| Dontcha think it’s a little presumptuous of artists to include new tunes on best-of collections?
Along with 14 previously released songs, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have included two new tracks on their Greatest Hits album (Warner). "Fortune Faded" and "Save The Population" fit more closely with later, more melodic tracks like "By The Way" and "Californication" than with the rhythmic onslaughts of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, but they’re still distinctively Chili Peppers tunes. The rest of the tracks are decidedly familiar, given the massive radio impact they’ve had since the release of Mother’s Milk in 1989 – consider that "Higher Ground," "Suck My Kiss," "Give It Away," "Under The Bridge" and "My Friends" (the only Dave Navarro-era song) are all here.
In addition, three of the current band members have provided their musings on the state of Pepperdom in the CD’s liner notes. There are extensive stream-of-consciousness notes from bassist Flea, slightly shorter and less rambling thoughts from guitarist John Frusciante, and a to-the-point missive from drummer Chad Smith, but singer Anthony Kiedis is noticeably absent. In the end, Greatest Hits delivers what it promises – although it’s something you can get on your radio for free.
Canadian chanteuse Amanda Marshall has also included two new tracks on Intermission: The Singles Collection (Sony). The project has an interesting premise – Marshall sees this album as the closure of the first part of her musical career. To this end, she’s compiled the 14 singles from her first three albums (released between 1995 and 2001), which include hits "Let It Rain," "Dark Horse" and "Everybody’s Got A Story," as well as lesser-known songs "Shades Of Gray" and "Double Agent." And in a thoughtful move designed to bring the new songs up to the sing-along status of the hits, the producers have kindly included the lyrics for "Cross My Heart" and "Until We Fall In" in the liner booklet.
Marshall has always had a strong, powerful voice – it’s a rock-soul hybrid that jumps out of the speakers. But her material’s never really grabbed me – it seems to fade into the background awfully quickly. It’ll be interesting to see what she does on the second leg of her musical journey.
Doubling the new-song pleasure of the best-ofs mentioned above, Tori Amos has snuck four new tracks onto Tales of a Librarian (Atlantic). Of these four, "Angels" and "Sweet Dreams" are the most interesting, with "Mary" and "Snow Cherries From France" falling into somewhat predictable Tori territory.
Thematically, the album is based around the Dewey Decimal System, and includes a short biography of inventor Melvin Dewey. Organizationally, this is a bit of a problem, as the lyrics for the songs aren’t arranged by track order, but by Dewey Decimal "subject." Thus, "Cornflake Girl" is filed under 177 (Ethics of Social Relations (Betrayal)), "Me And A Gun" under 362.8 (Act Of Rape), and "Professional Widow" under 595 (Spiders). With 20 songs in total, this is certainly a comprehensive collection, as one might expect from a well-stocked library.
As singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo has been ill with hepatitis C for a while, it’s unfortunate – but not really surprising – that there’s no new material on the two-disc reissue of his 1996 album With These Hands (Rykodisc).
The original album, contained on the first disc, features rockers "Put You Down" and the aural onslaught of "Little Bottles," as well as the alt-country touch of Escovedo’s duet with Willie Nelson on "Nickel And A Spoon" and the driving south-of-the-border rhythms of the title track. It’s also got some surprising touches for a roots-rock record, like the inclusion of harp, bass clarinet, and prepared piano in the arrangements.
When it came to the bonus disc, I wondered about the need for two live versions each of "Put You Down," "Crooked Frame" and "Pissed Off 2 A.M." But I was happy to find out that they’re very different interpretations – there’s a standard rock set from the South by Southwest festival in Austin, and an acoustic set (augmented with a small string section) which was recorded at a radio session in Boulder, Colorado. Other live tracks include versions of "One More Time" and "Pyramid of Tears," which were originally released on Escovedo’s 1992 solo debut Gravity, and "The End," from 1994’s Thirteen Years.
The liner material is a little sloppy – it could be better written and organized, and more information about the tracks that weren’t on the original album, like "Can’t Take It" and the hidden instrumental jam, would be nice. All in all, though, this reissue should make both old and new fans pretty happy. |
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