Greatest Hits-Redux

Cracker really is an amazing band, with a very large library of great tracks. These are a few, and they are not the original recordings... hence the "redux", I suppose... There are some good renditions, though, and it's worth picking up whether you are or aren't a hardcore fan. I would say that it's easily worth getting their entire library, though, because they hardly have any tracks that shouldn't be on a greatest hits album. At least in my opinion anyhow. Also, the new song on this album is very good.

I thought I was buying a new CD. Ended up paying top dollar for used!! Very disappointed!

Great

A great collection of the bands best material. If you where in your twenties when this first was released you will love this C.D.

The best

Bloody brilliant CD. Seller recommended.

The upshot is that there are two audiences for this CD:1. The hardcore Cracker fan who'd appreciate slightly different versions of their favorite songs2. The casual fan who just wants the big hits and some other songs, without caring too much about the detailsOthers should look elsewhere, perhaps starting with the hit album Kerosene Hat or fan favorite The Golden Age. Still, this IS an enjoyable disc with an interesting history. Other reviewers have alluded to some of it, but the reasons for this compilation are many. Various interviews give various pieces of the puzzle. All have to do with Cracker being unhappy at Virgin's release of Get On with It: The Best of Cracker. Here were a few reasons Cracker was unhappy:- Cracker found out about the planned release of this set via "the grapevine" rather than from the record company itself, which appeared to want to compile it without Cracker's input.- Virgin originally wanted to include some Camper Van Beethoven songs on the disc. Cracker was opposed, and this was about the only thing Virgin relented on, which prompted the label to claim that the compilation was done with Cracker's involvement.- However, Cracker didn't pick the songs and didn't want them to put it out for multiple reasons.- One reason is that they were planning their next release (Greenland) for the following month, and a compilation would take the wind out of that.- It would also eat into sales of the back catalog.- And, as aforementioned, Cracker was allowed only minimal input.- A final reason was that their contract appeared to require Virgin to compensate them for a compilation, just as would happen in the case of a new album. But Virgin refused.More effective than suing was striking back, ergo the rerecorded hits. These would also give Cracker more money if picked up for, say, a Gillette commercial (in which a rerecorded version of "The World Is Mine" was used, giving Cracker their biggest infusion of cash in the 21st century). And, in a win-win situation for everyone but Virgin, the album and the songs on it were listed at a price that undercut Virgin's compilation, Get On With It. That, combined with Cracker's loyal fans, meant that initial sales of Redux far outpaced Get On With It. Over a decade later, though, without the price advantage, Get On With It is understandably the better seller, though ranking #15,678 is hardly anything to brag about.So, what's the non-Virgin collection like? First, the song selection. All of the big hits are here, but most of the smaller ones - "Happy Birthday to Me," "I Hate My Generation," "Nothing to Believe In," "The Good Life" - are missing in action in favor of lesser-known songs. These include fan favorites "Mr. Wrong" and "Big Dipper," and lewd Virgin kiss-off "It Ain't Going to Suck Itself. Strangely, though, of the three re-recorded songs after 1998, two are from the quickie genre exercise Countrysides rather than Gentleman's Blues (one song) and Forever (zero). So if you want to get songs from lower-selling albums or make sure you have everything that charts, this isn't the album for you. (Virgin's album has two songs from each of these albums.)But it is a good selection of songs, and there's nothing missing that's a travesty for being omitted. Part of that might be that Cracker upped their game around this time, with the soon-to-come Greenland being their best album in years, overshadowing everything after The Golden Age. In fact, there's even a great song, "Something You Ain't Got," from that album. That's the only song that's not rerecorded, and its inclusion on Greenland means that if you want everything Cracker's done but only once per song, this disc is superfluous. That's a nice contrast to the tendency for greatest hits CDs to include songs unavailable elsewhere.As for how the rerecorded songs compare to the originals, they're close enough that someone who hadn't heard the songs for years wouldn't know the difference, but not so close as to be useless to a fan interested in the differences. One improvement is that the vocal is much clearer than most of the originals, so if you value lyrics, this might actually be a good starting point. Also, because they were recorded quickly, they have a more uniform and "live" feeling than the originals, without the strange changes in tone you might find in many hits collections. The instrumentation of the songs are more similar to each other than to the originals. And that accordion on the cover is no joke; many of the songs have a subtle accordion parts (or not-so-subtle in the case of the accordion solo added to their big hit, "Low").On the negative side, though, discriminating listeners might miss the original instrumentation. The person I listened to this really, really missed David Immerglück's pedal steel, which gave the original recording its wistful tone. And, though I like "Low"'s accordion solo, some nostalgic listeners might not. So, if it's your first Cracker purchase, keep all that in mind.Still, I'm glad I got it. Think of it as another view of Cracker. But it might not be best as your first view.

My copy of Cracker Greatest Hits Redux arrived today. I have been an avid Cracker fan since the early 90's and this CD does not disappoint. Rerecorded and remixed, the songs speak to the true Cracker music lover. From David Lowery's smarter-than-you-realize lyrics to Johnny Hickman's absolutely fantastic guitar work this offering is already a classic.Timed by Lowery and the Cooking Vinyl label to drop on the same day that the unsanctioned EMI/Virgin Cracker hits rehash was to make market, it smacks of corporate needling. If you like Cracker you don't want to wait until the next studio release "Greenland" (due in May/June '06) buy this one now and show some love and support for David Lowery, Johnny Hickman, Frank Funaro, Kenny Margolis, and David Immergluck...who are standing there like the last rock band on the planet.Keep up the good work!

