How does one go about reviewing a "best of" or "greatest hits" album? Doesn't everyone already know what the songs sound like? Sure, you could go on about which songs the band chose. You could even give your opinion on which songs "should have" been on the album. That is not the case with this album. Dave Mustaine did something I don't think I've ever seen before. He let the fans decide what songs were on the album.
Since the fans know best what they want on an album criticizing the song selections would be like explaining how we all voted for the wrong singer in American Idol. It would be like biting the media hand that feeds you. What I can do is give you a run down on the album art, copy quality and pretty much anything else that pops into my head.
Before we get to that we should provide the song list. This list is all-important since the Megadeth fans did it:
1. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
2. In My Darkest Hour
3. Peace Sells
4. Sweating bullets
5. Angry Again
6. A Tout Le Monde
7. Trust
8. Kill The King
9. Symphony Of Destruction
10. Mechanix
11. Train Of Consequences
12. Wake Up Dead
13. Hangar 18
14. Dread And The Fugitive Mind
15. Skin O' My Teeth
16. She-Wolf
17. Prince Of Darkness
Did everybody get that? They packed seventeen of the best fan-picked songs into one single disk. I was expecting more like 12-15 but 17 of Megadeth's greatest are well worth it. I was impressed with how strong they have stayed throughout the near twenty years in the industry. I can think of another band that started in the same timeframe that wasn't able to keep their sound nearly as well as Megadeth has. They've stood strong through it all.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Only two band members have stayed to full course, Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson.
And, unfortunately, due to a falling out, Ellefson jumped ship last year before The System Has Failed was finished.
Did you happen to get the set with the DVD? I'd like to know if it's worth investing the extra money for the handful of live stuff (good picture, sound quality, etc.)
2 - Megafan
"A different band member for each one of their albums. I guess this guarantees the lineup will always stay fresh? I'm sure there's probably a long, rock & roll soap opera explanation for each of the rotating band members but I'm not going to speculate as to exactly what transpired."
Well, actually the line-up was unchanged for 4 studio albums [Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings]. The line up read -
Dave Mustaine: vocals & guitars
Marty Friedman: Lead
David Ellefson: Bass
Nick Menza: Drums
3 - simon
Just to say, I couldnt undersand the album release dates you gave at first, as I remember listeneing to some these albums in the 80's, then I realised you had listed the digitally remastered versions. If the compilation is actually comprised of remastered material this would make sense but as you said yourself, it's all original unmastered stuff. Then the correct release date for peace sells for example, would be '86,right? Hey! I know it probably doesnt matter and noone gives a shit, but it's a bit like fighting holocaust revisionists, I cant allow Megadeth misinformation, however irrelevant, to pass into the future, polluting the minds of the young, even though I am sure they would neither care nor notice.And besides, I've got nothing better to do this morning than point out miniscule typos in random blogs. it's my job.
4 - Anthony
I agree with most of this but id say between the She-Wolf on Cryptic Writings and the 1 on back to the start Id say i definately noticed a difference. understanding that its like 1 of my fav songs ever i realize ive heard it hundreds of times and im probly the only 1 who noticed this..... actually She-Wolf was not the only track that i noticed this with. and thank god this guys prediction was wrong cuz now we have United Abominations and Endgame.