Editorial Review

Gang of Four went disco, Mission of Burma went deaf--and the Clash? Well, the Clash just went, but Fugazi have managed to escape the pitfalls that befell their predecessors. In fact, the Washington D.C. band formed by Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye and Insurrection's Guy Piccotto may well have become the world's most reliable source of no-sellout noise-pop. Read more

Reviews (61)

This is incredible...
Yes, indeed these EPs are absolutely incredible.I recently purchased this cd and was floored by Fugazi.This was my first Fugazi purchase and as typical with many who purchase an artist's recordings, the first impression is often the strongest.I have since purchased their discography and have enjoyed all of them, but none as much as this one.What craftmanship especially after being a Minor Threat fan all these years...they seem to had finally pulled it all together.Please do yourself a favor and buy this cd - punk ethos defined.

The Conscious Of Modern Alternative Music
If you follow alternative music, I would be surprised if you havent heard of Fugazi. They are known as the epitome of a band that will not sell out. They sell all their discs at bargain prices, and their concerts are always reasonably priced, for admission. This is their masterpiece, and "Waiting Room" is their finest hour. I would recomend all their albums, but this is their best punk album. As their later discs get out, they tend to defy description. However, I think its fair to say this is the album that made them relevant.

Amazing
This is probably one of the best(if not the best) hardcore punk albums of all time.The songs are filled with a passion andintensity that is hard to find. On top of that they are also often quite catchy("Suggestion,"Waiting Room")and it is clear that they are great songwriters. This is also historically important, as mant of the personal lyrics and comparibly complex guitar work (as to say,Black Flag)laid the groundwork for Emo.On top of that, not a single weak track.Highly reccomended ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Alternative/Indie-Rock    3. American Underground    4. Emo    5. Hardcore Punk    6. Indie Rock    7. Pop    8. Post-Hardcore    9. Post-Punk    10. Punk    11. Rock   

Editorial Review

Roger Waters staged this all-star revival of his Pink Floyd grand opus 11 years after the Floyd original and 7 years after Read more

Features

• Live

Reviews (47)

Come On, This Is NOT exactly Holy Writ
I was never a huge Pink Floyd fan--which is not to say I didn't like their music or respect their talent. But, I dunno, maybe it was just ALL those annoying sound effects and voiceovers. Even good music can seem a little gimmicky when tarted up with too much extraneous noise. Yeah, I admit I liked the ringing cash registers drawer in "Money," but so much of the other stuff was, well, just a drag.
Best Live album besides Is there anybody out there?
I rented this concert on VHS one day. I love it.
The Miltary Orchestra Of The Soviet Army!!
Although many people gave this live concert a low rating due to Roger Waters' choice of substitute singers/musicians for some of the songs from the original Wall recording, after seeing it on video for the first time, it became easier to listen to the recording alone afterward.
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Subjects:  1. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Adult Contemporary    3. Album Rock    4. Arena Rock    5. Blue-Eyed Soul    6. Cabaret    7. Country-Rock    8. Folk-Rock    9. Hard Rock    10. Jazz-Rock    11. New Wave    12. Pop    13. Pop/Rock    14. Popular Music    15. Prog-Rock/Art Rock    16. Psychedelic    17. Rock    18. Rock & Roll    19. Rock/Pop    20. Roots Rock   

Features

• Original recording remastered
• Import

Reviews (12)

Bananarama - Greatest Hits
Upbeat and moving!One that I would enjoy dancing to!

