Search - The Band :: The Best of a Musical History

Unsatisfactory cash-in

Elliot Knapp | Seattle, Washington United States | 05/02/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As a big fan of The Band, I decided to save up my money and purchase the A Musical History box set, and was for the most part very happy with my purchase--it's got a great photo-filled book, disc one is almost entirely made up of early, unreleased Hawks tracks, there's a DVD with some rare performances, and the rest of the set is full of great unreleased and live treasures alongside an anthology of music that spans The Band's career through The Last Waltz--in a way A Musical History is both a greatest hits AND a rarities collection, but a relatively expensive one. Since the box set had so many great extras, it was worth it to me (a big fan) to re-purchase all of the standard album tracks I already had that came along with the set. This CD, The Best of A Musical History, is a one-disc collection drawn from the box set. Unfortunately, though it's less expensive, it accomplishes neither the task of being a good 'greatest hits' album nor the task of being a good collection of rarities. Although the music here is good, it's kind of a hodgepodge collection and I can't say I'd recommend it to anyone who's either interested in a one-disc 'best of' or a collection of rarities.



To start with, the box set's first disc is only represented by two songs, "Who Do You Love?" and "He Don't Love You." This is a shame, since that first disc is crammed with early Band tunes that fans have likely never heard. Conversely, these two rarities are good listens, but don't really qualify as "greatest hits" caliber songs. This CD also contains a number of the box set's other rare tracks, like the Dylan single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?," the studio version of "Don't Do It," the live "Slippin' and Slidin'," and the excellent Rick Danko tune, "Home Cookin'." Aside from these rarities, though, this collection leaves out some of the box's greatest gems, like the stomping live versions of "Forbidden Fruit," and "Look Out Cleveland," the funky "Baby Lou," the superior live version of "Smoke Signal," or the great early Richard Manuel song, "Words and Numbers." Unfortunately, if you're looking for the rare and unreleased songs, this isn't the place to get a complete collection.



Since this disc attempts to place rare songs alongside some well-known songs, it ends up leaving out some of The Band's greatest hits. Sure, some of the usual suspects are there, like "The Weight," "Stage Fright," "Life is a Carnival," and "I Shall Be Released," but The Band's second album is sorely underrepresented (where's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," at the very least?). The rest of the disc is crammed with tracks that aren't greatest hits and aren't really that rare either--"Ain't No More Cane On the Brazos," "Forever Young," "Orange Juice Blues," "Endless Highway," and "Share Your Love With Me" are all good but minor songs that can all be found on albums that are worth buying in their own right (The Basement Tapes, Music From Big Pink, Moondog Matinee, etc.). If this disc is supposed to represent a collection of classic tunes, some of these really don't make the cut.



To sum it up, I really don't recommend buying this disc. If you're new to The Band and are looking for a 'greatest hits,' I'd buy their actual greatest hits album, which is a more complete and well-rounded collection of hits, or I'd recommend getting (at least) their first three albums, which are all classics and full of hits as well as strong non-hits in their original album form (they're pretty cheap too). If you're an old fan and are in the market for the rarities only, unfortunately there's no good option right now. This disc is pretty pathetic on the unreleased side, so your only option is the expensive box set. If you're willing to shell out the cash, though, you might find that the color booklet, DVD, and wealth of unreleased material is worth the money. As it stands, this disc is just another example of the label and Robbie Robertson attempting to squeeze some more money out of loyal fans."