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Even though the booklet is sorta lacking...yes it shows that most of these tracks are indeed 2009 REMASTERS but not when they were originally recorded or what albums they are from, nor does it have any liner notes/essay to read, or show a complete discography...BUT there are a few nice pics and paintings, and you see that Chris looks in fine health...better than he's looked in years, lean and muscular...
BUT the discs are filled to the brim and the remastering is UNREAL, loud and clear. 34 tracks total, the songs spanning 1978 to 2009 (2 then-new songs, the (sorta) title track and "Valentino"), the rest 2009 REMASTERS (NOT 2009 RERECORDINGS as someone in another review accused Chris and Rhino UK of, WRONG), and what really grabs you aside from his "crying" slide guitar and his awesome and distinctive, gravelly soulful voice (which is still quite intact today), is Chris' vivid SONGWRITING, wow, full of clear imagery and a mastery of distinct melodic catchy pop hooks...not too unlike the late great Gerry Rafferty, mixed with Mark Knopfler, Bryan Ferry, Boz Scaggs and even Seal. No one else I can think of mixes melodic pop/powerpop with blues guitar and continental European style and rhythms. Eric Clapton doesn't come close.
Now, people have complained about this set...the use of 1988 rerecordings he did for his collection "New Light Through Old Windows", and I completely understand why (6 are here and they are 2009 remasters of them, and "On The Beach" is that version but in a 3:46 single edit, not the 6+ minute full version)...many prefer the originals, and ya know what??? You're all crazy!! I can't BELIEVE people prefer some of the originals when the 1988 versions are IMPROVEMENTS...I know (and I'm one of them) people think re-recordings are usually inferior to the originals, BUT this is probably the only exception to the rule. See, I've just been acquiring Chris' back catalogue, and I popped on many of these titles last night, and the differences are quite jarring...for example, I can't believe people prefer the original 1983 "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" to the 1988 version!!! First off, as great as Chris' 1983 album "Water Sign" is as a whole, the production IS quite dated and it's only a DEMO, and the original version of that song is like cheesy disco, but in a good way, haha...there is even the line in that version of "I've been going through the European discos", like huh??? I haven't heard these albums in about 15 years, so I forgot what these albums were like...and I can completely understand why Chris would want to revisit these songs (which I'm sure he's proud of WRITING), but utterly CRINGE when he hears the RECORDINGS and dated, cheap, cheesy productions...now, there are some tracks where the originals are just as good, and one is "Candles", but that's not on here. I really think the 1988 versions are mostly improved, or at least matched like on "Steel River". There were 2 versions of "New Light" released in 1988, the 10-track Geffen version with the blue/grey curtains cover and different fatter guitar mix of the 1988 "Let's Dance" rerecording, burying the piano track, and the best, most superior version of "Josephine" (as far as I know, the only place you can find it, on the Geffen CD, it's like a fatter blues-infused remix of the 1985 CD version on "Shamrock Diaries"), but it left off the rerecordings of "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" (weird, maybe they wanted to give Chris exposure not reliant on that song in the US as it was a huge hit here and wanted people to forget??), "Shamrock Diaries" and the new recording "Driving Home For Christmas", and the other version is the 13-track import with the window painting, later released here on Atco when he moved over from Geffen when that label was sold to Universal in 1990, and he stayed in the Warner label system via his UK label Magnet who was sold to Warners/EastWest, and Atco was the US arm...so they put out "Auberge" in 1991 and reissued "The Road To Hell" (with the original, and more famous UK cover) and "New Light", again with the UK cover and mix...anyhoo, why people prefer the originals when many of them sound quite dated today is beyond me, like why???? Chris just extended the life of those songs with those awesome 1988 versions!! I also noticed that the versions of "Let's Dance" and "Josephine" on this new double are remasters of the 1988 import/Atco mixes, not the fatter, superior Geffen mixes, but they sound killer fine regardless...this remastering job, whoever did it, should get a medal, it's so good!!!
Throughout the rest of it, you get single versions and at least 1 song per album, with exception, like nothing from 2000's "King Of The Beach", and nada from 1980's "Tennis", there are some singles missing, and it would have been nice to have that Elton duet "If You Were Me", and as I hate having multiple collections from an artist, I have to get the US version of "Espresso Logic"...speaking of that album, "Julia", that album's biggest single (#18 UK) about his younger daughter, the melody/guitar riffs on the verses were ripped off by Sheryl Crow on her 2008 song "Love Is Free" from her album "Detours", not sure if that was intentional, but I noticed it right away.
But this collection is so good and has enough highlights that you may not feel a need to buy Chris' vast catalogue if you don't choose to do so...many collections you do, not this one...but I do as I want more and everything, but casual fans might feel this is good enough...it even gets a toe in the water of his post-2002 blues period and even a song from his current band The Hofner Bluenotes...so it covers all the bases and even spotlights songs you may have forgotten about or never heard before and becomes a new favourite.
I would have to say Chris Rea is an unheralded musical GENIUS and this 2CD set gives an ample number of examples as to why that is.
Period.
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