Best of Vol. 2, Six Reviews in One

Throughout the years the suits at Columbia, then Sony have tried to make more money of Mr. D by mixing and matching his material, not just in a Greatest Hits compilation, but as a "Best of Import" from Japan, Holland, Sweden, or some other far away place. They tout them as better, different, remastered, a gold version and lots of times they'll build these compilations around a song that hadn't appeared on any other album.

The current favorite is the wonderful song, "Things have changed," which shows up on five different sets available today.

"The Best of series Vol. 1 and Vol. 2" Imports are the only one of the 5 sets that you can get separately and, since they couldn't put "Things Have Changed on both CDs, they put "Shelter From The Storm," from the Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding move "Jerry Maguire" on the first disc. If you were to buy both discs in this set you'd be out over fifty bucks. Of course, there isn't a bad song on the discs, but if you're like me, you already own most of them.

"The Very Best of Vol. 1 & 2" Swedish version has 33 songs on it, all available elsewhere except, of course "Things Have Changed." The songs are about the same as on the other compilations and this one will set you back thirty-three dollars.

"The Ultimate Collection," is of course not the ultimate collection, but it is a collection of 33 songs, very similar in scope to the songs in the other collection and built around, "Things Have Changed." This version will shrink you wallet by thirty-nine dollars.

"The Essential Bob Dylan" double CD set has 30 songs on it and has a nice flow to it. Like the other compilations mentioned here it features "Things Have Changed." You'll have to fork over twenty-one dollars to get this one. It's the most reasonably priced of the bunch, and so it's the only one I'm giving five stars to.

"The Essential Bob Dylan" Import has six more songs on it and it'll cost you 16 more dollars. That's a lot of money to pay to get those extra six songs.

Okay after rounding them up and telling you a little about them, I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed in Sony about this group. Unlike "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" which like these isn't really a Greatest Hits compilation, these CDs cost a whole gang of money and give us only one new song. "GH 2" gave us a half dozen new tunes, so we (not me, cuz I wasn't born yet) didn't feel ripped off when we bought it. Also, the "Biograph" compilation was stuffed with new songs. Ah well, my recommendation would be to buy the American version of "The Essential Bob Dylan" for twenty-one dollars and shine the rest of them on. Five stars for that one, four for the rest.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Great collection with live tracks.

This collection is worth getting for the new song "Things Have Changed" and the extra live CD! The other songs sound as if they were recorded yesterday. Every Bob Dylan fan should on this!

Volume 2 complements Volume 1 perfectly

Around the same time that Columbia released "The Essential Bob Dylan" in the US, it also released "The Best of Bob Dylan Volume 2" in most overseas markets, a sequel to Volume 1 which was released in 1997.



"The Best of Bob Dylan Volume 2" (17 tracks, 77 min., plus bonus disk) starts off with the 'excuse' that was needed for the release, namely the excellent (and Oscar-winning) "Things Have Changed" from the "Wonder Boys" soundtrack. After that, the remaining 16 tracks provide a chronological overview of Dylan's best known songs not found on Volume 1, and thus form a perfect complement to Volume 1. The highlights are many, including "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "I Want You", "Simple Twist of Faith", "Changing of the Guards" (all of which are missing from "The Essential Bob Dylan"), "Hurricane", "Rainy Day Woman", and so on. The audio quality is superb. So you ask, what more can one expect of a "greatest hits" album? A bonus disk, of course!



The bonus disk (18 min.) provides live tracks of the epic "Highlands" (from "Time Out of Mind"), followed by "Blowing in the Wind". They show Dylan in his element, and I wish there were more official releases of the "Never-Ending Tour".



In all, this is an excellent compilation. Highly recomended!