Entertaining lightweight pop music
Bananarama were one of the most successful British pop groups of the eighties, having a long string of hits with the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. SAW have their critics (and I'm not keen on some of the stuff they produced) but Bananarama were better than most of the other acts they produced. So while their music is lightweight, it is enjoyable and makes great party music.
A Good Track List
The import version of Bananrama's Greatest Hits is slightly different than the original U.S. release.This version has a few extra tracks and doesn't include the cover of the Beatles song "Help."Banarama's Greatest Hits covers most of their popular singles from the first 10 years of their career.I would have liked to see less popular songs like "More Than Physical" make the track list but maybe one day their will be a Bananarama box set or something.But this set is awesome because it includes on of my favorite Bananarama songs "Rough Justice."The set opens with the mid 80's hit "Venus."Other popular songs on the set include "Cruel Summer," "I Heard A Rumor," and "Robert Deniro's Waiting."If you bought the U.S. version the import is worth checking out for the additional songs.The remixes are pretty cool. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Club/Dance    2. Dance Music    3. Dance-Pop    4. England    5. New Wave    6. Pop    7. Pop/Rock    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Fuelled by the ska of Prince Buster ("Madness"), and inspired by the insanity of British music, right from the start Madness were a quintessentially English band. Two-tone more by association than fact, they came to the fore at the same time as the Specials, with a ska beat, a pop heart, and a lunatic smile (who else would update "Swan Lake" in such an unorthodox way?). While the title track lives on beyond them, there were plenty of other gems here, including "Night Boat to Cairo" and "My Girl." The Nutty Sound was infectious as measles, but a lot more fun. Read more

Features

• Enhanced
• Original recording remastered
• Import

Reviews (11)

They went..................one step beyond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey you!!!!!!!!!, lately Madness have come to my mind due to young advertisers for alcoholic beverages that are currently trying to introduce good taste in music to the depressing likes youth have in this days in Mexico (or maybe this advertisersare snob and try to impress ignorant fools i dont know), one of the first memories i have in music in my life is definitelly with Madness, actually i think it was the first one, before Beatles, before Zep, before Presley before Kiss or any other artist. I should have been like seven or eight years old when i liked to watch the Madness videos that were transmited saturday morning between cartoons, before all that space were filled with advertising as today, i liked that band when i was a child and i love them today cuts like "just another day" , "nigth boat to Cairo", "Michael Caine" ,"my girl" and of course "one step beyond"are timeless classics , band such as The Mighty Mighty Bostons and many others cant deny Madness influence they were plenty funny and genious, One Step Beyond is the debut album actually neither themselves were capable to achieve a bigger sucess after this one but the roots of ska punk are there untill the end of time.
Nothing disappointing here..
I remember first listening to this and loving every single second of it. I just listened to it about 10 minutes ago and loved every single second of it even harder.
One Step Beyond Rules!
Buy this CD at any price. You will not regret it. It's melodic, fun, and timeless. One Step Beyond is their best. I don't think they ever repeated the magic that is on this CD, but their second release "Absolutely" album is very good as well, and should not be overlooked. I think I may even like it more than The Specials first effort. Is that blasphemy? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. England    2. New Wave    3. Pop    4. Pop/Rock    5. Popular Music    6. Rock    7. Ska    8. Ska Revival   

Editorial Review

Depeche Mode's most foreboding album, leaning toward the gothic, is DM at their most bleak, black-armband, and nihilistic--no doubt played over and over by countless self-loathing teens as they dyed their hair black behind locked bedroom doors. The tracks are tastefully minimalist, yet the few sounds that dominate each song have a consuming, even overwhelming feel--like a big, heavy black cloud that descends upon and surrounds listeners until their knees buckle from the weight. Rhythmically, songs like "A Question of Time" are driven with moderately paced 16th notes pounded out on synths filling out the low end. Other tracks follow the path of "Stripped," an all-out lamentfest powered by David Gahan's overproduced baritone. Read more

Reviews (97)

An important moment in the history of alternative music

My favorite
Depeche Mode has always been one of my favorites.I had this tape since high school, but now everything is in CD form; so I replaced it with a CD.Now I get to hear in in the car!

