Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits

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

 

 

I have been purchasing albums that I had during my college days on cassette tape and replacing them with CD's. When I saw the Faster Pussycat Greatest Hits I couldn't wait to buy it. It claims to the "The Original Songs you remember by the Original Artists you love". Flashback Records is a division of Rhino and for some reason they released "CENSORED" songs on this cd. That is not the ORIGINALS as promised. There was no warning what so ever on the cd to claim it is CENSORED music. Do not buy this piece of crap!

It was with much surprise that I came across a "Greatest Hits" cd for Faster Pussycat, at random, in a department store a few years ago. Given their short recording career, they weren't one of the likely bands to get such a treatment. I was even more amazed to notice the hard-to-find Carly Simon cover 'You're So Vain'. I immediately bought it and haven't regretted it one bit.

The track listing on "Greatest Hits" includes a mix of songs (hits and non-singles) from the three studio albums released by Faster Pussycat between 1987-1992. The versions here are the original studio cuts, not cheap rerecorded versions or live cuts. Four of the tracks can be found on the 1987 self-titled debut, which include 'Cathouse', 'Don't change that song', 'Bathroom Wall' and 'Bottle in front of me.' While some may lament that tunes such as 'Shooting you down' and 'Babylon' were left off, keep in mind that only ten cuts are featured altogether. It is also worth noting that the self-titled Faster Pussycat effort is an album that contained no real filler, so pretty much anything would have fit on here.

The best-selling Faster Pussycat album, "Wake Me When It's Over" is also represented by four cuts. These are 'Poison Ivy', 'Slip of the tongue', 'Where there's a whip, there's a way' and 'House of Pain.' Again, there is little to be upset about regarding the track selection on this album. One more cut, 'Nonstop to nowhere', was the single from the 1992 release, "Whipped." "Whipped" was the final release by Faster Pussycat and the band went their separate ways after the commercial failure of this third studio album from the group. They did eventually reunite, which may have something to do with this album existing in the first place.

'You're So Vain' was a cover song performed by Faster Pussycat during the early 1990's. Until now, it was only able to be located on a various artists compilation album and also a limited edition ep from the band. The cover is very well done and worth the price of purchase alone, considering the low price of this greatest hits collection. A lot of fans have long demanded this song, making it a Faster Pussycat cult classic.

The negatives are that there are only ten song selections here and plenty of cuts could have easily made it onto this album. For some reason, the profanity in 'Slip of the tongue' is slickly edited out. This is the type of thing you'd see on a clean edit of a popular album. Really, it poses no problem for most people. If it matters all that much, it is easy enough to find the source album ("Wake Me When It's Over") that the tune comes from. There are no other songs edited in this fashion, so this is the only cut that doesn't appear in its original form. All ten of the tracks here do appear in full-length form, meaning they are not edited for running time. That is identical to the original albums, including 'Nonstop to nowhere' which runs close to seven minutes (a shorter radio single version of 'Nonstop' exists but thankfully that one was not used here).

Given the cost, there is no reason for a fan of Faster Pussycat to not pick this one up. This is the easiest way to locate 'You're So Vain' and it sure beats paying a hefty price for the 1992 ep it can be found on. The funny thing is that the 1987 debut, as a whole, is actually a little bit superior to this compilation. For that reason, this is one of those albums that should be purchased to finish the Faster Pussycat catalog, not start it. Most new fans looking into the band will want to start with the self-titled release, which introduced this underrated and underappreciated band to the world. That is just my opinion.

This "Greatest Hits" collection is not band approved, not that most of them are, but the liner notes and presentation on this one are both very respectable. The label that issued this collection has done similar compilations, of varying quality, for artists such as Foreigner, Twisted Sister, White Lion and Winger. Like this one, those come at the same low price and provide a good sampling of the catalog for each artist. You can't really go wrong here, not at all. Faster Pussycat "Greatest Hits" comes highly recommended. Perfect for the diehard, it is also the easiest way for the casual fan to obtain the one song that matters to most people, 'House of Pain.'

Yes, the song "Slip of the Tongue" has a slight edit (probably the radio version) but otherwise the songs seem untouched. While there are a few great tunes missing from their albums - most notably Babylon, Pulling Weeds, and No Room for Emotion - this is a fairly complete collection.

Where it is really a valuable collection is for the song "You're So Vain", as this is the only place I've been able to find this song. It was originally done for some kind of 25th anniversary CD in 1990 for their label, and I've been unable to locate that song or that CD anywhere for years. For that reason alone it's valuable for the Faster Pussycat fan, or anyone who enjoyed this genre.

If you are looking for Faster Pussycat's brilliant cover of You're So Vain - here it is. That cut alone makes this disc worth getting.
On the negative side, Slip of the Tounge is horribly edited with a backwards sounding effect that actually throws the beat of the song off by a studder step... and is repeated over and over again.
So it's really a mixed bag. Also 10 songs seems kinda short, but I like that its not over-indulgent in that sense and dripping with self importance that they needed to put 20 songs in there.... although Big Dictionary should have been in there somewhere.

I really like Faster Pussycat so ordered this. The cd is censored! I won't even listen to it anymore. There are other Faster Pussycat best ofs out there. I would say get one of those.

I love the music on this CD, but Slip of the Tongue is edited, and this CD was not advertised as being edited. When I listen to music, I like to hear it as the artist intended.

FP was a band out of LA that never made it big. Even today they are only thought of by die hard 80's sleaze metal fans which I am one of. Now, I like FP and I picked this up the other day. It rocks and it really brought me back about 20 yrs. If you like sleaze hair metal, then Faster Pussycat and LA Guns ( LA Guns did much more than FP) are the two that I would check out.

As a Faster Pussycat fan, I would probably choose a different selection of songs, still this is what was choosen for this 'Best of' CD. Listening to it makes you feel a bit nostalgic and sure sorry about a band that was so promissing, yet ended up with ... "The power and the glory hole" :(
The increadible cover of 'You're so vain' actually made me buy the album, because it is hard to find elsewhere.

Love the 80's and Faster Pussycat. Rhino claims these are the original recordings. B.S. "Slip of the tongue" is not edited on the original. But the album does have "Your So Vain" which is the only reason I bought it, I have all of their other albums. Enough reason to buy it for a true Faster Pussycat fan.

I agree with those that have said the only reason for a FP fan to really want this is for the song "You're So Vain", I'm really surprised it's so low in price, I am tempted to pay the 7 bucks for one song, but I have all 3 of thier studio Cd's, and for that one song seems strange.

Perhaps in the future a better collection of songs also, why "Bottle In Front Of Me" is on here I don't know, and only 10 songs it's a poor representation of the band. They might as well put out an essential 2 CD set and put "You're so Vain" at the end. Leave off 3 or 4 songs from "Whipped", and leave off maybe 1 or 2 from each of the first 2 CD's and there you have it.

This one is lacking, even for a band that only put out 3 CD's of studio material.