Customer Reviews

Get on with It: The Best of Cracker

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

 

 

Like the last reviewer, I agree this album has great music and is worthy of listening. But what isn't obvious is what is behind the release of this music. A few years ago the record label abruptly cancelled Cracker's recording contract. Now that same record company that turned it's back on this great band is trying to cash in on Cracker's loyal following. In great Cracker fashion, the band released it's own Greatest Hits album the same day. It's called Cracker Greatest Hits Redux and the proceeds of this album don't go in the pockets of the greedy recording company. If you like Cracker and want a compilation, buy Garage d'Or or Greatest Hits Redux.

Don't get me wrong... the music on this CD is certainly great stuff. However, it's Cracker's old label trying to cash in on old songs, and nothing more. Personally, I'd just buy all the albums to get these songs, because there are great songs otherwise- but if you are looking for a greatest hits album, go with Cracker - Greatest Hits Redux, also available from Amazon.com, and it comes with a better variety, live variations of their songs, and the great "Ain't Gonna Suck Itself" which is directed at the very corporate scum that put this album here out.

I third that emotion. Also, it's a strange collection, neither focusing explicitly on "hits" and singles, nor on the concert staples, just a mish mash. All great excellent songs, but no need for this cd.

As Jason Kellner said, this collection is pointless. Only the die-hards that already have the originals can tell the difference between these and "Redux". And with a fine previous compilation like "Garage D'Or", what WOULD be the point? Perhaps the shameless milking of a band that Virgin Records didn't see fit to promote properly to begin with? As an average Joe, would you rather see Virgin get your dime than the artist? If you must choose, buy "Redux". PEACE!!!

If you want a Cracker "Greatest Hits", get Garage D'Or instead.

If you're a big fan and want to support the band, get "Greatest Hits Redux".

BTW, word is that a new album is coming this summer.

Buy Cracker's greatest hits redux, available on amazon or crakersoul.com

the newly redone versions of the songs are excellent, the six string is crisp, the guitarwork is amazing. These songs sound excellent reworked after years of touring. support the ARTIST!

The previous 1 and 2 star reviews have focused on how Cracker was exploited by Virgin. I have another reason not to buy this compilation. Following the trend of the last 9 or 10 years, it sounds as if the dynamics have been severely limited/compressed in order to get a louder sound.

I didn't know about Cracker's problem with Virgin at the time this disc was given to me so I didn't have an agenda or an axe to grind before I listened to it. I was genuinely excited to hear a shiny new mastering but I knew something was wrong within a couple of minutes of putting it on.

At first I thought it was my imagination but I compared it with 'Garage D'or', 'Cracker' and 'Kerosene Hat' and, sure enough, they have gone for the 'slab of sound' where everything is at nearly the same volume level as everything else. The dynamics are severely reduced and there is no sonic 'space' in these versions. Before I analyzed the differences I just did a quick gut-check comparison. I found myself tapping my foot or head-bobbing along, as usual, with the earlier masterings. When I put on this CD I could tell the difference just in my visceral reaction. These are not the versions Cracker intended. They have messed with something essential in the songs, smoothing out the highs and lows into a drone. If you want a "best of" go for 'Garage D'or'. It was remastered in 2000 without resorting to the same excessive amount of heavy-handed limiting. Better yet, buy the individual CDs.

It's difficult giving Cracker anything less than 5 stars. Each song on this album is 5 stars, but read the reviews and you will understand why. The record company released this album after dropping Cracker. Cracker, themselves, released a REAL greatest hits album, that they actually earn from; and artists I enjoy deserve to make money.

The previous reviews here are obviously written by superfans who don't want Cracker getting stepped on by Virgin. But the fact is, of "Get On With It" and Cracker's own "Greatest Hits Redux," this is the better "best-of" compilation. These are the original recordings that Cracker fans love and want to hear first. Cracker's own "Redux" are mostly re-recorded versions of the old songs, and the added accordion, keyboards and new guitar solos are unnecessary. They sound like mere alternate takes, and would have been best presented as B-sides.

Even as baffling as Cracker's making of "Redux," is the fact that Virgin released this in the first place. The two-disc compilation "Garage D'Or" is far superior and makes "Get On With It" essentially pointless.

What the world really needs now is a NEW album by Cracker. It doesn't look like that is going to happen any time soon, though, so we'll have to be satisfied with this, a collection of their best recordings. Cracker was certainly one of the most fun and interesting alternative bands of the nineties, with an appeal that crossed all sorts of boundaries. Rockers liked them, grunge kids got them, stoners loved them, and even the latest breed of country-rock fans found something to appreciate. David Lowery's `dumb-as-a-fox' vocal delivery provided the perfect means of expression for songs about American White Trash ("Mr. Wrong"), European white trash (the self-explanatory "Euro-Trash Girl") and a generation self-defined by Mariah Carey and the Backstreet Boys (I Hate My Generation"). The band rocked hard with a rootsy groove and enough energy to turn some of these songs into brilliantly sardonic anthem-masterpieces. Who could deny the droll power of "Teen Angst (What the world Needs Now") or the stoner scream-along entitled "Low"?
Five albums of original material defined their output in the `90s, but since then, they lost their contract with Virgin Records and have graced us only with a pair of sporadic collections - a live album and a collection of cover tunes that manages to find common ground with Dwight Yoakum, Merle Haggard and Bruce Springsteen. As a means of capitalizing on the band's past success, Virgin saw fit to release this collection of the band's greatest hits, and although the band might not want to hear me say this, it is undeniably excellent. I say that the band might not want it that way, because they apparently hold a bit of grudge against their ex-label, and have released their own collection of their previous hits, all in re-recorded versions. If you love the band, then "Greatest Hits Redux" might be interesting and fun, but if you're a casual fan who wants to own the genuine best of Cracker, then you need to "Get On With It."
For those interested in DVD's instead of CD's, the collection is also available as a DVD release, with a significantly different line-up of songs. The DVD features five videos, followed by a nine-song live set that touches on their most well known songs. All of the videos are amusing, particularly the bizarre Sandra Bernhard cameo in "Stoned," and the faux-audition footage of contenders for "White Trash Girl." "I Hate My Generation" is the only video that misfires, probably because it misses the lyrical point of the song by focusing on octogenarian sideshow types instead of the artistically and ethically-challenged twenty-something freaks who couldn't even acknowledge the existence of a band with the temerity to call themselves `Cracker'. Instead of outrage, though, Cracker made me feel good about their generation, because in the midst of artistic disaster, they rose above the mediocrity of lightweight nineties nonsense, and provided me with the means to smile. This collection captures a few of the musical highlights from an otherwise mediocre decade, and I'm grateful for it. A Tom Ryan