Essential Stabbing Westward [Original recording remastered]

Stabbing Westward | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 1, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• Copy Protected
• ASIN: B00008PX8R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,669 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Band Deserves Better, May 30, 2003

By 

LostBoy76 (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Stabbing Westward (Audio CD)

Stabbing Westward is one of my favourite bands of all time. I own all four of their albums and listen to them often. Their dark, industrial rock sound has always been incredible. Lead singer Christopher Hall has one of the most original and awesome voices in the music industry, which is complemented perfectly with his awesome, and frequently beautiful, lyrics; bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit should take notes.

Therefore, it is with some curiosity that I looked over this "essential" Stabbing Westward collection. First let me state that Stabbing Westward simply doesn't have any bad songs, so no danger of that here. That being said, this collection is not ideal for a casual or new fan of this band. Sony Music, in their infinite stupidity, decided to drop Stabbing Westward from their label after "Darkest Days" (their third, and best, album), which makes Stabbing Westward's final album off limits for this collection! If Sony really wanted to reward fans, and give this band the respect they deserve, they should have negotiated with Koch Music to use the fourth album for this collection. Instead, what you get is a great, but not perfect, collection of songs from their first three albums, along with "Dawn" and the remix of "Torn Apart", which weren't on any of the four albums.

Ideally, the essential Stabbing Westward collection would have been as follows (in my opinion):
1. Nothing
2. Lies
3. Violent Mood Swings
4. Shame
5. What Do I Have To Do?
6. Crushing Me
7. Save Yourself
8. Torn Apart (NOT the remix!!)
9. Sometimes it Hurts
10.The Thing I Hate
11.Waking Up Beside You
12.So Far Away
13.Wasted
14.Television
15.Dawn

If you're just getting into this band, you really can't go wrong with this collection, as long as you realize that this is just a sample of the profound musical offerings that Stabbing Westward has to offer.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Essential? I don't think so.., August 19, 2005

By 

Barnes and Noble Junkie (Barnes And Noble, Midlothian, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Stabbing Westward (Audio CD)

The idea of a greatest hits cd, besides making money, is to expose a band to a broader audience by 'introducing' them to the band's best music. It also gives someone who can't afford to buy all of a band's cds the chance to buy 1 cd and get a lot of good music. This compilation falls short on all accounts.


While this is not a bad compilation, it surely could have been better. And while you while never get exactly what you want on a 'Best of' CD, some of the omissions are glaring.

From UNGOD, they included:
1. Lost
2. Control
3. Nothing
4. Lies

'Nothing' is probably the worst song un UNGOD. How many times do you need to hear Chris Hall sing "I don't want it, I don't need it" And how could they leave off 'Throw'? Lost and COntrol belong and Lies is good, but not at the expanse of Ungod or Throw.

From Wither, Blister, Burn and Peel they included:
5. What Do I Have to Do?
6. Shame
7. I Don't Believe
8. Sleep
9. Crushing Me

Hello? What about 'Falls Apart' and 'So Wrong'. The only "Essential ' song on this list is Shame, although 'Crushing Me' isn't bad.

And finally off of Darkest Days:
10. Save Yourself
11. Sometimes It Hurts
12. Haunting Me
13.
14. Torn Apart

No way.... What about How Can I Hold On, You Complete Me, When I'm Dead, On Your Way Down, and Waking Up Beside You? I will take any of these songs over anything on the list except for 'Save Yourself' which really does belong.

So out of 14 songs, they got 4 or 5 right. This is definately NOT the definitive SW collection.

So if you are new to SW, DON'T BUY THIS.. Buy one of the first three albums instead (I would recommend Ungod or Darkest Days), then take out a piece of masking tape, write 'Essential' on it and stick it to the CD cover. You will make yourself a lot happier then buying this.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing A Lot Of The Greats, January 27, 2004

By 

Ross Bodger "ReDDoG STaR" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential Stabbing Westward (Audio CD)

I already own all of Stabbing Westward's albums, but I was still interested in a "Greatest Hits" CD. After reading through the songs included I just couldn't justify purchasing this CD. Too many of my favorites are missing! What's missing is "ACF", "Why", "The Thing I Hate", and "Waking Up Beside You". None of the songs from their 4th album could be included in Essentials because it is on the Koch label, not Sony. Therefore, you would be better off making your own CD and adding "So Far Away", "Wasted", "High", and "Television" from the self-titled release.

P.S. If you're disappointed SW broke up you'll be happy to know that lead singer Chris Hall has started another band called The Dreaming. Check out www.thedreamingonline.com.