Customer Reviews

Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

THE BAND: Ville Valo (vocals), Mikko Lindstrom (guitars), Mikko "Mige" Paananen (bass), Janne "Burton" Puurtinen (keyboards), Antto Melasniemi (keyboards), Jussi-Mikko "Juska" Salminen (keyboards), Mika "Gas" Karppinen (drums), Juhana Tuomas "Pätkä" Rantala (drums). H.I.M. - His Infernal Majesty. Origin: Finland.

THE DISC: (2004) 16 songs clocking in at approximately 67 minutes. Included with the disc is a 9-page foldout containing one band photo, song credits, and a poster of Valo on the reverse side. All songs written by Valo, except for "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak) and Solitary Man (Neil Diamond). As the title of the disc states, this compilation follows the band from 1997-2004 (only). Also - there is special edition version of this album available - with a 2nd disc (DVD) featuring 6 live songs from Helsinki's Semifinal Club. Label - Universal Republic / BMG Finland.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Greatest Love Songs - Vol. 666 (1 song), Razorblade Romance (6), Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights (4), Love Metal (3), Unreleased (2). Two songs ("Your Sweet Six Six Six" and "Wicked Game") originally appeared on "Greatest Love Songs - Vol. 666" but were rerecorded and presented on "Razorblade Romance". The versions from "Razorblade Romance" are featured here.

COMMENTS: Unfamiliar with H.I.M.? Try this one. There are a few other H.I.M. compilations out there, but I feel this one is the broadest and best. In addition, "And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits" gives you all studio cuts, verses others mixing live and/or alternate takes of the same songs. THE GOOD: A great selection of songs. I couldn't have picked the tracks any better. The standards are all here - "Join Me In Death", "Buried Alive By Love", "In Joy And Sorrow", "Your Sweet 666", "The Sacrament", "Poison Girl", "Heartache Every Moment", stc. Since "Dark Light" and "Venus Doom" weren't released at the time of this compilation, I won't get into how it's missing tracks from these two outstanding albums. The two new songs are solid. "And Love Said No" is a mid-tempo rocker that will soon become one of your all-time favorite H.I.M. tunes. The 2nd is a cover of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man". Since I was never a big fan of Neil's, H.I.M.'s faster, harder take on the song is creative and instantly likeable for me. Sound production is crisp (no muddiness at all when cranked up). THE NOT SO GOOD: The vast majority of music compilations are hit and miss. Not here - not much to complain about at all. I do feel that "Love Metal" is a strong album and perhaps underrepresented. Two "Love Metal" favorites of mine, though not hits, would fit right into the feel of this mix - "Beyond Redemption"" and the fast-paced "Soul On Fire". The liner notes are sparse - no song lyrics, and no listing of what songs came from which albums and/or year released. OVERALL: Even if you own all of H.I.M.'s studio albums, this "And Love Said No - Greatest Hits" is essential. A couple of reasons: 1st - fans must have the two stellar unreleased songs in their collection, and 2nd - so many great tracks all in one place. Solid (5 stars).

HIM is a band that has been around in Europe for a long time - and yes, there is a reason for all the hype!Forget about the 3-star review - afterall, the reviewer even admits to just checking them out. But your common sense should tell you that no band can be judged fairly based on any one CD - most especially a greatest hits one!This is a hard-working band who has paid their dues, and they deserve the attention they're finally getting in the states - but the attention isn't new to them. They have had a huge fan-base in Europe for years now. To respond to the overkill of the lead singer's presence on this and most of the other CD's, Ville Valo has said:If my look sells the band, fine. If it doesn't, fine.(loosely quoted!)Another thing Ville has said, again, loosely quoted:We do not wish to be artistically confined by a trying to fit into a genre "label". But to try to appease an apparent need that we humans have for making everything fit into a nice box, the band came up with a label for themselves: "Love Metal". You won't hear too much of the "metal" on this collection, though.Just understand that like any greatest hits album, you are getting what the record label deemed the most "sell-able" hits, and not necessarily some of the pieces that would really give you an authentic feel for what this band is about.This collection does come close to being a collection of love songs; rest assured that Him does much more than that...you are getting the pretty, polished-up version of the band here.And I still think this collection is a MUST-HAVE! You'll get a great taste of Ville's incredible gift for turning a poetic phrase, and hitting those high-notes like a soprano from the Vienna Boys Choir. His voice can be downright lovely...But if you really like this, then do yourself the justice of trying Love Metalor Dark Light next. Or if you want to jump right into the gritty side of the band, go for Venus Doom. You almost won't believe you're listening to the same band you hear on this CD.But you'll be getting a much broader sense of what this band is all about and why they keep adding to their base of die-hard fans!They are truly versatile and no matter who they might remind you of, in the end, they have turned out to be their own entity. I am expecting to see this band continue to evolve and explore more sounds for a long, long time before their "career has run its course"!Now give 'em a listen and decide for yourself!Meanwhile, I'm giving this collection the 5 stars it deserves!!FALL FOR THE HYPE - YOU'LL LOVE IT!