As sweet as sweet thistle pie perfect in the car music. Not sure I'll explain the pie until the kids are older.

Hmm ..."Teenangst": So oft gehört,.aber diese Version macht doch Freude mal wieder mal reinzuhören ... ebenbürtig dem Orginal."Mr. Wrong" ist klangtechnisch, so wie die meisten anderen Songs dieser Compilation, viel klarer arrangiert. Obwohl dieses alles ohne jegliche Art von Budget im David Lowery- eigenen Studio eingspielt wurde, klingt die Produktion doch teilweise sehr viel besser als die alt-bekannten Versionen... der neue Mr. Wrong gewinnt mit leichtem Vorsprung."Low" .... ja "Low" ist auch eines dieser Lieder, was ich schon so oft gehört habe und deshalb der Fairness halber sagen muß, daß ich diese Version zwar lieber höre z. Zt., aber das kann man nicht wirklich für alle Zeit festlegen...ich sage darum...ebenbürtig."Get off this" lebte 1993 von dem grandiosen Talkbox Effekt und der Verspieltheit der Gitarren. Diese Version verliert leider dem Orginal gegenüber realtiv deutlich, da wohl aus Kostengründen ein Wah-Wah statt der Talkbox zum Einsatz kommt."I see the light"...verliert auch leicht an Punkten. Manchmal ist weniger mehr...."Lonesome Johnny Blues" ist definitiv ein Gewinner. Auf KEROSENE HAT noch ziemlich am Ende versteckt, enwickelte dieser Song schon damals Ohrwurm Qualitäten. Auf REDUX klingt Johnny Hickman's Stimme viel reifer und geübter. Das mag wahrscheinlich an der Veröffentlichung seines Soloalbums 2005 und der Solo-Tour mit den fantastischen Hackensaw Boys liegen....ein Gewinnersong!"Sweet Thistle Pie" war einer der Rocker auf THE GOLDEN AGE. Hier verliert er leider ewas an Roughness und Wut die man Lowery 1996 deutlich anhörte....man(n) wird ja auch älter..."Euro-trash Girl"....als Hidden Track auf dem 1993er Album versteckt. Übrigens die erste CD mit 99 tracks, wurde "Euro-trash Girl" schnell zum Liebling vieler Collegeradio Stationen. Und später sogar als Single ausgekoppelt trotz seiner Formatradio-unfreundlichen Länge von 8 Minuten. Dieses Girl hier gewinnt das Rennen aber troztdem relativ deutlich und macht riesig Spaß beim mitsingen. Und länger ist sie auch noch geworden. 9 Minuten purer Spaß!"Big Dipper" war schon auf THE GOLDEN AGE ein unschlagbar genialer Song und konnte einfach nicht besser gemacht werden. Fakt: ist dem Orginal sehr nah und darum ebenbürtig!Großer Song!Kommen wir nun zum absoulten Verlierer der Platte. Es tut mir richtig weh das sagen zu müssen aber diese Version von "The World is mine" klingt wie eine Cracker-Cover Band aus Skandinavien, sorry!Wenn Ihr wüßtet was für ein großer Fan dieser Band ich bin.......Mann, was hätte man aus diesem eigentlich sehr verrockten Song für ein Gitarrensolo-Monster machen können. Aber leider fehlte hier für wohl die Inspiration. Sehr schade!"Duty free" von COUNTRYSIDES ist ja eigentlich ein Ike Reilly Cover, aber von Lowery und Co. cracker-typisch verfremdet worden.Ebenbürtig."Ain't´gonna suck itself" ebenfalls von COUNTRYSIDES ist Lowery's bitterböse Abrechnung mit Virgin Records...ist ja bekannt.Dieser Song mußte unbedingt auf dieses Album hier.....erklärt sich ja von selbst.In "Something you ain't got"einem völlig neuen song grooved David mit ruhiger Stimme daher.Typischer Cracker Song, der Lust macht auf das neue Album im April, Mai oder Juni 2006......Fazit die Platte ist ein Pflicht-Kauf für jeden der diese Art von Music mag.

J'ai découvert ce groupe comme beaucoup avec leur tube monstrueux "Low" (pour ceux qui ne connaisent pas, voir sur You Tube, le clip noir et blanc est très beau, avec ambiance Nirvana, moins grunge, plus efficace, et en gros mieux joué, du moins à mon goût). J'ai ensuite complètement laissé tomber jusqu'à "The Golden age", 4 ième album (?), 1996 sur lequel il y avait ENCORE un hit phénoménal "I hate my generation", du niveau de celui dé-dé-dé-dé des des WHHHHOOOO, (si si) !, mais sans doute moins "générationnel", et là encore le clip est fabuleux. C'est en lisant divers critiques amazoniaques comme d'hab que j'ai eu envie de me procurer ce Best-of qui curieusement ne semble pas recouvrir l'ensemble des CD du groupe. En bref, c'est du rock-ricain, carré, solide, CCR, Tom Petty dans le rétro, et Bruce par moment en point de mire. Le groupe qui s'appelait auparavant Camper Van Beethoeveen (jamais entendu), délivre un rock aux paroles drôles, s'auto parodie, semble se moquer des modes, pour délivrer à chaque sortie de bons disques de rock bien fait, aux mélodies entêtantes, et très bien produites, et cnantées par un géant blond débonnaire. Ce best-of au prix défiant pas mal la concurrence est sans doute une bonne approche de ce groupe qui s'écoute vraiment facilement, et que j'ai complètement négligé.