep in mind the only songs
later than “Magic Bus” are “Pinball Wizard” and the 1970 single “The Seeker.”
-
Odds and
Sods (1973) isn’t a hits set at all; it’s basically outtakes and alternate
versions. It’s a common practice among
record labels now to drop a few alternate versions or outtakes on catalogue
rereleases to gin up sales; it’s certainly wasn’t common in the ‘70s. Who’s
Missing and Two’s Missing, both
from the 1980s, are similar, but the latter two are harder to find today; many
of the songs on the three disks have been sprinkled on CD rereleases as bonus
tracks.
-
Hooligans
(1981) is a two-disk set that MCA (Decca’s successor label) released after the
band jumped ship for Warner Brothers starting with Face Dances. Actually, this
would have been a good match with Meaty
Beaty, as only three songs overlap, but it’s long out of print.
-
The Who’s
Greatest Hits (1983) is a one-disk album after the band apparently broke up
that covers most of the high points. Now
out of print.
-
I actually like the selection on Who’s Better, Who’s Best (1989) considerably
better than Greatest Hits. It includes “You Better You Bet” (apparently
the two Warner Brothers LPs moved to MCA/Geffen’s control at this point), so it’s
pretty all encompassing. Still available
on Amazon, but it’s nearly 20 dollars for the disk, and there’s no download
option, which may mean that they’re clearing out inventory.
-
Thirty
Years of Maximum R&B (1994) is a four-disk box set that I’ve listened
to maybe once or twice in 10 years. All
the hits, lots of live versions, and plenty of oddities (four songs by their
earlier incarnation as The High Numbers), but way too much for the casual
listener. If you really want to hear
Abbie Hoffman berate the crowd at Woodstock and then get literally kicked off
the stage by Townshend, then be my guest.
But for me, the breaking point was the two-part “Life With the Moons,”
which apparently was dropped in to remind us how crazeee Keith Moon was
offstage, but really only makes me think of how sad his story is. Still in print, however.
-
My
Generation: The Very Best of The Who (1996) is very confusingly titled (the
band’s first studio album is My
Generation, which is still in print), but has a fine track selection for a
one-disk set. However (stop me if you’ve
heard this), it’s out of print.
-
20th
Century Masters: The Best of The Who – The Millennium Collection (1999)
contains ten whole songs, sequenced more or less at random. This should only be bought if you’re at a
truck stop, have nothing left to play that you haven’t already heard five times
already, and have hundreds of miles to go before you get to your destination
(and no radio stations come in clearly).
Even then, don’t pay more than six bucks for it.
-
Then and
Now! (2004 and 2007) comes in two different versions (the latter substitutes
“Baba O’Riley” and the recent “It’s Not Enough” for the live “Summertime Blues”
and “Old Red Wine”). I think both are
just about out of print today, although there are still copies in stores.
-
Pinball
Wizard: The Collection (2012) is a U.K.-only one-disk set which I normally
wouldn’t bother mentioning, but I actually have a copy (got it in York for
£2.99 when I bought two-CDs hits sets from The Small Faces and Chris Rea,
neither of which I would have ever found in the States). Another shuffle of hits with the usual
questionable choices (what the hell is “Batman” doing here?). Liner notes also apparently aren’t always
accurate, either, but that’s becoming more common as the years pass with legacy
acts.
-
The Who Hits
50! (2014) is forthcoming, and looks overpriced at nineteen dollars; this
is probably being issued to goose sales for the upcoming tour. Contains one new song, “Be Lucky.”
My one-disk compilation, which I made for the car, is as follows (original
album in parentheses):
“I Can’t Explain” (My Generation)
“My Generation” (My Generation)
“The Kids Are Alright” (My
Generation)“Substitute” (non-album single)
“Happy Jack” (A Quick One/Happy Jack)
“I Can See for Miles” (The Who Sell Out)
“Pinball Wizard” (Tommy)
“See Me, Feel Me” (live, from The Kids Are Alright soundtrack)
“Summertime Blues” (live, from Live at Leeds)
“Baba O”Riley” (Who’s Next)
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” (Who’s Next)
“Join Together” (non-album single)
“The Real Me” (Quadrophenia)
“Love Reign O’Er Me” (Quadrophenia)
“Squeeze Box” (The Who By Numbers)
“Who Are You” (Who Are You)
“You Better, You Bet” (Face Dances)
“Eminence Front” (It’s Hard)
“Dig” (from The Iron Man, the Townshend album mentioned above, but it is Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle)
As for solo greatest hits sets:
-
Roger Daltrey’s released eight solo albums and
has charted eight singles in Billboard
(although only one, “Without Your Love,” made Top 40). He’s somehow gotten five hits collections out
of that, although none appear to still be in print or available for
download. I have Gold, a two-CD set which is definitely too much (although I didn’t
pay much for the album, as I recall).
Daltrey has written less than a half-dozen songs to my knowledge and he
plays only a little rhythm guitar, so he’s pretty much at the mercy of whoever
he’s working with. I would have been
interested in his take on “Born to Run,” but apparently the track configuration
was shuffled around on my copy.