Many of my friends don't get into new bands, being in a bit of a timewarp and beyond being receptive to new groups. Which cheeses me off no end. Take HIM for example, with the sort of buzz they have had during the mid 00's it was just compulsory to grab something of theirs to find out what the deal was.

And quite frankly the buzz seems to be largely based around the buzz. Sort of how some celebrities seem to be so because they keep on going around saying they are celebrities. The kind of Z listers who end up on Celebrity Big Brother...

HIM - His Infernal Majesty apparently - are blessed with a frontman in Ville Valo who has a lovely deep crooning voice and he's so perfectly suited to pleading whining ballads and also introspective passages and it's his voice that does slither through the rather modest hard rock platform built by the band in the background. Given this release takes in tracks over a number of years it's interesting that my ear couldn't really discern any real difference in production values which to me shows the band are quite professional and came to this whole recording business with a fairly complete state of mind in terms of what they wanted to achieve.

The tempo changes up and down over the course of the album from the fast paced rockers like Buried Alive By Love to the more ethereal and highly effective structures like opener And Love Said No where Valo really shines. Ditto for the gently hypnotic Right Here In My Arms. The cover of the old Neil Diamond staple Solitary Man gave me more than a few moments of mirth too but it must be said that since this album covers only a seven year period and was put out in 2004 - well just how many hits do they think they've had? As it stands this release should be treated as a taster for the band, and I'm sure it was viewed as such by the record company. Once their career has run it's course I'm certain that we'll get a better greatest hits out of this band.

Not that there is much evidence that there is an actual band, the Valo cult being in full swing given he's solo on the cover, solo on the back cover and his face adorns one side of the fold out booklet. The rear cover is particularly enlightening as our hero is wearing a pair of low riders Britney Spears would of thought twice about with a rubbish tattoo on his pasty white skin and the bloke himself reminds me of the heroin chic look of the 90's and he looks to be wiping something away that's dribbling out of his nose. But as Classic Rock magazine said, `the little girls understand'.

Interesting, but I'm yet to be overly impressed.

AND LOVE SAID NO: THE GREATEST HITS 1997-2004 is obviously H.I.M.'s first-ever greatest hits compilation, featuring only the best of H.I.M.'s music, featuring that of two brand new songs entitled, "And Love Said No", which turned out to be the album's title track and first single release, and "Solitary Man", a cover of Neil Diamond's original, the album's second single release. The rest of the album is jam packed with H.I.M.'s greatest hits from 1997 (GREATEST LOVESONGS VOL. 666) to 2004 (LOVE METAL).

AND LOVE SAID NO
New song. First single from the album. One hell of a tune. The song is perfect to start off the album, as well as be the album's first single release.

JOIN ME IN DEATH (Razorblade Mix)
"Razorblade Mix" from the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE. Awesome remix.

BURIED ALIVE BY LOVE
From the album LOVE METAL (2003). Great song.

HEARTACHE EVERY MOMENT
From the album DEEP SHADOWS AND BRILLIANT HIGHLIGHTS (2001). One of my favorites.

SOLITARY MAN
New song. Second single from the album. Great cover, but I never liked Neil Diamond.

RIGHT HERE IN MY ARMS
From the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE (1999). Another great one.

THE FUNERAL OF HEARTS
From the album LOVE METAL (2003). Awesome tune.

IN JOY AND SORROW
From the album DEEP SHADOWS AND BRILLIANT HIGHLIGHTS (2001). Great song.

YOUR SWEET SIX SIX SIX (Re-Recorded Version)
Original version from the album GREATEST LOVE SONGS VOL. 666 (1997). Re-Recorded Version from the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE (1999). Whether I'm hearing this version or the album version, I still bounce my head to this one. Awesome tune.

