The problem with assembling an
Eagles
collection in 2003 is that there already is a perfect
collection: 1976's
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)
. Although it spanned a mere ten songs and summarized only the first five years and four albums of their career, it pulled off a nifty trick by making the albums it summarized -- and by extension, the band -- seem better than they actually were. By concentrating on big hits and substituting album track
"Desperado"
for
"Outlaw Man,"
a single that didn't receive much chart action, the collection captured the band's peak, making a convincing case for the band's strengths while providing a compulsively enjoyable listen. Of course,
the Eagles
continued to have hits after the 1976 release of
Their Greatest Hits
, scoring the biggest proper album of their career that very year with
Hotel California
. After that, egos and infighting hampered the band, leading to just one more album in 1979's
The Long Run
before a disbandment in 1982, which was followed 12 years later by a reunion, charmingly dubbed
Hell Freezes Over
, since most pundits predicted that's when the band would reunite. This isn't much new ground to cover for a compilation, as the spotty 1982
The Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
illustrated, but even with a box set like 2000's
Selected Works
, there was room for a collection that contained all their big hits on one or two discs: hence the birth of
Warner Strategic Marketing
's 2003 double-disc
collection,
The Very Best Of
.
There's little question that
does its job well, containing nearly all of the group's charting singles -- including the non-LP seasonal tune
"Please Come Home for Christmas"
and omitting the purposely ignored
"Outlaw Man"
along with a couple of reunion-era singles that didn't make much impact -- and filling out the margins with
album rock
staples such as
"Doolin-Dalton,"
"Ol' 55,"
"Victim of Love,"
"In the City,"
and
"Those Shoes."
It's a good collection, eliminating the need to own actual
albums by containing all the key songs from each effort, including the highlights from
. If there are quibbles, the biggest is that the first disc isn't nearly as compulsively listenable as
, which covers the same ground, with the second being that after
the collection runs out of steam a little bit, as
sound more like a collective of solo performers instead of a band -- but that's the run of their career, too. In any case,
is an excellent way to get all
' songs that matter on one collection. [
was also released as a limited-edition three-disc set with the third disc being a bonus DVD containing the video for the new song
"Hole in the World,"
as well as a making of the video featurette and
"Backstage Pass to Farewell 1."
] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine