Dave Mustaine
revived
Megadeth
in the mid-2000s, remastering and reissuing his band's entire
Capitol
catalog and hitting the concert circuit in earnest.
Greatest Hits
is part of that revival. It's the second
best-of, replacing the one from five years prior,
Capitol Punishment
.
is an improvement, loaded with 17 selections, three more than its predecessor. There's also some fancy packaging and a hyperbolic "Love Live Megadeth" tribute written by
Penelope Spheeris
, the colorful director of
The Decline of Western Civilization, Pt. 2: The Metal Years
. It all adds up to a nice package, or more precisely, a sampler of
, from the band's pioneering
thrash
metal
years to its later growing pains, with an unfortunate de-emphasis on the band's beginnings. Like the previous best-of released by
,
overlooks much of
's prime years in favor of a balanced sample of selections from every album released by the label. There's going to be a large chunk of the market that is going to groan about this approach, since the early
years are the reason most
fans are fans in the first place, and also the reason why the band has been able to ramble on all these years despite some mostly dull new music. Since
released so many albums for
, there's never room here for more than two tracks per album:
Peace Sells
Rust in Peace
Countdown to Extinction
, and
Youthanasia
get two representations, the rest get only one. Such breadth doesn't make for the best listening experience, especially because the disc hopscotches through time. That quibble aside,
does give you a sample of every
album, even duds like
Risk
. If you're serious about getting into this band, however, you're best off going through the albums one by one. The good ones are good all the way through; if you like
"Peace Sells,"
you're going to like
. But if you're just curious and would like a broad one-disc sampler,
is your ticket. You'll end up with a good understanding of
-- old and not as old, good and not as good -- and what to expect from each album, of which there are a couple stone-cold classics. ~ Jason Birchmeier