GONE WITH THE SIN
From the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE (1999). Seems as though the RAZORBLADE ROMANCE album was H.I.M's most popular album. Great song.

WICKED GAME (Re-Recorded Version)
Original version from the album GREATEST LOVE SONGS VOL. 666 (1997). Re-recorded version from the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE (1999). Awesome cover.

THE SACRAMENT
From the album LOVE METAL (2003). Great song.

CLOSE TO THE FLAME
From the album DEEP SHADOWS AND BRILLIANT HIGHLIGHTS (2001). Awesome tune.

POISON GIRL
From the album RAZORBLADE ROMANCE (1999). Awesome tune, describing how some girls can be deadly poison.

PRETENDING
From the album DEEP SHADOWS AND BRILLIANT HIGHLIGHTS (2001). Awesome tune.

WHEN LOVE AND DEATH EMBRACE
From the album GREATEST LOVE SONGS VOL. 666 (1997). Great song.

I'm a HIM fan, and if this album contained the original recordings for each song from the original album, I would be the first in line to give it the full 5 stars. As it is, I'm giving it 2 stars, because I am well and truly disappointed.

As a set (or play) list, the line up of songs is perfect, but half of the songs (mostly the first half) on this compilation appear to be re-recordings of the original songs. They are NOT the same songs! I've listened to the albums in question a multitude of times, and these new renditions are utterly un-inspired, containing none of the excitement or fire of the cuts from the original albums.

My guess is that licensing issues between publishers forced them to do this in order to get all the songs on one album, but I could well be mistaken. If that's the case, a better move would have been to do 2 separate 'best of' albums each covering a different era.

A very disappointing listening experience for me and I noticed the difference right away. Strange that no one else commenting here appears to have had the same experience. Worth noting that I purchased the MP3 download version and not the CD, so maybe there's a difference there. If anyone knows the actual story behind this, please comment and let me know.

I was really looking forward to a nice compilation to load on my player when I was at work. I already own all the albums so far and could have just made a playlist, but wanted to support the band. I'm going to pick and choose a lot more carefully from now on.

The songs from the first album in this compilation are particularly lame sounding, with absolutely none of the speaker-shredding glory or passion of the originals.

Definitely NOT the place to start for new listeners of the band, in my opinion. More of a curiosity or collectible, perhaps, for die-hard fans.

If you don't know what HIM is all about, check out this album. Its a 'greatest hits' so you get all the progression from then to now. Morbid and romantic, with a bit of an old school rock feel. If Sabbath or Motorhead wrote more love songs and weren't so angry. Or a more aggressive Bowie! My favorite band! Plus, you get an awesome Neil Diamond cover!

This guy is fantastic. I recently found him (HIM) on YouTube and can't get enough of his voice. Only two songs not too good. The rest are great.

HIM is essentially a more pop-oriented, pinup-ready version of Type O Negative, minus that band's sarcasm and dark humor. Their accessible brand of gothic metal, trademark "heartagram" icon, and frontman Ville Valo's good looks and crooning vocals made them a huge hit with the Hot Topic set, and their music actually lives up to the hype. It's heavy, catchy and has a great spirit.

I totally enjoy the band's music, but it got to the point where I couldn't really tell which songs came from which albums. They're all good, but they all stick to a formula. That's usually a sign for me that it's time to trade in my studio albums for a good compilation, and that's where And Love Said No - Greatest Hits 1997-2004 came in.

And Love Said No collects 14 of the best tracks from HIM's first four albums, including the essential "Heartache Every Moment," "Right Here In My Arms," "Your Sweet 666" and of course the devastating cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," plus two new songs - the title track and another powerful cover, this time the Neil Diamond staple "Solitary Man."

There are other HIM collections out there, but And Loved Said No is the ideal HIM collection for newcomers as well as those of us who enjoy HIM's sound but don't feel like it's necessary to own all of the individual albums. Serious HIM fans will need to check it out as well, for the new songs.

For people unfamiliar with HIM, this is a great place to start as it has a lot of their best hits. In addition, it has 2 exclusive tracks: And Love Said No and a cover of Solitary Man. However, if you own all the albums that came out before this, then it is really up to you. The 2 exclusives are worth the price to me as I bought it despite having every single version of every single album they ever released.

And Love Said No - I like this song. It's very well done.

Solitary Man - Great cover from Neil Diamond.

If you are a fan of H.I.M., this is the album for you. All of the best songs.