Not so dark as it is romantic/emotive
Reviewers have taken at face value that name of the album and the name of some of its tracks perhaps a bit too much to heart. Yes, this is the darkest of the DM albums. But, Pornography it is not. Closer it is not. It's more a romantic album than a dark album. Even Fly on the Windscreen with lyrics like "there are lambs for the slaughter" feels more romantic than the alienation of Joy Division's Closer or the schizophrenia of the Cure's Pornography. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Dance    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Club/Dance    4. College Rock    5. Pop    6. Popular Music    7. Post-Punk    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop    10. Synth Pop   

Reviews (18)

Bad. Bad. Bad.
No emotional depth and doesn't seem to capture the spirit of the songs. Some variation on Cohen's songs are very good but this collection doesn't achieve the spirit of the music on any level.

A classic album in its own right, a must have in your collection!
Forget about who wrote the songs, forget about trying to make comparisons, forget about whether or not the performances were worthy of a tribute.Simply take it as music.Leonard Cohen wrote great songs that here shows they were also great POP songs.So if you're into great music, especially pop songs, and can listen to music without biases or prejudices then you must pick up this disc. The first track "First We Take Manhattan" clearly exemplifies this.While a R.E.M. fan, this song is one of my favorites by them.Mike Mills as co-vocalist with lead singer Michael Stipes makes this an incredible track.Ian McCulloch has an incredible voice and this shows on "Hey That's No Way...."."I Can't Forget" sounds like any other great Pixies track.There are many other stand out tracks like That Petrol Emotion's "Stories of the Street," "Don't Go Home...," "Chelsea Hotel," "Hallelujah," and my favorite: Dead Famous People's "True Leaves No Traces," which transforms Cohen's beautiful lyrics into just a gorgeous pop song.Enjoy!

A middling tribute album
After spending the last few years wandering other musical landscapes, I rediscovered Leonard Cohen this year (years after being a mega LC geek in school) and especially wanted to seek this album out again. Read more

Subjects:  1. 90's    2. Adult Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Alternative Pop/Rock    4. College Rock    5. Experimental    6. Folk & Traditional    7. Indie Pop    8. Pop    9. Popular Music    10. Post-Punk    11. Rock    12. Rock/Pop Collections    13. Singer/Songwriter   

Editorial Review

Rock's punk/new wave boom of the late 1970s and early '80s was a true grassroots movement born largely out of frustration and disgust with the perceived excesses of rock's then status quo. The resulting music was sometimes ironically reactionary, if nothing else, embracing the more direct musical essence of the '50s and '60s. But few took the notion to the extremes of Stray Cats Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, and Slim Jim Phantom, the most popular rockabilly revival band to ever emerge from, of all places, Long Island. This set documents the Cats' brief heyday and its faithful aping of Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent. And if his vocal chops sometimes didn't match the quality of his fiery, often inspired guitar licks, musical evangelist Setzer made up for his shortcomings with sheer exuberant devotion to the genre and its godfathers. The hits are all here, along with some revealing album cuts, rarities, and portions of a 1982 live broadcast that display the Cats' considerable live charms. And if this set makes you yearn for some real original '50s rockabilly, nothing would make Setzer and company happier. Read more

Features

• Extra tracks
• Original recording reissued

Reviews (10)

Get up and dance.
Simply put when listening to this CD, you want to grab your girl and get up and dance. Full blast from start to finish.

rockabilly heart
anyone with a heartbeat can appreciate this very upbeat, fun, and catchy recording.being prone to swing-dancing myself, I can't help but get up and dance all over my house, yeahlike nobody is watching....anything Brian Setzer is associated with is gold in my book !!!!

The Jimi Hendrix of Rockabilly
Just when we all thought Rockabilly was dead, The Stray Cats arrive.
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Subjects:  1. New Wave    2. Pop    3. Pop/Rock    4. Popular Music    5. Rock    6. Rock & Roll    7. Rock/Pop    8. Rockabilly Revival   

Reviews (29)

Forget everything anyone ever told you about rock
Then go and buy this cd.4.5 stars.

