Customer Reviews

Chilliwack - Greatest Hits

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This album was originally released on vinyl (titled "Segue") between Chilliwack's "Opus X" and "Look In, Look Out" albums. It is sequenced in reverse chronological order from most recent to earliest. The first two cuts, Don't Stop and Gettin' Better, were, at the time of the vinyl release, new songs. Both later appeared on Look In Look Out, but only Don't Stop got any airplay.

The CD was first released by CBS and re-titled Greatest Hits. I was somewhat disappointed that with 80 minutes of disc space, CBS did not put any extra tracks on it. I would like to have seen some of Chilliwacks other hits included, such as Groundhog, Something I Like About That, Something Better, Never Be The Same, Secret Information and Don't It Make You Feel Good. Furthermore, many of the cuts are truncated versions. Rain-O, Communication Breakdown, California Girl, Baby Blue and Crazy Talk are significantly shorter than the album versions. Interestingly, the abbreviated Crazy Talk is longer and a different mix than the single version, but appears just to be just a shortened version of the album cut.

Solid Gold has re-issued the CD and although there are no extra audio tracks, to their credit they did include two bonus videos, My Girl (Gone Gone Gone) and Watcha Gonna Do.

Still, this is a good Chilliwack primer. Solid Gold has also released So You Wanna Be A Star and Opus X on CD, and a new live album has been released, There and Back. These CDs include some of those other hits not found on the Greatest Hits CD. If you look hard enough, you may find import versions of the first two Chilliwack albums on CD. Most of the other material can be found on vinyl through used record retailers.

Upon listening to this CD, those who are not long-time Chilliwack fans may find themselves saying, over and over, "Hey, I didn't realize these guys did this song too!" It's certainly a revelation. And to those who are new to the band and its music, you'll find some great sounds and a good range of styles.

Chilliwack was one of those bands that made great music for several years them fell off the face of the earth. It's true that the band was on hiatus for several years, but Bill Henderson has reformed the band and they're currently touring in their native Canada. While this album is a sampling of their most popular songs, check out some of their other albums -- they are each excellent in their own right.

The song most people tend to remember from the band is "My Girl (Gone, Gone Gone)" from the "Wanna Be a Star" album. It was a fairly big hit in the US back in the early 80's and got a lot of airplay on MTV. As a bonus on this disc, you get the "My Girl" and "Whatcha Gonna Do" videos. Other popular hits in the US were "Whatcha Gonna Do," "I Believe," and "Fly at Night." In their native Canada, they had even more hits.

I can't say enough good about this band - the top notch songwriting and vocals from Bill Henderson, the great guitarwork from the late Brian MacLeod, the top notch production, it's all great.

Unfortunately, many of the bands earlier albums are tied up in legal limbo and may never see the light of day on CD. That being the case, grab what you can from the band while it's out on CD. For now, you can get this album, "Opus X," and "Wanna Be a Star."

You gotta love Chilliwack. Great harmonies, memorable songs and if you have a few bucks to spare, this is worth the bread...I was on a vacation back in 1977 in Quebec, and I heard this wonderful record by Chilliwack called Fly By Night at a small record store. I then heard it all over Canadian radio, and before I left town, I bought the album DREAMS DREAMS DREAMS which featured this classic as well as others. The record had a good run in Philadelphia, PA and some other east coast markets later in the year. They were one of my favorite bands for a few years after that...This hits album features a couple of tracks from Dreams as well as later hits like GONE GONE GONE and ARMS OF MARY...Great stuff, easy to listen to, but rockin'.

Gee! that I was in Canadian music around 1980. Chilliwack, Rush, Triumph, Saga, Loverboy. They were all just too good to be ignored.

Chilliwack were cute and were making cute songs. Favorite songs are "Flight at night","Crazy talk", "Watcha gonna do" and "My girl (gone,gone,gone)".

I just noticed there was 2 videos on the cd. I'll go and watch them (3 years later!!).