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 Britney Spears The Singles Collection features 17 of her 29 singles. (Handout) |
Deck the malls with best-of CDs,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la,
And greatest-hits anthologies,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la,
Some are cool but some are trash,
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la, la, la,
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Read this before you waste your cash,
Fa-la-la-la-la — less talk, more rock.
The Apples
in Stereo
#1 Hits Explosion
****
Cult hero Robert Schneider is best known for his Colbert cameos — but his psychedelic pop-rock is the star of this ironically titled anthology.
Years: 1995-2007
Hits: Energy and Can You Feel It? would top the charts in a better world.
Extras: One soundtrack rarity.
Big & Rich
Greatest Hits
***
The iconoclastic Nashville duo collect their singles, padded out with highlights from three albums and two EPs.
Years: 2003-’08
Hits: Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), Lost in This Moment
Extras: The Statlers-style honky-tonker The Man I Am Right Now.
Blind Boys of Alabama
Duets
***1/2
Clarence Fountain’s gospel outfit has shared a mic with everyone from Asleep at the Wheel to Ben Harper. Here are some recent collaborations.
Years: 1994-2009
Hits: None — but cameos by Bonnie Raitt and Solomon Burke compensate.
Extras: Duets with Toots Hibbert, John Hammond and a sublime Lou Reed.
Britney Spears
The Singles Collection
***1/2
Brit-Brit dishes up 17 of her 29 singles — plus a DVD of videos to go with, depending on which edition you buy. The box set version has everything.
Years: 1999-2009
Hits: ...Baby One More Time, Womanizer
Extras: The new menage a trois homage 3.
D.O.A.
Kings of Punk,
Hockey and Beer
***1/2
That title describes every song by these punk icons — though this is weighted toward recent tunes about sports and brews.
Years: 1986-2009
Hits: A demo for their cover
of Takin’ Care of Business.
Extras: New versions of Stompin’ Tom’s Hockey Song and Freddie Blassie’s Pencil Neck Geek; a 1995 outtake.
Enya
The Very Best of
**
Years ago, a friend’s house was burgled. The consolation? “They took the Enya CDs!” laughed the victim’s girlfriend. They broke up — but Enya is still spinning Celtic lullabies.
Years: 1988-2008
Hits: Orinoco Flow, Only Time
Extras: A Lord of the Rings soundtrack cut, an outtake and a DVD.
Foo Fighters
Greatest Hits
***
Reportedly, Dave Grohl is unhappy with this contractual-obligation release. Since it’s missing I’ll Stick Around, Stacked Actors and more, it’s hard to disagree.
Years: 1995-2009
Hits: Best of You, All My Life
Extras: Two so-so new cuts — the folk-rocker Wheels and the chugging Word Forward — plus an acoustic version of Everlong.
Rory Gallagher
Crest of a Wave: The Best of
***1/2
Another year, another two-disc anthology devoted to the late great Irish blues-rock guitar hero. Next year, how about a box set?
Years: 1971-1990
Hits: Tattoo’d Lady, Calling Card, Shinkicker and others are essentials for guitarists and blues lovers.
Extras: Nothing.
k-os
The Thrill: A Journey So Far
***
Well, not quite the whole journey — this disc focuses on the hip-hopper’s first three albums for his old label EMI.
Years: 2002-’09
Hits: Crabbuckit, Sunday Morning
Extras: The recent rarity Dance in Your Car, plus a few remixes and radio edits.
Lighthouse
40 Years of Sunny Days
***1/2
Canadian drummer Skip Prokop and his jazz-rock big band serve up remastered versions of 16 ’70s classics.
Years: 1970-2009
Hits: One Fine Morning, Sunny Days
Extras: A live DVD with recent performances of the same tunes on the CD.
Vera Lynn
We’ll Meet Again:
The Very Best Of
**
This compilation of decades-old hits from the British Second World War songbird — still going strong at 92 — recently topped U.K. charts.
Years: 1936-1952
Hits: We’ll Meet Again, White Cliffs of Dover
Extras: Zilch — not even liner notes.
Madonna
Celebration
****
Madge’s third anthology comes in several editions: A one-disc package, a two-CD edition, a digital version and a two-DVD set of videos.
Years: 1983-2009
Hits: Pretty much all of them.
Extras: The double-CD has the new title single and Revolver, a collaboration with Lil Wayne.
Morrissey
Swords
***1/2
The former Smiths frontman has been on a creative upswing for the last few years — so it’s a treat to complete the picture with this collection of 18 B-sides from the singles off his last three albums. Now, can anyone explain why Moz wears two watches?
Years: 2004-’08
Hits: Nothing, obviously.
Extras: Everything, really.
Mötley Crüe
Greatest Hits
***
Four compilations in 10 years is too many — especially when the only new addition here is one tune from the L.A. sleaze-rockers’ latest CD.
Years: 1981-2008
Hits: Dr. Feelgood, Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room
Extras: Just a pointless remix of Saints’ The Animal in Me.
Otis Redding
The Best: See & Hear
***1/2
True to its title, this two-disc retrospective combines one CD of the usual Memphis soul classics with a DVD of killer 1967 performances.
Years: 1963-’68
Hits: (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, Try a Little Tenderness
Extras: Nothing — but the DVD more than makes up for it
Rush
Working Men
***
For their fourth comp of this decade, the Canadian prog-rock trio collect a dozen live cuts from their Rush in Rio, R30 and Snakes and Arrows albums.
Years: 2003-’08
Hits: Limelight, Tom Sawyer
Extras: A previously unreleased One Little Victory from 2005.
Snow Patrol
Up to Now
***1/2
A two-CD comp from this relatively obscure British indie-rock band may seem excessive — until you realize it’s also available as a box with LPs, DVDs, a book and lithograph.
Years: 1998-2009
Hits: Run, Chasing Cars
Extras: Three cuts you haven’t heard — like most of the other cuts.
Andy Williams
Moon River: The Very Best of
**1/2
Ancient crooner Williams was once known as The American Idol. So feel free to give this to your teenager instead of the Adam Lambert CD.
Years: 1957-’72
Hits: Um, Moon River, Butterfly
Extras: One non-album rarity and a stereo version of Battle Hymn of the Republic. Try to contain yourself.
“Weird Al” Yankovic
The Essential
***
If you believe pop parodist Weird Al really has enough “essential” songs to fill a two-disc set, you must be a member of the Yankovic family.
Years: 1983-2006
Hits: Eat It, White & Nerdy
Extras: Nothing — guess there was no room next to all those essentials.