Unique
This was and is a classic in itself. Steve Albini surpassed himself when this came out. This will allways be a standard for this kind of extreme rock.

this is nuts.
this is probably one of the most seriously evil sounding rock albums of all time. this sort of music is great when youre in a mood where you just cant cope with the mindless petty droning of everyone around you. the drum machine slaps you in the face, or more accurately, beats you into submission with a sledge hammer.
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Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. American Underground    3. Indie Rock    4. Noise-Rock    5. Pop    6. Post-Hardcore    7. Post-Punk    8. Punk    9. Rock   

Editorial Review

"This is it: Everything the Police released," boasts the notesin the 66-page booklet included with this box set. Obsessive fans have alreadywritten to rock magazines indignantly pointing out the omission of this or thatobscurity. But everyone else will find that these four discs include all thePolice they'd ever want to own. The first two discs include all of Read more

Features

• Box set

Reviews (87)

a great collection
Yes, as we Police fans know, this is not the "complete" recordings, but it's the best we have so far. It will have to satisfy our appetite until they unearth some major discovery in the Police vaults. It is so nice to have all the original b-sides in one place, on CD for the first time here. That alone is worth getting this collection for. Perhaps as time goes on, we will be treated to other gems that we collectors know are out there, but in a more official release.

This is the best!
This complete recordings of the police are the best!I'm a big fan of The Police!I like all of their songs!Which I also bought the Best Of The Police too!I will give this a 100.0 stars!

Visions of the Night
Just buy this excellent compilation and you will be happy you did - you also won't have to deal with the hassle of buying all the band's albums, because they're all here.Stewart Copeland is the best drummer in rock music, with the possible exception(s) of John Bonham and/or Bill Bruford.Andy Summers is a zen-master of rhythm, taste, and tone - his multi-layered guitar sounds are always interesting and come through beautifully - Sting sounds great on vocals and bass, although he would be better if he wasn't always trying to dominate (for example, hooping and hollering over Andy when he is playing something brilliant). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. Box Sets (Audio Only)    4. New Wave    5. Pop    6. Pop/Rock    7. Post-Punk    8. Rock    9. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Dark, somber, and thematically unified as no previous album by the Police, Read more

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (72)

Bands have a tendency to self-destruct...
This album takes its title directly from a 1967 book by Arthur Koestler. The book reflects on human beings' self-destructive tendencies and concludes that we need chemical supplements to soften our irrational and violent side. Basically, Koestler argues that we'll destroy ourselves unless we do something about it. Gordon Sumner, aka Sting, in his never ending quest to depict himself as well-read, took inspiration from the ideas of the book and scattered bits of it throughout this album. Another book of Koestler's led to Sting's self-discovery of Carl Jung's principle of Synchronicity. But that's another album altogether.
The best Police record, but by no means perfect
I give Ghost in the Machine the nod over Zenyatta Mondatta and Synchronicity because of its wonderful unique tone and sound.Sting really takes over on Synchronicity, so this is the last record in which The Police, as a trio, (particularly Stewart Copeland) contribute to the creation of the music.
Fantastic album by a truly great band
"Ghost In The Machine" ranks alongside "Zenyatta Mondatta" and "Synchronicity" as the three best albums by the phenomenally brilliant band that were The Police. By this one they had moved largely away from their "white reggae" style, towards a more complex produced sound that would peak on the also excellent "Synchronicity".
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Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Alternative Pop/Rock    3. New Wave    4. Pop    5. Pop/Rock    6. Post-Punk    7. Rock    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

What the hell

Features

• Original recording reissued
• Original recording remastered

Reviews (161)

