Search - John Denver :: Song's Best Friend: The Very Best of (Bonus CD)

Revised Mixes, but otherwise good

Upstae NY guy | Upstate NY | 10/21/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this based on the fact that all of the songs (except the three from the 1980's) were remixed from the original session tapes. This was fantastic news for me, as I have loved these tunes since the day I was born, but (like every other music buyer) have only been handed the same limp mixes from day one, in various degrees of tape hiss.



So, it came today, and I popped it in.



"Take Me Home, Country Roads" comes on. WOW! There is a bass line to this song!!! The fidelity is incredible! Hmmm...that instrument is louder than originally....but hey, I like it!



"Rocky Mountain High" comes on. Wow! The fullness is great....the guitars have life to them......They even fixed that vocal glitch on the "He Climbed Cathedral Mountains" line. This is great---wait a minute! What did he say? That line is different! Hold On! Some of this is an alternate vocal track!



"Back Home Again" comes on. What the hell??? Why is there a drum kit way up in the mix on this? Where is the subtlety of the original mix? This is absurd.



So goes the whole CD....some differences are mild-to-non-exsistant, and some just change the particular song into something different than we remember.



There is a bonus disc that comes with this CD which contains "Calypso" and "Annie's Song" in acoustic remixes (read: the actual master recordings with almost everything dropped except the guitars and vocals), an early lesser-quality demo-take of "Leavin' On A Jet Plane", and two other unreleased tunes. The second disc is not essential by any stretch.



So, basically, RCA/BMG had a good chance to finally make these somgs come alive after years of subjecting us to the same worn-out, hiss-filled 1970's mixes, but instead, we get tracks which can be justifyibly called "alternate versions".



Instead of a remixed greatest hits, we get something more closely resembeling The Beatles "Anthology" series.



Good to buy for the completeist, but the casual fan should stick to the original 3 volumes of JD's Greatest Hits."