Search - Men at Work :: Contraband: Best of

Good hits package, but missing a few

Jason C. Harris | Shimane, JAPAN | 11/26/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This american Hits compilation is adequate and the sound of the disc is quite good. A few minor quibbles with song selection. This disc includes five selections from the Men's third, somewhat obscure third album. But the one american hit from that album, "Everything I Need", is missing, as is another called "Sail to You." Also not included are the songs(not on any of the three albums) "The Longest Night" and "Shintaro." These songs are included on their import best of called "The Works." Having said that, this disc sounds much better. I'm also glad to see they included "Down by the Sea", the best Men song of all. Good starter disc or overview, but the true fan needs to have this and the "Works." Enjoy!"

Good collection, EXTREMELY poor sound

El Grande | Fort Wayne, IN | 11/13/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I'll have to concur with the reviewer "El Marco", who inexplicably is the only reviewer to have noted the poor sound on this CD.



While the collection of songs by a band I like is fine, the mastering of this disc is nothing short of a crime. After hearing "Be Good Johnny" on my iPod for the first time, the horrible distortion of the cymbal crashes mad me figure I'd ripped the CD at the wrong bitrate. Checking my iTunes settings, I saw that it was no different from any other CD I'd ripped, so I pulled the CD back out to see what was what. Listening to the disc directly, the same flaws I noticed on my iPod are there in the original recording (which I'd not listened to critically before I put it on my player). Every track (not just "Be Good Johnny") that I care about sounds bad, either because of distorted cymbal crashes, muddy overall sound, poor bass, or a maddening shifting of the stereo image left and right across the soundstage.



Listening to this CD through headphones, you will be driven to tears by the realization that someone mucked up the transfer BIG TIME. Basically, the CD sounds as though it was produced from a bunch of 96bps MP3 tracks stolen off of Kazaa and then burned to disc. I wish I were exaggerating, but truly, this is easily one of the ten worst-sounding commercially produced CD's in my 1000+ disc collection.



Four stars for the selection of music, minus-3 stars for the sound quality. The quality of this CD is inexcusable."

If you only get one Men at Work album, this is it

Robert Jenkins | Celina, TX United States | 06/18/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, Men at Work. I remember these guys from the early 1980s. Business As Usual and Cargo were two of the first rock albums I ever bought (I guess that dates me some a bit, eh?) and I played them until my record player finally give up the ghost years later. I was very gratified to find this collection so I could experience them again on the CD player.This album contains 6 songs from Business as Usual (including a live versionof I Like To), 5 songs from Cargo, and 5 songs from the relatively obscure final album, Two Hearts. I remember when Two Hearts came out. I saw it once in a record store but didn't purchase it right away. The next time I came back, it was gone. I never had heard any songs from Two Hearts until I got this CD, and, as it says in the liner notes, many people don't even remember that Men At Work ever even made a third album. I was thankful to see that the 11 songs from the first two albums do an excellent job of showcasing the best of the Men's output while disregarding songs that were less enjoyable. Colin Hay's strong and rich vocals and Greg Ham's saxophone/flute/keyboard versatility were, and are, the highlights of these songs. "Who Can It Be Now" was the band's first big hit, largely on the strength of the unforgettable sax hook. "Down Under" was the classic hit about the traveling Australian that turned into an unofficial national anthem. "Overkill" is probably the best song on the album, a haunting song about stress, overwork, and worry with Greg Ham's best sax performance. "It's a Mistake" sounded light-hearted at first, until you listened closely to the lyrics and realized that it was a song of angst and fear of nuclear war (remember that the song came out in 1983). "It's a Mistake" also spawned a classic MTV video, culminating with the priceless look of "D'oh!!" on "General" Colin Hay's face as he goes to stub out a cigar in his ashtray and accidentally pushes "The Button".The rest of the songs on the album from Business as Usual and Cargo don't disappoint. I suppose some would have quibbles with some of the selected songs, but I was quite happy with the ones they chose to include. As for the 5 songs from Two Hearts, well, they are.... OK. They aren't bad songs by any means, certainly they are better than some of the aforementioned songs from the first two albums that were left off this CD, but they aren't anything particularly noteworthy, either. Remember what I mentioned above about Hay's vocals and Ham's instrumentals? Well, both Hay and Ham were involved in the creation of Two Hearts, but their hearts just don't seem in it (no pun intended). The album faded quickly out of the record stores and got almost zero airplay, and when one listens to these songs, it is easy to see why. That having been said, I still highly recommend this CD. Anyone who remembers the Men fondly will enjoy it, and anyone who may have only heard "Who Can It Be Now" and "Down Under" (both of which can still be occasionally heard on the radio) will get a nice cross-section of this band's music. Well worth picking up for any 80s music fan. The liner notes contained in the CD are a nice little short history of the band and make a nice supplement to the disc."