Must be a clash, there's no alternative!
Why the heck this terrific album isn't mentioned as a Clash masterwork in the same breath as LONDON CALLING is a mystery to me. Coming out when it did at the tail-end of 1980, SANDINISTA! was so unlike anything else on the landscape of Punk and New Wave that I, for one, got drawn in right away. It's an album that dared to break the "Year Zero" mentality that ultimately made Punk and New Wave a cul-de-sac, and grab onto rockabilly, gospel, sound collages ala "Revolution #9," rap and lots and lots and lots of dub, all the while sounding like nobody else but The Clash. And you want classic toons? Try "The Magnificent Seven," "The Call Up," "Police On My Back" (which was penned by Eddy Grant), "Charlie Don't Surf" (probably the best track here) and a load of others.
maybe I missed something?
I must have missed something because this CD really wasn't the greatest the clash has to offer. Sandinista Disc 1 just wasn't doing it for me. maybe they were trying really hard to explore different styles but it was kind of out there. nothing was really a good song and i feel kind of bad that this is taking up a spot in my CD wallet. The second song Hitsville UK sounded like it should have been playing on "Peewee Herman's Playhouse" or "Barney". it was like a disney sing a long with some random woman in it. what the hell? However, Sandinista Disc 2 i was much more appreciative of. This disc showed they hadn't totally gone off the deep end. so this is what i think. i'm more into thier self-titled album and give 'em enough rope. even london calling was great. this just didn't settle well at all. don't start here if you are a new fan. go for give em' enough rope or self-titled.

the most important album since darkside of the moon
when i first listened to this album i have to admit that like most, i didn't completely get it. I had just recently heard the first three clash albums (my first real forray into classic punk) and immediately fell in love with them. this album however didn't grab me as quickly. well anyway after a few years of obsession with their early work i decided to give it one more try. this time i came prepared with 3-4 years of experience listening to the best in punk, blues, jazz, reggea, rockabilly and classic rock -- and more importantly a greater awareness of the socio-political world.sandinista is one of the deepest and most engrossing concept albums ive ever had the pleasure of encountering, it paints a painfully accurate portrait of the continuing struggle between the upper and lower classes and the blood and tears it creates -mainly for the latter, and of course throughout the album Mr. Strummer reminds us of the healing power that music and music alone has to bring us all together.
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Subjects:  1. British Punk    2. Hard Rock    3. New Wave    4. Pop    5. Punk    6. Rock    7. Rock & Roll    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Another brilliant set of obsessive musings pried from Robert Smith's fuzzy navel. Epic elegies ("From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea") and tuneful romps ("Friday I'm In Love") are classic Cure cuts--Read more

Reviews (76)

The logical successor to "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me".
The album that thundered the Cure into the collective consciousness courtesy of pop charting single "Friday I'm in Love", "Wish" puts aside the brooding soundscapes of "Disintegration" to make a more logical successor to the diversity of "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me".
Don't believe the naysayers
While this album is derided by many "real" Cure fans as being too "commercial", the truth is this album still mixes in plenty of moody sulkers amidst the flashier radio-friendly fare.
Solid Album
Alright, I've heard alot of people say that they don't like this album, purely because of the song 'Friday I'm In Love'. Well, this is quite possibly one of my most favorite albums ever recorded. The song 'Cut' is a great song. The quiet tone of the album makes it a great album to fall asleep to. In my opinion, a must for any Cure fan. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. College Rock    3. Goth Rock    4. Pop    5. Post-Punk    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

When the 1970s punk scene was washed away by the undertow of '80s new wave, few bands surfed the transition as well as the Go-Go's. These Valley grrrls dressed up their punk heritage with a sense of glamour so that their music was at once ballsy and fanciful. The peppery singles "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed" were their debut's chart climbers and glossiest tracks. The rest of the album has a tougher crust. For example, the jittery "Can't Stop the World" would make the Ramones proud. And take a look at the lyrical content of "This Town": "Change the lines that were said before / We're all dreamers--we're all whores / Discarded stars / Like worn out cars / Litter the streets of this town." Hole's single "Celebrity Skin" is a '90s rendition of the same theme: "When I wake up with my makeup / Have you ever felt so used up as this? / It's all so sugarless / Hooker / Waitress / Model / Actress / Oh, just go nameless." Just as Courtney Love has made a career out of publicly displaying her glam-trash lifestyle, the Go-Go's song about the self-eroding lifestyles of Hollywood revealed that they, too, were more hard living than hard candy. Read more

