Search - Harry Chapin :: VH1 Behind the Music: The Harry Chapin Collection

First Single Disc Collection

T. C Lane | Marina, CA USA | 08/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If the Box set is too much for you and the Gold Medal Collection marred by live cuts of studio hits than this is where to start. The liner notes are brief, but the sound is excellent and all of his popular songs are here (covers the years 72-80). The studio version of W*O*L*D is here and the only live cut is "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" from 1976's Greatest Stories-Live. Chapin completists may find something missing. But for a single disc, this does the job, and is the best Harry Chapin collection on the market."

A brief sampler of the best of Harry Chapin from VH-1

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 09/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I suppose there are people who would be content to only have one Harry Chapin album in their CD collection, but I do not know any of those people. With Harry's music you either go all in, or you are happy with Ugly Kid Joe's cover of "Cat's in the Cradle" (although Judy Collins and Johnny Cash each have nice covers of Harry's only #1 song). For those of us who were hooked on Harry often and basically grew up listening to him ("Short Stories" was my album of choice for wallowing in despair by first semester of college), this album is totally superfluous. We have all of Harry's albums and "The Gold Medal Collection," which is a double-CD collection, already exists to indicate how far down you can boil his songs and remain faithful to his music. But if you have yet to get beyond what little there was to hear of Harry on AM radio and the Top 40, then his "VH1 Behind the Music Collection" can help you take the next step.



All of what counts for Harry Chapin's "hits" are here, so that is seems to be the key factor in choosing most of these tracks. Chronologically (which is now how they are on the album) that would be "Sunday Morning Sunshine" (#75) and "Taxi" (#24) from 1972, "Cat's in the Cradle" (#1) from 1974, "I Wanna Learn a Love Song" (#44) from 1975, "Better Place to Be (Parts 1 & 2)" (#86) from 1976, and "Sequel" (#23) from 1980. That is six of the thirteen tracks, and I have to admit I was surprised that "Taxi" did not make it higher, that "W*O*L*D" did not chart as a single, and that "Better Place to BE" was a single so many years after it was released. For the sake of argument, let us say that Billboard gets to determine the basics, but including "Better Place to Be" shows they know what songs were popular with Harry's fans as well. Including "Circle" shows they know how Harry ended his shows, which is why it should have been the last cut on the album.



For me the key song of the other seven is "Sniper," which I used in my classes to show what you can do musically with a song (counting the different musical themes and how this first great--and longest--Chapin story song was crafted). "Corey's Coming" is another good example of Chapin's particular brand of hopeful romanticism, but I think that "If My Mary Were Here" is a step below that. "(Redeemer) When the Music" is a fitting epilogue and maybe an even better choice for the final track if you want to end on a poignant note. But this album decides to leave with everybody happy and the fun live version of "30,000 pounds of bananas." Fair enough.



So, what is the verdict? I cannot quibble with ten of the thirteen songs selected. "Sunday Morning Sunshine" has always just been an okay song for me, even if it was Harry's first single, I would rather listen to "Taxi" ten times for every time I listen to "Sequel," and I have several songs I would rather have here than "If My Mary Were Here" (the one song here that is not on "The Gold Medal Collection"). My first replacement choice is "Mr. Tanner," with Big John Wallace adding the tender vocal counterpoint. I would also go with "The Rock" and "Flowers are Red," although I could just as easily go with "Tangled Up Puppet," "Shooting Star" or "Dance Band on the Titanic." For that matter I really like "There Only Was One Choice," but that is a 14-minute track and we would have to do some serious blood letting to make room. But at this point my only real argument is that while this CD does have the cream of the crop (enough to justify rounding up), there is still more Harry Chapin music worth listening to out there. Seek and find."

A good compilation

Lawrance M. Bernabo | 08/29/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While this cd does include some of the lesser known songs by harry ie sunday morning sunshine. it would be very easy to overlook this as an underachievment but its really not when you consider that for the casual fan it incorporates a lot of his different work, and is very easy to like.Although in my opinion if you really want to know where harry was at his best, you need the live album, it truly demonstrated why he was so good its a must have for anyone"