Pricey, but worth it!

This is the "International" version of the 1999 hits collection that has the domestic "Super Colossal Hits..." name. True fans ought to seriously consider acquiring this even though you probably already own a good share of the music herein. Why? Well, let's review what you get with this disc.

9 of these 15 tracks are from their first four MCA discs(tracks 7 through 15). There is one song from their MCA self-titled debut, the Patsy-Cline influenced "This Broken Heart"; the rest are from the "From Hell to Paradise"/"Music for All Occasions"/"Trampoline" discs. This is a fairly good collection of four key songs from the "...Hell to Paradise" disc, but there's only two songs each from the stellar "...All Occasions" and nearly essential "Trampoline" discs. For the true fan, no abridged view of these vital discs could be satisfying enough, and for the non-fan, this is too little to get a good feel for what a great band this is. Anyway, the real reason for fans to buy this is for the six songs not on any of those prior CD's.

Four of those six songs are on the domestic "Super Colossal Hits.." disc: The dynamic "Things I Cannot Change" original, and peppy covers of the early Cat Stevens' tune "Here Comes My Baby" and Buck Owens' "Think of Me", and a latin-tinged trifle of a tune called "Pizziricco" that is easily the weakest of these four 'new' songs. The two songs not on the domestic hit collection are 1) a fabulously swinging, horn-section-dominated version of Elvis's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" that could previously only be obtained on the "Babe II: Pig in the City" soundtrack, and 2) the exclusive gem that makes this disc worth tracking down to the dedicated: an excellent, understated reading of "World Without Love" that can be found nowhere else. This tune was written by Paul MCartney circa 1965 and given to his then-girlfriend's brother, Peter Asher, to record. Peter and Gordon had a minor hit with it---but in the hands of the Mavericks, it is slowed down a bit and filled with Raul Malo's achingly beautiful tenor. There is no harmony vocal line (as one had come to expect in the song based on the Peter and Gordon version), but this supremely gorgeous reading of the song makes the steep price of this disc much easier to digest.

Look at it this way: you'd have to buy the domestic hits version and the Babe II soundtrack to get the other 'exclusive' songs on here besides "World Without Love", and by then you'd have spend about 2/3rds of the cost of this disc anyway.

As of this fall of 2001 writing, these are the most recent 'new' recordings available from this excellent band. I recommend you seek out and cherish your copy of this disc and hope that it can help tide you over until the Mavericks drought ends.