Reviews (40)

Gen X College Balladeers
It was That Moment.I'd come up to our agricultural state university from the sticks; and he'd come from the glamourous suburbs; and here we first met in the Temple of the Student Subculture:the Used Recordstore (that's record, as in vinyl).It was love at first sight, and after we circled each other to confirm we were each picking up discs by U2, the Clash, and Lene Lovich, he told me in a sexy voice, "You should listen to this one."The 45 was "Our Lips Our Sealed" by the Go-Go's b/w the instrumental "Surfing and Spying".The sparks of love didn't last long, but the association of Belinda Carlisle and the girls with anything reminding me of my college years goes on and on.
BEST OF THE BEST!!!
These five fabulous brilliant female musicians deserve more credit and recognition than what they are getting. They deserve awards, a STAR in the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, their own autobiographical book and movie, and so on. These girls are GROUNDBREAKERS, and out of their 4 wonderful albums, THIS is their masterpiece. Someone out there PLEASE! what are you waiting for? Lets give Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Gina Schock and Kathy Valentine ALL the merit they rightfully deserve.

Go, Girls, Go
If 1981 found you sitting in an ashram, contemplating the sound of one hand not clapping, or deep in a coma, or unborn - you may never have heard the Go-Go's hit song, We've Got The Beat.As ubiquitous as chewing gum, this infectious ditty ruled the airwaves with its unabashed celebration of feminine cuteness and rock energy that brought to mind all things cheerleader-ish.Our Lips Are Sealed, also from this CD, was almost as popular.In their own modest, and thoroughly charming way, The Go-Go's, an all girl group, did something extraordinary with Beauty And The Beat, they broke into the male bastion of rock music totally on their own terms - writing their own material and playing their own instruments - and frankly, doing it better than the competition.
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Subjects:  1. New Wave    2. Pop    3. Pop/Rock    4. Popular Music    5. Rock    6. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Having spent the early '80s in a giddy expansion of the sound and scale of their studio recordings and concerts, Talking Heads come full circle with this 1985 album, retracting to the core quartet and restoring a focus on David Byrne's knotty songs. Arriving in the wake of the fevered rhythms of Read more

Reviews (30)

Take you there Take you there
I am instantly transported back to 1985.Snappy intelligent pop from a great band.

A kinder, gentler Talking Heads
By the time Little Creatures was released, Talking Heads were pretty much a household name.With the success of songs like Burning Down The House and the Stop Making Sense movie, the Heads had been propelled into the spotlight.
MORE POPPY RETURN
They returned in 1985 with this really catchy album.Probably their most accessible in terms of songs..half of the songs definitely sound like singles.... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. College Rock    3. Pop    4. Pop/Rock    5. Popular Music    6. Post-Punk    7. Rock    8. Rock/Pop   

Editorial Review

Depeche Mode's lyrical content, at times impossibly contrived, is a potential source of frustration. "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours / But I think that God's got a sick sense of humour / And when I die / I expect to find him laughing," goes the chorus of "Blasphemous Rumours," an antireligion song using attempted teenage suicide and fatal car accidents as testimonial. Lyricist Martin Gore always scores points for creative rhyming, but one gets the feeling the choice of subject matter is nearly arbitrary, that the band could write equally depressing songs about a bad hair day--and mean it. But this is the fun, and maybe even the genius, of Depeche Mode. When it comes to patent controversy, they are as self-indulgent as they wanna be. Depeche's first U.S. single, "People Are People," also contained on Read more

Reviews (51)

fantastic
great album, early music sounds are great to listen too, over and over again.

Some early recordings of a fantastic group.
This is the first Depeche Mode album I listened to and that was 20 years ago and I still love it.This is early Depeche Mode and when you listen to them from now versus then, you will hear they only got better."Somebody" and "Lie to Me" are my favorite songs.The lyrics are fantastic.If you enjoy Depeche Mode now and love their sound you will like this album.

