4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
The good times and the bad..., August 30, 2001
32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
Truly the Essential Elvis!, June 23, 2001
Now I have purchased "The Very Best of Elvis Costello" & for once I can say this album absolutely lives up to it's title! In 2 CD's we have an overview of the extraordinary career of one of the most prolific & multi-faceted songwriters of our time. It's wonderful! Everything is here, from the chilling "Watching the Detectives" & supersonic "Lipstick Vogue" of the early albums thru the jazz & country-tinged experiments of the late 80's up to his latest collaborations with the Brodsky Quartet & Burt Bacharach. There isn't a single song that tempts me to hit the "forward" button on my CD player.
Curiously, Rhino has opted to put the material in a non-sequential order. Most greatest hits collections start with the earliest songs, working their way up to the latest. "The Very Best of..." was organized by someone who had their mind on creating an emotional mood rather than a history of the artist. Although normally I prefer the time-line approach, in this casse it works quite well. If you want to hear the developement of Costello's song-writing, Rhino has included original release dates in the credits so that you can sequence your own order. Other than song titles & lists of musicians, this is about all the information you will discover inside the jewel case. This is about the only weakness I can find to this package. Personally I would have preferred some type of liner notes included.
If you only own 1 Elvis Costello album, make it "The Very Best of..." . I guarantee you won't regret it!
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
You dimwits got the preview songs wrong, July 1, 2003
Elvis Costello is great (his early stuff). This is a great disc with many of his best songs, but it is hard to imagine him in his early form not savaging a company like [amazon.com] for making the dumb mistake you all made.
Will you ever catch it? I'll be watching.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Power Pop Music, October 24, 2002
Lovely collection, April 18, 2002
There's an intelligence to Costello's music and lyrics that has always lifted him above most other rock performers. After 25 years, the song 'Alison' can still give me goosebumps.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Basically, THE Perfect Compilation Disk, January 14, 2002
1. Provides an excellant cross section of Elvis' career 2. Keeps the listener interested by the mix of sounds 3. Doesn't have a "clunker" 4. Provides something hard to find elsewhere ("She") 5. Does not give everything away, there are omissions here that make me go back to the original albums
As an introduction to Elvis or for the obsessed fan, this album is essential.
See all 18 customer reviews...
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