Customer Reviews

Best of

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Perhaps no singer/songwriter of the "Woodstock Era" was more misunderstood than Melanie. For those who have forgotten, yes, Melanie did appear and sing at the infamous outdoor gathering in New York. Alone with an acoustic guitar, she captivated the audience. The experience would inspire her to write one of the finest blends of folk, rock and gospel songs ever: "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain." It summed up the magical feeling of peace and love that Woodstock was intended to represent, and it became Melanie's first top ten hit. Disaster--of a sort--struck Melanie when "Brand New Key," a rather "cute," bouncy song from her exceptional "Gather Me" album became a number one hit. No one wanted to take Melanie seriously after that. And that is a real shame. There is power, strength, and emotion in Melanie's voice; her lyrics are beautiful and moving. She is a songwriter of incredible depth, feeling, and warmth. Unfortunately, most of the record buying public is unaware of this. This "Best of" collection is a good introduction to the tunes that Melanie and her record labels hoped would be hits. There are tracks included here that should have been million sellers: "Love to Lose Again, Together Alone, the Good Book, Leftover Wine." Every one of these a stand out. The actual chart hits are here as well: "Lay Down, Peace Will Come, The Nickel Song, Bitter Bad."

Melanie continues to record and perform today, and her voice is as powerful as ever. If you have the opportunity to see her in concert, by all means take advantage of the opportunity. You will be overwhelmed by the warmth and sincerity of this amazing musician. For those of us who are long time fans, we always look forward to any new release from Melanie; it is always a treat. If you purchase this CD, it will introduce you to the beginning of what Melanie was and is all about. To truly capture her talent, you need to track down all her album releases, many of them not yet released on CD--hopefully someday.

This cd really has a lot of the songs that I grew up with and know I'm so happy with it and it's nice having a cd in the car that everyone loves and sings along to. If you are a melanie fan this cd is a must.

This is the BEST of all the one-disc 'best ofs'.
1990 is a long time ago- this needs remastering and extra tracks-WEA-RINO!

It has "Baby Girl" and "Momma Momma"-both essentials for a best of-but not on any others ive seen; I also compared the "long version" of "Candles in the Rain"-with the short version on said Rhino CD and it is much better of the two-it has more solid, punchy sound-while the long version is a little weaker and lacks Melanies touching counter-harmonizing with herself on both stanzas of "We were so close...."
Its almost mixed out of the tape-or was never added.
Winner: short version on the Rhino 'best of'

There is nothing too exciting on the long version really-

I love her sexy pouty little girl silliness on BRAND NEW KEY-but the distortion/breakup on it is quite distracting in the background, and has to be fixed.

Straight from Woodstock, in 19?? Melanie was so overcome by the love/joy vibe in the air at the festival-that she went straight home and wrote 'Candles'
She said she wanted it sound big and celebratory, to convey the emotion, and realized that she needed a Choir.

Just by luck, The Edwin Hawkins Singers (oh, happy days) happened to be label-mates on Buhdah records. Melanie went to sell Hawkins on the project.

At first, he balked, as there were no references to 'God" or 'Jesus" in the lyrics- and his WAS a Gospel Choir.

Melanie convinced him that the song could be made to literally reek of 'The Holy Spirit' by its implied and felt message, without the need to mention HIM at all.
He caved in, and was said to be quite pleased with the results.
It rose to # 5 on US charts
lucky for us




I wish they would put out the original LPs BORN TO BE and (the first)LIVE are great

This is one of those music collections that has the ability to transport you back to another time. If you weren't young and looking for answers back then, you can learn a bit about the issues of the late sixties and early seventies by Melanie's music. Listen closely for the social reflections as only she can vocalize.

Melanie was so much more than a song about skate keys. I fell in love with "Candles". This CD is to replace my vinyl records which were played to death and skippy anyhow. How interesting to revisit how we felt 40 years ago and realize we still feel the same.

I rate this as a 3, not because of the quality of any of the tracks, but because... I got this first on cassette several years ago. I noticed that in writing, Rhino promises the listener the long version of "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)," but my copy had the short version of it! I thought maybe it was because it was on cassette; after all, there are extra tracks that you can only get on the CD version. So I got it on CD also. Again, all I heard was the short version of the song, though Rhino promises the long version! That really disappointed me, and still does. Heck...at least they included "Bitter Bad"...but nobody should promise something and then not deliver it.
Other than that, I'm not dissatisfied with this collection at all. I've finally come forward with my main complaint. I'd like to know if the record companies read the reviews. If they do, this one's geared toward waking Rhino up to their slight error.
Enjoy the CD anyway.

This is the first album I obtained to begin my "Melanie" collection, and the one that made me the huge fan I am today. Her beautiful lyrics and down-to-earth sound are a must-hear if you're a folk lover. "The Best Of" album is just that, the best of, my favorite being "The Good Book". If you're a fan, or a wanna be fan, this is the album for you.

my mom first introduced me and my sister to melanie a few years ago. i didnt take much notice then, but when the movie Boogie Nights came out with "Brand New Key" in it, i fell in love with her. i started listening to my mom's record "Four Sides of Melanie," and then finally bought this cd. i love it!!! my only irk is that i think her songs could be so much better without the background choruses, especially in "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)." but i think the whole cd in general is great, the best part being that there isn't one song on it that i don't like!