Anthology: The Essential Crossexion

Ron Wood | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000HIVQMQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,589 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. I Can Feel the Fire

2. Cancel Everything

3. Far East Man

4. Big Bayou

5. If You Don't Want My Love

6. 1234

7. Fountain of Love

8. Seven Days

9. Always Wanted More

10. Breathe on Me

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. You're on My Mind

2. You Don't Love Me

3. No Good Without You Baby

4. How Can It Be

5. Midway Down

6. The Girls Are Naked

7. I Ain't Superstitious

8. All Shook Up

9. Plynth (Water Down the Drain)

10. Jailhouse Rock

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

2006 two CD career-spanning collection from one of rock's most recognizable musicians. Disc One features the best of his solo material from 197-95 while the second disc features tracks by the most well known bands he's been a member of including The Birds, The Faces, The Jeff Beck Group, The Creation and, of course, The Rolling Stones. EMI. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Essential & A Great 2 Disc Springboard....., October 3, 2006

By 

"The Woj" (Downers Grove, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anthology: The Essential Crossexion (Audio CD)

It is impossible to appreciate Ron Wood's music and muscianship to the fullest without the context of the original albums. Buying every single album Ron Wood has ever been part of, however, is obviously not cost effective for the casual fan. So the compilation "albums" are the next best thing. Every music fan needs to have a little Woodie in their collection. That being said, "Essential Crossexion" is arguably the best Ron Wood compilation available; & a great place to start a Ron Wood collection for someone on a budget. The track selection here is phenomenal. The songs span from his early career as a bassist with Jeff Beck to guitarist & Keith's foil in the Stones. The sound quality is very, very good and a definite upgrade if you have some of this music on the original cd releases or even vinyl. The great thing about this is you can use this album as a springboard to explore Wood's individual albums or work with his other bands. My personal favorites are "I've Got My Own Album To Do" and the best album the Stones never did, "Gimme Some Neck"; both feature Keith Richard too. For fans out there who already have some of Wood's cds, get "Crossexion" for playing in the car (especially if you are too lazy, like me, to compile your own disc from the original album cds). ****Finally, this title has been released in three versions, two import & one domestic, all relatively the same. I recommend doing a search for all three here on Amazon and hitting zShops for the one with the best price.****

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars God Bless Ronnie Wood, September 6, 2006

By 

Christopher Bushman (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ronnie Wood Anthology: The Essential Crossexion (Audio CD)

You could do a lot worse than picking up any Ronnie Wood solo album. Sure, he rocks hard but he also has a way with a groove and is a very prolific and underrated songwriter. In addition to all the records that bear his name, the guy has been a secret weapon contributing to so many rock and roll classics for so long that his DNA may possibly be the key ingredient in stealth technology.

This double disc career overview logically features one disc of solo highlights and follows with a second disc showcasing his contributions to various group efforts for the likes of the Rolling Stones, the Faces and The Jeff Beck Group as well as more obscure combos. However the song selection is somewhat lacking and if I were king, it would have been different.

Disc 1 fares pretty well overall and offers a fine representation of RW solo cuts from the early 70's through the early 00's. You can't go wrong with any of these but off the top of my head, I am astonished that Sure The One You Need from I've Got My Own Album To Do is MIA and I would have liked to see the hard rocking Like It from 1992's Slide On This make the cut. Also, Woody has put out some pretty fantastic (and criminally overlooked) live albums that are not represented here.

Disc 2 suffers from too many tracks from his obscure 60's groups The Birds (Think British Invasion also-rans) and The Creation (Standard Yardbird-esque British 60's psychedelic rock). Six songs from these pre-fame and fortune outfits would fit fine if this were a six disc box set but in this format, they take up too much valuable real estate. Also over-represented is the Jeff Beck Group with four tracks. Ronnie was demoted to bass in this seminal combo and it really is all about JB with Rod Stewart as a close-second star. Ronnie was a key contributor to the jammin' Plynth (water down the drain) and that great song would have been sufficient to represent this period of his career.

