Customer Reviews

Greatest Hits

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Wes Montgomery's GREATEST HITS was released as A&M SP 4247 on vinyl in 1970, it contained only 10 tracks. It was expanded to a 20-song set with the CD release of CLASSICS in 1987. This remastered GREATEST HITS contains the same tracks as CLASSICS. Fifteen of the tunes come from Wes' three A&M albums, A DAY IN THE LIFE, DOWN HERE ON THE GROUND and ROAD SONG. There are 5 titles not featured on these albums: "Pata Pata," "Butterfly," "Hello Young Lovers," "My Favorite Things" and "Switchin." Because these songs demonstrate Wes' improvisational talents, this set is worth having even if you already own the other 3 albums.

I finally bought this album the other day because after hearing so much from fellow guitar players about Wes' style. I can't believe I haven't picked this up before now! These tracks are mostly pop standards, and while the musicianship is top notch, it makes me hunger to hear his live material, if only to listen to his improvisational skills.

At times it can sound dangerously close to elevator music, but there is little to be done about that. Its tragic that his life was so short, that he couldn't be allowed to go in whatever direction he wanted.

All in all, this is serves me as a great introduction to his work, and will push me into buying more.

It is nice to see people digging Wes - no matter what the venue. Popular songs made Wes accessable to a larger audience, and it made him some well deserved bread in the process. His style became defined (some might say diluted as well) and, much like with Antonio Carlos Jobim, the style that was boiled down from this genius CREATED the genre now known as "elevator/dentist office music". That said, it doesn't mean his 'greatest hits' is his greatest work. It emphatically is not...in my opinion. If you dig this CD you may or may not dig "Smokin' at the Half Note", or "Boss Guitar". But I'll bet you will, and you owe it to yourself and to Wes to check them out along with his debut LP entitled "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery". All in all, again, I love to see people loving Wes Montgomery under any and all banners - be they 'pop hits' or jazz classics.

If you're buying this to introduce yourself to Wes' playing, do yourself a favor and pick up Incredible Jazz Guitar, Full House, and Smokin' at the Half Note. These albums are much more exciting, and they give Wes space to strech out while improvising. This greatest hits collection from his time with A&M is more pop-oriented, and, as another reviewer said, much of the material sounds like elevator music. Wes was, IMHO, the greatest jazz guitarist ever, and all of his recordings are worth listening to, but there are better albums to have.

Marvelous guitar and orchestra presentation of pop music from the sixties in the unique style of the late Wes Montgomery. If you like jazz, the Beatles, and other music that will be around forever, you'll enjoy this!

I love this cd, its one of those that you never have to get up and skip ahead. Classic great.

Beautiful jazz from one of my favorite musicians. It doesn't get much better than Wes Montgomery, who contributed so much in his short lifetime. Listening to his music is one of the great pleasures in life.

This is an awesome compact disc for fans of jazz guitar. Wes Montgomery is a great guitar player, and is suprisingly not as well known as he should be. This album contains twenty great songs, which makes this album a solid listen all of the way through. If you have heard any of Wes Montgomery's playing, and enjoy it; buy this album.

This compilation is nice enough (of course, wes didn't do much nonsense), but it gets slightly slick, especially toward the end. I don't know if this is due to the recordings beeing selected from the newest recordings... I had the same feeling about the Joan Baez "Greatest hits" from the same label.

K

It is nice to see people digging Wes - no matter what the venue. Popular songs made Wes accessable to a larger audience, and it made him some well deserved bread in the process. His style became defined (some might say diluted as well) and, much like with Antonio Carlos Jobim, the style that was boiled down from this genius CREATED the genre now known as "elevator/dentist office music". That said, it doesn't mean his 'greatest hits' is his greatest work. It emphatically is not...in my opinion. If you dig this CD you may or may not dig "Smokin' at the Half Note", or "Boss Guitar". But I'll bet you will, and you owe it to yourself and to Wes to check them out along with his debut LP entitled "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery". All in all, again, I love to see people loving Wes Montgomery under any and all banners - be they 'pop hits' or jazz classics.