# [alt-country] [I would boycott it even if not because (1) it's padded to make it a double LP, (2) it has a 15 minute representation of Tweedy's migraines, and (3) it has another 10 minute long over-indulgence. Shitcan those two long "songs," and you have a really good 42 minute album.]
Essentially contains 3 from Suffer, 4 from Generator, 5 from No Control and 7 from Against the Grain. I'll review the first two separately. The last two I listened to 3 times each and would probably give them both a 7.5 (high B+), which means in the normal course I would buy them. By the way, the fact that they are the most represented on this album is further proof that these two are their best.
Anyway, on No Control, this contains 5 of 15 songs, so it includes 1/3 of what is essentially an EP at 26:14. It also contains all the best songs off that album, so I'm not buying what is essentially an EP at full price to get 17 minutes of its lesser songs.
The 7 songs from Against the Grain are 7 of that album's 17 songs. This leaves off all songs on AG that are under 1:54 and only three over 2:15. The 7 songs clock in at 17:36, which is more than half of the 34:56 album, and it's obviously the better half, so I won't be buying that one either.
In summary, All Ages make No Control and Against the Grain redundant.
Digital-only [Contains Tetradactyl in its entirety]
I like this a hair better than Too Much Pressure by The Selecter. Of course I have the necessary albums by The Specials, and would add those two, but they are strangely not available. The Specials' albums are all in print and available at reasonable prices, which confirms my choices. In the end, I will add This Are Two Tone to the collection to help fill some of the gaps. I thought about the more comprehensive The 2 Tone Collection: A Checkered Past, but it's a fatbox. # [ska/two tone]
Basically 5 songs from Play, 4 from 18, 3 from Hotel, a couple remixes, live tracks, a new single, etc. Since I already have Play, buying this would mean buying it for 7 songs from 18 and Hotel. Doesn’t seem worth it for an A- greatest hits that is essentially a weird hodgepodge. And I don’t like the extra remix disc as much as Christgau apparently did.
:-) [Vocals are irritating; music a little one-note. Five listens.]
I would buy this, but it's live, there's Soukous in Central Park, this is an expensive import, and it's a "limited edition" CD.
:-) [I listened to this alot with a friend of mine when it came out. Played once again to evaluate. Possibly a 7 (B+) but # [live]. I'm going to try Classics Live II.]
Had to pick this up as an essential adjunct to their masterpiece, Penthouse. I also like the humorous reference to the Kids soundtrack. One of my favorite movies, very close to my teenage years in NYC a decade earlier. Soundtrack's pretty good too. [Two songs repeated on Lunafied]
The only songs on here that are not on disc 2 of Best of Luna (import version) - "Happy New Year" and "Fly Into the Mystery" - are okay (listened three times), but I can do without them. And disc 2 has several songs not on this, so I'm going to try to find a reasonably priced copy of the Best of Luna import.
:-) [An important album in my youth. Listened to it again just now and this is where I end up.]
[Two titular songs from Penthouse, plus two songs on Lunafied, which I'm getting as the second disc of an import version of Best of Luna.]
I'm not qualified to rate jazz. Liked this though - sounded kind of like Monk, rather than Duke.
I don't buy multi-artists compilations at this level.
:-) [On many "best live album" lists]
Don't buy multi-artists comps at B+, generally.
# [go-go] See review of comp Go Go Crankin'. [Confusingly, there is also a later, perhaps unofficial, compilation from 2008 with the same name.]
:-) [Annoying title; even more annoying delivery] [five listens]
In retrospect, I probably would have been better off with the single disc distillation of this called User's Guide. This goes on for a little long for me. But I have this, the single disc is OOP, and I'll give them the shelf space. Plus it got 5 stars in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (from J.D. Considine, okay, but still, and he clearly is not a rabid fan).
# [college pop] [Christgau and Hull both gave this a full A, so I guess I'm the one with no taste, plus I already own it, so I'm keeping it.]
:-) [Very traditional blues]
:-) [Could be a B+, but # [pub rock] even if so, plus it's not available on CD anyway, except with extra tracks]
Looked into Jimi one-disc comps. I'll stick with Smash Hits. This one, generally considered the best, has nothing not on Voodoo Child and the regular issue albums, except the studio version of Red House from the UK edition of the debut. In the end, the gestalt doesn’t hang together because it spans so much stylistically.