If anything, the fabulous Faces are under-represented with four tracks as is the early Rod Stewart solo material where Ronnie's guitar was such a key contribution. It is pretty much an open secret that in the context of the Stones Mick and Keith have inappropriately shared or denied songwriting credit to RW (and Mick Taylor before him) but at least we get the great Black Limousine and Everything Is Turning To Gold. I would have liked to see the fantastic groover Pretty Beat Up presented here (perhaps in its pounding RW-sung version from Live & Eclectic).

Finally, it's odd that the New Barbarians aren't represented here as well as anything from the Live At The Ritz Bo Didley collaboration.

Perfect? No. Really enjoyable? Absolutely!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ron Wood Looks Back, January 4, 2007

By 

J P Ryan (Waltham, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anthology: The Essential Crossexion (Audio CD)

Ron Wood has had a remarkably prolific and successful career, stretching back to 1964, when Decca released the debut single by The Birds, 'You're On My Mind', a Wood original. Wood made posters promising "Pounding Beat and Savage Music", and listening to The Birds' exciting compilation on the Deram label it's hard to believe the lead guitarist was only 17 when the group's first records were released, and 19 when he split to form a group with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart in December 1966 - the band recorded first rate London punk/maximum r&b, as incendiery as the early Who or Small Faces. Ron Wood has been a 'rock star' for so long it's easy to forget the body of great music he's produces as member of several major bands, as collaborator extraordinaire, and on a dozen or so solo albums. So having passed his 60th birthday a box or 2-disc retrospective along the lines of, say, Clapton's "Crossroads" (or scores of lovingly researched and lavish packages celebrating far less important bands) seems appropriate, even overdue. Thus I find myself both pleased and a little frustrated at this collection. There is no doubt that had this project received the TLC it deserves, a lot more listeners and critics would be re-evaluating Wood's legacy. Ron Wood joined The Rolling Stones in 1975, and though his influence on the band was immediate and undeniable (imagine "Some Girls" with Mick Taylor) a combination of factors have led to his creative marginalization, and though he's handled his position with greater finesse than Brian Jones and Mick Taylor, he'll always be the 'newest' member, and these discs prove Wood is far more than a capable support player. Oh well, the career-spanning "Crossexion" is a too brief sampler that contains some great music from five decades - yet is flawed, first by glaring factual mistakes (famed engineer Gary Kellgren becomes Gregg...) and typos within the 2-CD set's booklet. But more importantly, though Wood and Virgin licensed the recent - and brilliant - EMI remasters of The Jeff Beck Group's 1967 - 69 material, elsewhere the mastering is less than stellar on some tracks - which is especially unfortunate because much of Wood's solo work is either out of print or (in the case of his albums for Warner Bros and Columbia) available in fifteen or twenty year old CDs in serious need of sonic upgrade...Too bad Rhino didn't produce this well-deserved retrospective, for a cursory comparison to that label's fantastic 4 CD box set by Faces (Wood's 1969-75 band) clearly suggests what could have been something special. As it stands, the man has been famous for most of his adult life, and "Crossexion" will hopefully encourage a reconsideration of his fantastic career, and give Rolling Stones fans an opportunity to investigate both his solo catalog and pre-Stones work with Faces, Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart, Creation, and The Birds. I suspect, however, it will not sell enough or get the press attention Wood deserves. In recent years Wood has been active performing solo shows and recordings, guesting with friends, and releasing gems from the vaults (i.e the New Barbarians)when not busy with the Stones, yet more attention has been given to his struggles with various addictions. Unlike Taylor and Jones, Wood was already a certified rock star when he began working with the Stones in 1974 (during sessions for his solo debut album, which featured Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Taylor, and produced 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll' which - what a