Newsboys - Greatest Hits (17 tracks) +Album Reviews

Great Album

S. Peek | Rocky Mountains, USA | 11/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'The Greatest Hits' by the Newsboys is a great album. The music is superb and the lyrics are solidly Christian.

It is not really a greatest hits album though. Their previous CD, 'Shine - The Hits' was their greatest hits album. They really should have put together a volume two of their greatest hits. That is partially what they did here.

This CD contains several songs that are also on 'Shine - The Hits': Shine, I'm Not Ashamed, Breakfast, Reality, Take Me To Your Leader, Joy, Entertaining Angels, and Spirit Thing. These are all great songs, but they are already on what was a greatest hits album: Shine - The Hits.

There are also several great songs on this CD that have been recorded since Shine. These include: Million Pieces, Something Beautiful, He Reigns, Wherever We Go, You Are My King, and It Is You. These songs are all clearly big hits that should be on a greatest hits volume two.

There are also four songs that should not be on a greatest hits album. One of them (In The Belly of the Whale) was a Veggie Tales song. Although it may be cute, small children are not the Newsboys primary audience and most have probably never heard the song before. Another one (Real Good Thing) was from a 1994 album and did not make the cut for Shine - The Hits, so it is hard to see how it has become one of their greatest hits since that time. The other two songs I Fought The La..., Stay Strong) are new and have not stood the test of time to be considered greatest hits. Sometimes that can work out as 'Joy' was a new recording on Shine and is certainly a great hit, but normally it is not prudent to put a new track on a greatest hits collection.

There are also several great songs that could be included in a greatest hits collection that are not on this CD and were not on Shine. These include the following songs from previously released albums: Thrive, Rescue, Lord (I Don't Know), Presence (My Heart's Desire), Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Take My Hands (Praises), Adoration, Hallelujah, God Of Nations, Landslide of Love, The Mission, In Wonder, and Your Love Is Better Than Life.

In conclusion, this really is a great album, but evidently Peter Furler forgot to check with me on the song selection (LOL). I would definitely recommend this for anyone who doesn't have a big collection of Newsboys CDs already. For those who have several of their CDs, this may not be a necessary addition."

Greatest hits

"extreme_dig_cm" | Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan! | 12/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If people really want this band's currently perceived greatest hits, this is their best effort to date.

Included hits listing:

- I Fought the La... ...a brand new track. Instantly a favorite!

- Breakfast. ...originally from Take Me to Your Leader.

- Million Pieces. ...originally from Thrive.

- Shine. ...originally from Shine: The Hits and Going Public.

- Something Beautiful. ...originally from Go.

- In the Belly of the Whale. ...originally from Jonah: A Veggietales Movie.

- He Reigns. ...originally from Adoration: The Worship Album.

- Wherever We Go. ...originally from Go.

- Take Me To Your Leader. ...originally from Take Me to Your Leader.

- Stay Strong. ...a brand new track. Solid as ever.

- Entertaining Angels. ...originally from Step up to the Microphone.

- Reality. ...originally from Take Me to Your Leader.

- You Are My King. ...originally from Adoration: The Worship Album.

- Real Good Thing. ...originally from Going Public.

- Joy. ...originally from Shine: The Hits. A personal favorite.

- Spirit Thing. ...originally from Going Public.

- It Is You. ...originally from Thrive.

- I'm Not Ashamed. ...originally from Not Ashamed.

My main question is: "Why not release Shine: The Hits part II?". Well, I guess that would be great for longtime fans, but maybe not for newer ones. This current hits collection gets straight to the point, whereas the even newer 2009 Ultimate Collection covers a greater range of records. Both are extremely excellent, with my favorite actually being this Greatest Hits CD, even though it doesn't include any photos of the band. Shine: the Hits, released in 2000, still has a few tracks that these newer releases miss. "Praises", "God Is Not A Secret" with Toby Mac, "Where You Belong/ Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus", "Believe", "I Got Your Number", and "Mega Mix" make the original Shine: the Hits still worth getting!

P.S. I like that they included "Real Good Thing" here, an earlier hit. It's kind of a surprising pick, since many other tracks could've easily taken its place. But it gives this track listing a bit of a nice twist, my favorite collection ever."

The greatest hits...

Hannah Newsgirl | 11/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many fans dislike greatest hits albums because all they want is to hear a new album by their favorite artists. I really appreciate greatest hits albums if they are well done and including some new or previously unreleased material and if they are released at a time when the band has recently released new material. The Newsboys latest year released a fabulous full lentgh album titled Go and just this past year released the fun quirky Go Remixed, they also are set to release a Go Live album finally capturing on cd their live concert. The Newsboys are my all time favorite band by far. They are known as one of the greatest pop/rock bands in Christian music. Their career spands a vast two decades. Their last greatest hits album was released about seven years ago. Since then the band has released about numerous albums. This is a great collection of songs. Its 18 tracks so its long enough to make it worth your money. There are two awesome brand new tracks. "Stay Strong" which is a beautiful song about being firm in our faith this song begins with a beautiful string arrangements and continues on with some lush aussie vocals. The second brand new song and first track on the album is called "I Fought The La" its already a concert favorite and is upbeat, super catchy, fun sing-along in typical newsboys style but still has an original beat. The greatest hits also includes the Veggie Tales favorite "In the Belly of the Whale" which many adult newsboys fans may not have previously owned on any album since it was only released on some Veggie Tales cds. The 15 previously released songs found on Greatest Hits come from 8 different newsboys albums which shows the great variety found here. My favorite part of greatest hits albums is they make great road trip material when you might be unable to fit a bunch of cds in your suitcase or even all your albums on your ipod. Greatest Hits offers a good taste of newsboys music for old and new fans alike from worship favorites like "It is You" and "He Reigns" to all time concert favorites like "Entertaining Angels" and "Shine" to those quirky fun songs that only the newsboys are known for like "Breakfast" and "Wherever We Go" all around this is a great collection for new and old fans alike that can't be missed by one of Christian music most loved artists."

Outstanding album on all levels: message, music, style, and

David Boulet | Washington, DC USA | 09/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I tend to like the "idea" of Christian music more than I find myself liking Christian music itself. This is because too often it seems that Christian music artists, while well meaning in their mission, don't seem to infuse the same level of musical artfulness into their work that the best secular music takes for granted. I find it frustrating that if I want "good music" I often have to turn to secular sources, but if I want "meaningful music" I can switch temporarily to my Christian radio station. These are generalizations of course, so please don't feel mortally wounded that I have inadvertantly slighted your particular favorite Christian artist.

This preface is offered to emphasize that the Newsboys breaks the Christian-Music mold by producing powerful and inspiring music that can stand up on its own merit against that of any secular rock/pop genre. Their music is decidely that: MUSIC, that is bold, refined, intricately composed and arranged, and able to cover a range of styles that displays real talent and a diversity of moods and attitudes. What sets them apart from the very best secular talent is that the message and meaning of their (well written) lyrics are Christ-centered. If you've given up hope that you can find a "win-win" with Christian artists who don't short-change on the musical front, Newsboys will pleasantly prove you wrong. This is one of those must-have albums that is never far from my reach."

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