Darkness Descending
"Some Great Reward", Depeche Mode's 1985 release, finds the groundbreaking quartet continuing in the direction they began with "Construction Time Again", their previous offering. The direction is distinctly dystopian, and the songs often offer bitter humor and hedonism as the only comfort in a disconnected post-industrial world. Opening with a hymn to boredom, "Something To Do", "Some Great Reward" displays from the get go a more aggressive sound than on "Construction", and Alan Wilder's influence is more pronounced and assured. "Lie To Me" continues the cynical journey as David Gahan intones "Come on and lay with me/come on and lie to me"; again alienation and pleasure co-existing. This theme predominates "Some Great Reward" and creates a landscape grim but oddly seductive. "People Are People" is up next, which turns the mood to sad resignation. It became a breakthrough song for the band, and showcases the splendidly evolving industrial undercurrents of sound; rattles, metallic shimmers etc. that are the hallmark of this album. There are two outright love songs on "Some Great Reward", the first being "It Doesn't Matter" which is an oddly touching paeon to non-commital love i.e. "I know somewhere you are dreaming/but it's definitely not of me." The tune is lovely and the scoring spare and undulating. The second is the more well-known "Somebody", a well-loved, more straightforward ballad whose lyrics only veer from treacly by virtue of the wink and nod line at the end: "Things like this make me sick/in a case like this I'll get away with it". The two least known tunes on "Some Great Reward" are "Stories of Old" and "If You Want". and they prove what a strong effort the album is. They are not at all throw aways; "Stories of Old" is erotic and musically inventive, while "If You Want" is Alan Wilder's almost middle eastern techno romp. "Master and Servant" is another DM concert and club staple, extolling the virtues of S&M. It is the most evocative of the era, and so perhaps the most dated. Not so with the magnificently dark closer, "Blasphemous Rumours", which still sounds fresh and sinister. The machine sounds still conjure an ominous creepiness, and the lyrics, though a bit overwrought, still work the nerves, and have a caustic wit. It brilliantly ends "Some Great Reward" in tone, and seemlessly sets up Depeche Mode's next, even darker release, 1986's "Black Celebration". If you're unfamiliar with pre-"Violator" Depeche Mode, do yourself a favor and pick up all four mid-80's masterworks by a band that defies comparison. They mark a creative pinnacle achieved by a very few. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Club/Dance    3. Pop    4. Popular Music    5. Post-Punk    6. Rock    7. Rock/Pop    8. Synth Pop   

Editorial Review

This culling of the "best" cuts from the Bad Seeds' songbook avoids the pratfalls of many best-of compilations. First off, the songs aren't arranged chronologically, but instead for effect, raveling new with old, weepy ballads with adrenaline-pumped rockers. In addition, there aren't any rare live tracks, alternative takes, remixes, acoustic versions, or B-sides that clutter other compilations. What you get is pure Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in all their gloomy glory. Things get off with a bang with the rollicking "Deanna" and the carnivalesque "Red Right Hand" that display Nick Cave's literary and narrative talent. After the wacked preacherman blues stomp of the excellent track "Tupelo," the disc slides into a series of ballads that highlight his baritone croon."(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?" captures Cave in a, gasp, sentimental and lovely mood. The disc closes out with "From Here to Eternity," and the band hits the steamroller tempo with apocalyptic might. Read more

Reviews (37)

A Great Start For Beginning Cave Fans
I first became familliar with Nick Cave through an article in Entertainment Weekly. I found him to be a very interesting person and I seriously considered getting into his music, but I didn't buy one of his album until about a week ago.
Not quite the best of Nick Cave, but coming close...
I never understood Nick Cave's fixation with his uproaring, cheerful sounding song "Deanna", but it is the opening track on an album which is called "The best of Nick Cave" so apparently I must be missing something crusial here.