Sony Music's "The Essential..." compilations

Afternoon all,

I'm seeing a number of double compilation CDs from Sony Music called The Essential [insert artist name here] and have even bought a couple.

Dipping into the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash CDs, both appear to be pretty good quality transfers (sources allowing). I was thrilled to hear tape hiss at the beginning of the Dylan CD, which suggests that the sound remains unmolested.

Any else picked up any of this series? I've seen Neil Diamond (too many bad live tracks, instead of studio), Billy Joel and The Clash.

 

There's been some discussion here on these already, but I'll summarize that most of the tracklists for the Essential series are way too hit-and-miss for my tastes. The Bob Dylan and Byrds sets have a ton of blank space while missing actual chart hits (e.g. I Want You). Billy Joel omits "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", which (outside of Piano Man) is his defining moment, while at the same time includes some of his classicial compositions. The Clash tracklisting suffers similarly and was changed fairly significantly after it was initially press-released (can't recall if it was after Strummer died or not, so I don't know the politics of the changes). Not bad purchases for the $16.99 they run at Costco, but more of "let the buyer beware" as far as whether the content is going to suit his/her needs. I have been enjoying the heck out of the Sly set recently and overall I think it is great to have these sort of economical career summarizations - I just wish many of the ones I was interested in were better executed.

 

Yes, the Sly is great. Sly's catalogue is of course much smaller than,say, Dylans so a 2 disc comp makes more sense in Sly's case.

By the way CM does your copy have a coloured background on the cover photo?

My European pressing does.

 

I like the Neil Diamond set. There's only a few live tracks on it.

 

Yes, but I'd wish they'd give us the studio versions of Shilo, Play Me and Brother Love's. Also, no Longfellow Serenade.

Jim W.

 

My US cover is black and white (well there is a slight blueish tint to it, but I wouldn't describe it as colored....)

 

Too bad they couldn't have worked out a licensing deal with MCA for those tracks.

 

The PLay Me 3CD set takes care of that stuff... I think that material deserves to be in a class by itself...

 

A guy I know created his own "Essential" Neil Diamond by simply adding the hit MCA tracks to his own CD-R(and removing the live versions). This is the best way to have it. all in chronilogical order.

 

That's interesting. My copy, which is the locally available Australian version, is actually made in Austria.

The cover photo is identical to yours but the background is bright pink, green, blue and orange swirls.

Same tracklisting and mastering credits.

 

It's a good way to get familiar with an artist who's missing in your collection.
I always respected Dylan but was never a fan until I bought the Essential Dylan collection. Now I've hunted down most of his work on vinyl and CD.

If you're already a big fan of an artist then there isn't much point.
An example for me would be Billy Joel, who's entire catalog including all the "greatest hits" packages I already own many times over.

Dan C

 

My copy of The Essential Bob Dylan has I Want You on it - track 12 on disc 1.

I'm not surprised that Scenes from an Italian Restaurant is missing, as compilations go for the hits.

I do think that the sound of these compilations is important. The Billy Joel is remastered by Ted Jenson, who did a good job with the Joel catalogue. There's easily audible tape hiss on the early Dylan tracks, which suggests the the sound hasn't been mucked around with.

How do the other Essential CDs sound?

 

Re: Bob Dylan - I shouldn't have been presumptuous about what versions we are talking about - the US version I was speaking of is shorter than the European version - the US does inexplicably exclude I Want You.

Re: Billy Joel - Scenes was not a single but it is definitely a signature tune for him, and there are other non-singles included, so it really is an odd non-selection.

 

I wish my copy of "The Essential Bob Dylan" included " I Wany You". On mine track 12 ,disc 1 is "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35". This compilation has a sticker on the front cover proclaiming "SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION" 30 digitially remastered classics on 2 cds.

 

The copy I bought here in New Zealand for $19.99 (that's less than $US10) has (count 'em!) 22 tracks on the first CD and 14 on the second.

 

I have the Essential sets of Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Billy Joel, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Santana and all are great to me. Yes, there are some omissions, but the compilations are strong, and they sound great. There are number of them that I still need to get. I must have the Dave Brubeck set.