Boston - Greatest Hits 
Category: Entertainment > Music
Good
60
A compilation of greatest hits should be just that: greatest hits. Having stated that, now I'll contradict myself by thanking Boston for including "Higher Power" (both tracks)and an energized, well vibed "Star Spangled Banner/4th of July Reprise" on this CD. Both cuts are soothing nirvana for those of us who appreciate clean, powerful guitar rifts.<p>BOSTON - GREATEST HITS contains several of the band's most memorable hits, including "More Than A Feeling," "Don't Look Back," "Amanda," and several others. I'll respectfully disagree with another reviewer who lamented the inclusion of "Rock & Roll Band" on this album; to the contrary, this is one of the band's signature songs in terms of style, instrumentation, and energy. What I don't get is the inclusion of tracks that fall remarkably short when compared to the rest of the music on the CD--singles like "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Tell Me," the very first song. <p>Overall, BOSTON - GREATEST HITS will placate and please the band's legions of fans, but this must be said: if you really want to listen to Boston's "greatest hits," look no farther than the group's debut album, aptly titled "Boston."
12
Boston's Greatest Hits collects all the band's best and it is a tremendous group of songs. "More Than A Feeling", "Don't Look Back", "Long Time", "Cool The Engines", "Amanda" and the rest are FM rock radio staples and classic all. The new songs don't add anything to the mix (although the "Star Spangled Banner" is interesting), but the rest is pure cream. since the band only has four studio albums, I would suggest for a few extra bucks you buy their first three, Boston, Don't Look Back & Third stage (Their fourth, Walk On is not needed) and you will get the full scope of their guitar pyrotechnics and vocal histrionics.
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Bad
19
Even something as simple as a Greatest Hits compilation takes time when Tom Scholz is involved. Originally scheduled for release to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of Boston's debut album, the project was pushed back nearly a year and became the first Boston album to feature computer generated artwork and a ship at rest. Songs from the fourth cd, Walk On, are absent, as is any rational for a greatest hits package. Given the wide availability of second hand copies of all of Boston's previous four albums, Scholz and Sony used three new songs as bait to lure in consumers who otherwise have no need to waste their money on a greatest hits package. "Tell Me" is a mid-tempo ballad written by Scholz and featuring David Sikes on lead vocals. The song has nothing to recommend it and had it been released previously would not have been on a greatest hits package, quite unlike Higher Power, a foot-tapping rocker that opens with a quiet guitar shuffle before blasting off with the chorus and finishing with guitar and harmonica solos. The third "previously unreleased" track was in fact circulating among Boston collectors for a number of years, a 1994 promo-only instrumental of the US national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, added here most likely because there were no other finished tracks on Scholz's shelves. Equally useless and not likely to be listened to more than once is the album's final track, a radio edit of Higher Power. Altogether, this is an uninspired compilation and except for Higher Power is for the consumer a complete waste of time and money.