-
All of Townshend’s solo albums are out of print
– I’m wondering if he’s getting full rights back somewhere down the line. The only thing available is the 17-track The Definitive Collection for download,
which has all the basics. I have 1996’s The Best of Pete Townshend, which has a
similar track selection and is perfectly representative. (Of course, I also have a bunch of his solo
albums and a few of the Scoop demo
albums as well, and I’m gnashing my teeth that I can’t get Rough Mix, his album with ex-Face Ronnie Lane.)
-
John Entwistle released a pile of solo albums,
but almost everything is out of print, as are three different greatest hits
sets, some of which may be U.K.-only releases.
I’m really not familiar with his solo stuff.
-
And Keith Moon did record a solo album, Two Sides of the Moon, which astonishingly
is available for download, with piles and piles of alternate takes. He only plays drums on three songs, and based
on the one song I’ve heard him warble (“When I’m 64,” on the All This and World War II soundtrack,
not included here) he’s no singer, so this may be for uberfanatics only.
Friday, October 17, 2014
If You're Only Going to Buy One Greatest Hits Set From... Elton John
For somebody who’s been around as long as he has (“Your Song,”
his first hit, came out in 1970) and has been as popular as he’s been (54 US
Top 40 hits between 1970 and 1999), Elton John has been remarkably restrained
when it comes to greatest hits sets.
This is especially astonishing given his catalogue is with
Universal/Polygram in the United States, which usually never misses an
opportunity to reshuffle songs and release them on an unsuspecting public (ever
notice how many Abba greatest hits sets there are in your local store?).
However, since Elton’s been around for so long, trying to find one all-encompassing set is a problem. By my count, only seven greatest hits sets exist from him (that are still in print), and three are period-specific from certain points in his career. At the same time, a single-disk set probably won’t do him justice.
I don’t love the cover – all the artwork around for this guy, and you grab an old photo, have a designer do a Photoshop touchup, and put it on a white background? It looks better than some of those “album covers” of rerecordings on Amazon that were done by slapping Microsoft Word Art over a picture of a sunset, but not by much.
That said, this is pretty well chosen. Only two top 10 studio hits are missed (“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Mama Can’t Buy You Love”), and almost everything’s in chronological order (“I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” and “Nikita” are reversed). There’s also a bonus disk with some versions that include the hit versions of “Candle in the Wind” (the 1987 one, not the Princess Diana version) and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with George Michael. And at $13.88 on Amazon ($16.49 for the download), it’s priced reasonably.
Other options:
Again, you may not need to get 1970-2002 if you’ve got some of the other hits sets, although it’s the only decent one to represent his ‘90s output. Here’s a handy comparison (this is all of his American chart hits):
However, since Elton’s been around for so long, trying to find one all-encompassing set is a problem. By my count, only seven greatest hits sets exist from him (that are still in print), and three are period-specific from certain points in his career. At the same time, a single-disk set probably won’t do him justice.
So, I don’t actually have
this, because I have most of his original albums – but here’s what I would get:
Greatest Hits 1970-2002
I don’t love the cover – all the artwork around for this guy, and you grab an old photo, have a designer do a Photoshop touchup, and put it on a white background? It looks better than some of those “album covers” of rerecordings on Amazon that were done by slapping Microsoft Word Art over a picture of a sunset, but not by much.
That said, this is pretty well chosen. Only two top 10 studio hits are missed (“Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Mama Can’t Buy You Love”), and almost everything’s in chronological order (“I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” and “Nikita” are reversed). There’s also a bonus disk with some versions that include the hit versions of “Candle in the Wind” (the 1987 one, not the Princess Diana version) and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” with George Michael. And at $13.88 on Amazon ($16.49 for the download), it’s priced reasonably.
Other options:
- Greatest
Hits, which came out back in 1974, is still in print, and if you’re like
me, you have it on vinyl. It’s still
wall-to-wall solid. You might have Greatest Hits Volume II on vinyl as
well, but the CD version is probably different – ownership issues forced MCA to
take out “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”
for “Tiny Dancer” and “I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)” in the
early 1990s. (All of Elton’s songs are
now co-owned by him and Universal/Polygram, but they’ve elected to keep the
track listing on this and the subsequent Greatest
Hits 1976-1986 as they’ve been since 1992.)
- Greatest
Hits 1976-1986 was a substitute for Greatest
Hits Volume III when the aforementioned licensing issues came up. If you’re
jonesing to hear the latter, don’t; most of the contents are the same, and you’re
not missing anything if you don’t have “Heartache All Over the World,” which
was not a big hit and was recorded at one of Elton’s lowest points.
- Love Songs
actually has quite a few songs not on other greatest hits sets, but my
philosophy is “Avoid any compilation called Love
Songs by any artist.”
- To Be
Continued… is Elton’s box set, circa 1992.
It was out of print for a long time (again, those licensing issues), and
then went back into print in the mid-2000s, and may be close to being out of
print again (it’s over a hundred dollars on Amazon, although $39.99 for the
download). Great set – almost all Top 20
hits are represented, lots of alternate versions and curios. Defensively titled (I think Elton thought
only has-beens released box sets at that point), and, of course, nothing after
1992, so you won’t find “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” on this one. If you can find it somewhere cheap, it’s
worth the bucks… until Elton releases a more complete box set down the road.
