20th Century Masters (Jewl) [Original recording remastered]

Joe Walsh | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 7, 2000)
• Original Release Date: March 7, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00004RCVA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,560 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The 20th Century Masters series is the best-selling single-artist line in music history and is being re-released by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in its ground-breaking, environmentally-friendly packaging format. A first for the music industry, the standard package (both sleeve and tray) will be completely paper-recyclable, continuing the company's long-standing commitment to being "green."

To further reduce the amount of paper in the Eco-Pack, the CD booklet will no longer be offered. Official liner notes are easily accessible on the Internet at http://www.ilovethatsong.com/green.

UMe is the first North American music company to replace the traditional jewel case with recycled paperboard sleeves and the plastic tray with trays made from PaperFoam®, a new packaging technology from Shorewood Packaging, a business of International Paper, that is paper-recyclable and biodegradable. Shorewood Packaging is the first North American packaging supplier to produce disc trays from PaperFoam®. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars MCA's Millennium Madness Continues, June 1, 2000

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 20th Century Masters (Jewl) (Audio CD)

Okay, here's the scenario: The board of directors at MCA are huddled in some smoke-filled room. The question is how can we use the company's existing music catalog and make some money off the new millennium. One executive suggests taking the artists' existing greatest hits releases and add extra songs to included album tracks, minor chart hits, and singles since the album's original release so the new CD will have 75 minutes of music. Another executive says why not take the existing greatest hits releases and remove four or five songs and call it the Millennium Collection? (Guess which executive got the promotion.)

This nearly fifty-minute snapshot of Joe Walsh's career beginning with his days with The James Gang is more generous than most. And while it's hard to argue with the addition of "Here We Go" from 1972's Barnstorm and "County Fair" from 1974's So What, this release is no match for 1997's Greatest Hits, which not only inlcudes Walsh's two hits of the Eighties ("All Night Long" and "A Life Of Illusion"), it includes his signature song "Life's Been Good." And at fifteen tracks, the choice becomes a no-brainer.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New here!, December 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 20th Century Masters (Jewl) (Audio CD)

This is really just a slightly beefed up re-issue of the 1978 "Best of Joe Walsh". As such it does a very good job of summarizing Walsh's early carrier. It's marketed as a budget priced CD and I guess you do save... off the definitive 1997 release of "Greatest Hits: Little Did He Know". Unfortunately, what you give up is a lot! Classics like "All Night Long", "Life of Illusion", "Average Ordinary Guy" and the unforgivable exclusion "Life's been good".

If this is going to be the only Joe Walsh CD you own, my advice is simple: Spend the extra... and get "Greatest Hits: Little Did He Know". You get 15 songs vs. 10 and you can take comfort in the fact that you will have the only Joe Walsh CD most people ever need to own.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the pay you less, the get you more, January 5, 2004

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 20th Century Masters (Jewl) (Audio CD)

I just love getting a CD with great music that costs less than the postage to send it! While I would like to own 'Life of Illusion' in addition to some of the thoroughly wonderful tracks laid down here, a copy of Walsh's other compilation, 'Little Did He Know', would have cost me three times as much, and frankly I'm not that absorbed in a lot of Joe's lesser accomplishments to justify the expense.

That being said, I've always been a sucker for Walsh's guitar playing. There is nothing in Walsh's vocal delivery to set him apart, except to say that it seems well suited to the mood and lyrical content of his music (indeed, it is difficult to imagine other artists covering much of his music, for whatever reason, though Stephen Stills pounded out a convincing 'Rocky Mountain Way' on a live release). He has, however, composed and recorded some of the finest guitar riffs imaginable, easily on a par with anything done by Eric Clapton, The Beatles, even, dare I say it... Jimi Hendrix. Though few in number, those recordings possess massive appeal and staying power.

Walsh's best work was produced in the very late 1960's and early 1970's, heading up the James Gang and Barnstorm, and this era serves as the focus for this 10 track mini resource library. The disc opens with THE 3 essential (tha-tha-tha-tha- that's all folks) James Gang recordings, 'Walk Away', 'Funk #49', and 'Midnight Man'. While 'Midnight Man' is the closest the Gang ever got to a serenade, and a fine serenade at that, 'Walk Away' and 'Funk #49" are studies in hard rock artistry. The songs are reminiscent of the sonic explosion exemplified in two compositons by Walsh's contemporaries Ray Davies and The Kinks, 'All Day and All of the Night' and 'You Really Got Me'. It's not possible to listen to any of these songs without cranking up the volume and allowing your brain and body to liberate themselves from death to life. They possess the power to move ya'.

There are some lesser contributions from Barnstorm included on this disc, in particular 'Mother Says' and 'Here We Go'. It's not that these songs are weak, but they pale in comparison to the remaining selections. 'Turn To Stone', the anthem 'Meadows', 'Rocky Mountain Way', and to a lesser extent 'County Fair', are some of the finest pieces of rock music anyone ever committed to disc. What sets them apart, again, is Walsh's occasional genius with a guitar. The lyrics are compelling, the music is sublime, and it all comes together in a stellar mix that testifies rock and roll will never die. Some artists just say it, others like Joe Walsh play it.

There is one remaining track, the familiar 'Help Me Through the Night', which is a sweet diversion, helping you catch your breath between 'County Fair' and the closer/clincher 'Rocky Mountain Way'. The song served as a segue for Walsh as he reinvented himself in the mid-1970's as the beak and talons of the Eagles. Walsh used several Eagles, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Randy Meisner for background vocals on the number, and soon after took Meisner's perch with the band. To me it represents Walsh's evolution from primordial to prima donna. I prefer primordial, and 'Millenium' is certainly that.