Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled [Original recording remastered]

Melissa Etheridge | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B000AMJE7S
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,015 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Original version. Out-of-print in the US! Already an international musical superstar, Melissa Etheridge's profile was raised to an even higher level in the past year with her courageous battle against breast cancer, an amazing show-stopping performance on the Grammyc Awards and by being honored as one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People in the World. This special Greatest Hits CD is the first comprehensive collection of songs recorded during Melissa's remarkable musical journey, drawn from the earliest roots of her career to the brand new track 'I Run For Life', just recently recorded. It features 4 newly recorded songs including the current hit single, 'Refugee', a cover of the Tom Petty classic, as well as fan and radio favorites. Island. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seventeen songs for seventeen years, November 4, 2005

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled (Audio CD)

Picking songs for a "Greatest Hits" album is always tough for veteran performers like Melissa Etheridge, and although these are great choices, there are deserving songs that didn't make the cut. Songs that come to mind are "Your Little Secret", "Breathe", "This Moment" and "Nowhere To Go".

Twelve of the tracks are from seven of her eight albums (with nothing from "Skin" making the list), two are covers, one is a Christmas song and the other two are new material.

The two covers are "Refugee", originally by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart", both very well done.

The Christmas song "Christmas in America" is about celebrating Christmas while loved ones are away at war, and the tearful "This is Not Goodbye" was written while she was undergoing chemo and observing the effect it had on her partner.

The other new song "I Run for Life" was written for Ford's "Race for the Cure" project for breast cancer, and is about surviving, living with cancer, and preparing oneself to face the disease.

This album reflects a history of the life of this great performer, and is highly recommended for all Melissa Etheridge fans.


Amanda Richards, November 5, 2005

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Travels Through A Career, October 6, 2005

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled (Audio CD)

Melissa Etheridge has always wore her heart on her sleeve. Whether be with her sexuality or her battle with cancer, she has left herself out there for all the world to see. Coming from Kansas, she shares the same meat and potatoes approach to music as fellow Midwestern rockers Bob Seger and John Mellencamp. Her songs have personal lyrics built around arena friendly riffs. Her self-titled debut album still remains her best and the three tracks included her are superb. "Like The Way I Do" is a bluesy rocker that shows Ms. Etheridge's great sense of building tension in a song, "Similar Features" has a slick keyboard riff while "Bring Me Some Water" is her greatest hit and one of the best rock songs from the 80's. The album contains a few new tracks for fans who have all her albums. There is a studio version of "Piece Of My Heart" that is good, but it would have been nice to include her Grammy performance with Joss Stone as that was an uplifting, almost spiritual performance. Her take on Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's "Refugee" is the best of the new tracks.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not definitive: Selling Melissa short, July 8, 2007

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled (Eco Friendly Packaging) (Audio CD)

Melissa Etheridge is, simply stated, one of the most important female artists of the last two decades. She not only made it as a woman rocking on her own terms, she also put her sexuality on the line and then made her personal battle with cancer into a public crusade. These qualities frame her as a person and are important markers of her integrity.

But more importantly, she has made some brilliant music with at least two five star albums. Both the debut and her breakthrough, "Yes I Am," are must-own records. Naturally, they are the two CD's from which the lion's share of "The Road Less Traveled" is culled; six of the 18 songs here. Add the six songs that are previously unreleased, and that leaves only six songs culled from the rest of Melissa's library.

The diference between this and the previous version is the addition of the Oscar winning "I Need To Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth." The CD booklet is gone to make it more environmentaly friendly and the plastic jewel box is replaced by a recycled paper shell with foam tray. While it changes the packaging, it doesn't change the fact that there are too many ommissions here to make it listener friendly.

This presents a problem. It leaves off such terrific popular favorites and singles. "Dance Without Sleeping," "Your Little Secret," "Breathe" and the entire contents of "Skin" wind up being neglected. That is not to say that "The Road Less Traveled" is a poor collection; it's just that it is not as thorough as it could have been.

As for the new material, it's all good stuff. Melissa's covers of Tom Petty's "Refugee" and (finally!) a studio version of Janis Jopin's "Piece Of My Heart" are, alone, worth the price of the disc. Her anthems of survival "This Is Not Goodbye" and "I Run For Life" are heartfelt and solid. Too bad the collection is a little too tame and not enough crazy. I am sure the inevitable double disc collection will eventually appear, but for now, "The Road Less Traveled" is a less than perfect primer.