guy! - he let the Stones use on their own album later that year. Far from a faceless session pro, his highly personal approach to both bass and, especially, guitar playing was rich and distinctive. He became a star when he joined Faces, where his role was curiously similar to Keith's in the Stones, and by then he was already an established songwriter, alone and in collaboration with the likes of Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Bobby Womack, and many others. Wood's important role in the making of classic albums like (the Beck Group's) "Truth", as well as Stewart's five absolute best ever solo albums (the ones that made him famous, for the Mercury label in 1969 - 74), and his role in Faces proved was, and can still be, one of the most immediately recognizable and soulful guitar stylists of his generation; only Duane Allman, and Ry Cooder approach his beautiful and unique slide work. This compilation can't match the Faces box, but there are plenty of classics such as 'Every Picture Tells A Story' and 'Stay With Me'. Sadly, the 'solo' disc misses too much of the best from that, less celebrated side of his career, which begins on a high note with 'I Can Feel The Fire' (with Mick and Keith on board), 'Cancel Everything' (a beautiful original featuring stellar guitar work by Wood and Richards), and the gorgeous collaboration with George Harrison, 'Far East Man', all from 1974. These, and every track excerpted from 2002's "Not For Beginners" sound better than ever, but why not include the original 1975 version of 'Breathe On Me' (one of Wood's most powerful songs) with it's deep groove and gorgeous guitar work, and wonderful harmony singing by Keith Richards? And to these ears there are too many tracks from "1234" his least successful solo album. And much of the second disc - his work within bands - is familar, readily available in superior contexts. Such as the following, all recommended:
The Birds: "A Collection Of Rare English Birds" (Deram, 1999) for some great and scorching Brit Invasion protopunk.
Creation: "Biff Bang Pow!" and "Making Time" two double-vinyl and CD sets that collected "The Complete Works" of this fine mod psych band, issued by Retroactive in 1998
Jeff Beck Group: "Truth" and the Stooges-meet-Led Zep "Beck-Ola" are best heard in the 2003 and 2004 EMI (UK) editions - the US editions don't capture the raw power and seem drawn from rather drab and different masters of those classic albums (yes that includes the 2006 US Legacy reissues that have the same cover art and bonus material as the EMIs).
Faces, "Five Guys Walk Into A Bar..." one of the best boxed sets ever, revelatory, and mostly non album material at that. And petition Rhino for those original studio albums to get the expanded/upgraded treatment they deserve.
Rod Stewart, "Complete Mercury Studio Recordings 1969 - 74" Five classic studio albums, non-album singles, and more on 3 CDs.
As for Wood's solo stuff, my favorites are his latest, "Not For Beginners" an intimate, organic work, with layered shimmering guitars, basses, dobros, and no concessions to current (2002) trends, it is Wood's most personal and emotionally powerful album. Then check his collaboration with Bobby Womack from 1975, "Now Look." And his 1976 soundtrack album with Lane, "Mahoney's Last Stand," features two or three tracks that rate with the Faces at their best (it's shame this collection contains nothing from that gem, a terrific soundtrack to a film starring the young Sam Waterston).
The Stones albums I assume you know, but with only a pair of Wood-written tracks to close the second disc, one can ask why no "Down In the Hole" which illustrates the differences between the Keith/Ron era and the Keith/Taylor era quite nicely. Or, for another lesser known stunner, the live "When the Whip Comes Down" from "Sucking In the Seventies"?
BTW, the two unissued tracks that close disc one are both lovely, one ('Little Mixed Up') from Wood's 1997 sessions that provided bonus material to the Koch label's reissue of "Slide On Live" and the other ('You Strum and I'll Sing')a 2001 collaboration with Rod Stewart that actually evokes the spirit of Sam Cooke, something I'd never guess Rod could still do. I'm glad to add them to my collection, but really despite a lot of very fine music (one surprise if the live "Seven Days" with Booker T. & The MGs from the Dylan 30th anniversary celebration), I was hoping for something more, something carefully and lovingly prepared and in each case taken from original masters. To quote Faces, "Too Bad."