Customer Reviews

Permanent Record: The Very Best Of The Violent Femmes

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There are some who would call their self-titled album their "best of", and while it is a great album, this is a good collection too. The first five tracks here are from that album, and are well chosen. Then a couple from "Hallowed Ground", and a couple from "Blind Leading The Naked". From "3" we get only "Nightmares". I personally love that album and still think it's underrated. Toss on "American Music", "Color Me Once" from "The Crow" soundtrack, and a few more of their later songs and this is a fine overview of the Violent Femmes career. If this also included "Prove My Love" and "World We're Living In" I'd have no complaints. Still, this is most of the best.

Personally I would have swapped "Out the Window" for "Black Girls," but the choices were acceptable. The disc contain two live acoustic numbers that are quite good, especially the hidden track (track #20). Great band that makes it hard to narrow down a "greatest hits" album down to one CD.

Ok, a two disc set is really what is in order for this band. I know many feel all you need is the first disc and I disagree. Yes, I remember back in the late 80's being introduced to this band (first album) by a buddies house drinking tom collins' on a warm summer day. First album has a place in my heart like it does for everyone else. The second album by this band is great, just different from the first which is why it was not given the acclaim. Then go through their other albums and as this cd shows they have many very good to great songs. Color me once really is once of the best songs they have ever made in my opinion and that was made a decade after their first album.

An in your face, no holds barred CD with some of the most popular songs from the 80s, and some that should have been, but were not due to some language that banned them from being played on air.

Okay, so they're trying to do a proper "Best of" for the Femmes again, and for the third time (counting one import-only) they still can't get it right. It's so annoying when a band who you really love (they were one of my first concerts) puts together a greatest hits package and_it seems intentionally_omits some of the songs you really enjoy and/or hold to be sacred. On Add It Up, their first GH, they somehow found the space to include an answering machine message and the mediocre rant I Hate the TV, but omitted their cover of Children of the Revolution and the wonderful Nightmares. Now, Permanent Record thankfully restores those two, but only gives us 16 songs to AIU's 21(!!) and drops several significant tracks, including the frat party favorite Dance, MF, Dance, the bouncy Out the Window, and the great politically charged Old Mother Reagan (It's only about a minute and a half long, people, you can't tell me there wasn't room!) in favor of their later, lesser work on New Times and Freak Magnet. The good thing about this version is the inclusion of the extended Gone Daddy Gone/I Just Want to Make Love to You jam that shows the Femmes' roots were in acoustic blues as well as punk the way Jesus Walking on the Water exposed their folkie leanings. Maybe someday we'll get the great Violent Femmes anthology that's just waiting out there to be released, but until then, I guess it's back to iTunes for me.

Everything I expected with an additional shock here and there. It was a great way to introduce my fiance to this group. Right up his alley.

Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes

If you're into edgy, indie rock with raw, sometimes shocking lyrics then Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes is for you.

Having only really heard Violent Femmes' more radio-friendly tracks such as Blister in the Sun, American Music and Children of the Revolution, the rest of the album was a completely new experience for me.

And a bit of a shocker at that.

From the lusty Gimme the car, which is all about a teenager begging his dad to give lend him a car so he can take his girl out, then goes on to describe exactly what he will do to said girl, in detail, and what she will do to him. And I'm not talking about an innocent trip to the drive-in here.

Then there are the usual angst-ridden tracks about being young and broke, as well as the extremely politically-incorrect track Black Girls, which would probably have resulted in a few disillusioned white groupies.

This is clearly an album for fans of the group which have been around, underground, for a very long time.

If you're not such a big fan, I'd give it a miss.