-
Rocket
Man: Number Ones (which is sometimes subtitled Definitive Hits) is a travesty. Falsely advertised (it’s missing “Something
About the Way You Look Tonight” from 1997, which hit #1 with the Princess Diana
version of “Candle in the Wind,” but it includes “Tiny Dancer,” which didn’t
even make Top 40), missing key songs (“Honky Cat,” “Someone Saved My Life
Tonight,” “The Bitch Is Back”), ignoring the 1980s altogether, and haphazardly
sequenced (chronological from 1970-1994, then back to “Your Song” and four more
songs from the early 1970s; it seems as if they forgot CDs run 80 minutes and
just threw more material on to fill), this reeks of a cash grab spearheaded by
a 26-year-old lower level exec who has never heard a single Elton John studio
album from start to finish. Given Greatest Hits 1970-2002 is less than
five bucks more for an additional disk, there’s absolutely, positively no
reason to ever buy this one.
By the way, no Elton John album contains “That's What Friends Are For,” the monster 1985 hit with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight, so no need to look.Again, you may not need to get 1970-2002 if you’ve got some of the other hits sets, although it’s the only decent one to represent his ‘90s output. Here’s a handy comparison (this is all of his American chart hits):
Greatest Hits
|
Greatest Hits Vol. II
|
Greatest Hits 1976-1986
|
To Be Continued
|
Greatest Hits 1970-2002
|
Rocket Man: Definitive Hits
|
||
Border
Song
|
1970
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||||
Your
Song
|
1971
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Friends
|
1971
|
Yes
|
|||||
Levon
|
1971
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Tiny
Dancer
|
1972
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Rocket
Man
|
1972
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Honky
Cat
|
1972
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Crocodile
Rock
|
1972
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Daniel
|
1973
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Saturday
Night's Alright for Fighting
|
1973
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road
|
1973
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Bennie
and the Jets
|
1974
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Don't
Let the Sun Go Down on Me
|
1974
|
Yes
|
live version
|
Yes
|
|||
The
Bitch Is Back
|
1974
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds
|
1974
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Philadelphia
Freedom
|
1975
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Someone
Saved My Life Tonight
|
1975
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Island
Girl
|
1975
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Grow
Some Funk of Your Own / I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)
|
1976
|
Yes
|
live version
|
||||
Don't
Go Breaking My Heart
|
1976
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Sorry
Seems to Be the Hardest Word
|
1976
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||
Bite
Your Lip (Get Up and Dance)
|
1977
|
||||||
Ego
|
1978
|
Yes
|
|||||
Part-Time
Love
|
1978
|
||||||
Mama
Can't Buy You Love
|
1979
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||||
Victim
of Love
|
1979
|
||||||
Little
Jeannie
|
1980
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Sartorial
Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More)
|
1980
|
||||||
Nobody
Wins
|
1981
|
||||||
Chloe
|
1981
|
Yes
|
|||||
Blue
Eyes
|
1982
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||||
Empty
Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)
|
1982
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||||
I Guess
That's Why They Call It the Blues
|
1983
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
I'm
Still Standing
|
1983
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Kiss
the Bride
|
1983
|
Yes
|
|||||
Sad
Songs (Say So Much)
|
1984
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Who
Wears These Shoes?
|
1984
|
Yes
|
|||||
In Neon
|
1984
|
||||||
Nikita
|
1985
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Wrap
Her Up
|
1985
|
Yes
|
|||||
Heartache
All Over the World
|
1986
|
||||||
Candle
in the Wind (live)
|
1987
|
Yes
|
|||||
I Don't
Wanna Go On With You Like That
|
1988
|
remix
|
Yes
|
||||
A Word
in Spanish
|
1988
|
||||||
Healing
Hands
|
1989
|
||||||
Sacrifice
|
1989
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|||
Club at
the End of the Street
|
1990
|
||||||
You
Gotta Love Someone
|
1990
|
Yes
|
|||||
Don't
Let the Sun Go Down on Me (w/ George Michael)
|
1991
|
Yes
|
|||||
The One
|
1992
|
Yes
|
|||||
The
Last Song
|
1992
|
||||||
Simple
Life
|
1993
|
||||||
True
Love
|
1993
|
||||||
Don't
Go Breaking My Heart (w/ RuPaul)
|
1993
|
||||||
Can You
Feel the Love Tonight
|
1994
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
||||
Circle
of Life
|
1994
|
Yes
|
|||||
Believe
|
1995
|
Yes
|
|||||
Made in
England
|
1995
|
||||||
Blessed
|
1996
|
Yes
|
|||||
You Can
Make History (Young Again)
|
1996
|
||||||
Something
About the Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 1997
|
1997
|
Yes
|
|||||
Recover
Your Soul
|
1998
|
||||||
Written
in the Stars
|
1999
|
Yes
|
|||||
Someday
Out of the Blue
|
2000
|
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