Customer Reviews

The Very Best Of (Digital)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Sheryl Crow's music and wanted the CD to be a five-star album, but it simply isn't. While the liner notes obsessively detail Crow's chart successes and Grammy wins, the CD's tracks do not, making for a slightly uneven collection.

Yes, the biggest hits ("Strong Enough," "All I Wanna Do," "If It Makes You Happy") are here, and so are some small ones ("Leaving Las Vegas" and "Home"), but bona fide Top 40 hits like "Can't Cry Anymore" and the TERRIFIC "Anything But Down" are completely ignored. And the Grammy-nominated non-album track "I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday" is left off, in favor of non-hit material like "The Difficult Kind."

Both the new songs are good (with "The First Cut Is The Deepest" being the catchiest of the two), and show Crow back on track after her less-than-stellar "C'Mon C'Mon" album. And while it is great to have new songs on any "best of" CD, does this collection really need TWO versions of "The First Cut Is the Deepest"? The spot taken up by the second version (which is not very different from the initial version) would have been better spent including one of the ignored hits or "Riverwide," which is, hands down, one of Crow's best recordings.

The DVD portion of this two-disc set is pretty impressive. The videos for "Anything But Down" and "Run Baby Run" are great to see, especially since the songs were left off the CD proper. The best video on the disc is for the song "Home," which was one I had not seen before--and it is absolutely stunning!

Sheryl Crow has always been one of my favorite artists, with her intense and deep lyrics, and great voice. I always enjoyed her music, it was so original and just different from everything out there, to me at least. So it comes to no surprise that there is a collection of greatest hits for such a prolific artist and entertainer. They have compiled a pretty good collection of her work. My only complaint is that there's a few missing tracks, obviously not enough room, but "Anything But Down", "Sweet Child of Mine" and the James Bond theme are noticably missing. "There Goes The Neighborhood" is a nice song, but it seems like an odd choice as it was not a big hit. Either way, there is some great stuff here. I enjoy the ballads "Home", "The Difficult Kind", "I Shall Believe", "Strong Enough" and more. Everyone knows the big hits "Soak Up The Sun", "Everyday Is A Winding Road", "My Favorite Mistake", "If It Makes You Happy", "All I Wanna Do", and so on. The new tracks are good, her version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" is a great rendition. I love the other new song "Light In Your Eyes", which has a great melody and vocals from Crow. The Deluxe Edition also comes with a DVD of 13 of her videos, so a must have for all fans. Overall you can't go wrong with this collection.

This awesome collection spans the hits of Sheryl Crow through her extremely successful career. Perfect for the occasional fan, this collection is also a prize for us big Sheryl Crow fans. The CD starts out with the always-fun "All I Wanna Do" and continues the trend with the summer anthem "Soak Up The Sun", and then moves into the rest of her hits. Along with many of her previous hits, Sheryl includes two versions of her new cover single, "The First Cut Is The Deepest", which is very good. Although penned originally by Cat Stevens, it sounds just like a Sheryl Crow song, like something she herself would have written. Another new addition is "The Light In Your Eyes". Along with her well known hits, there are a few oddly collected songs. But, nonetheless, this CD overall creates a very enjoyable listening experience. This is especially enjoyable for me, because I only own Sheryl's first to CD's (which I adore, completely), and this CD has songs from her "Globe Sessions" and "C'mon C'mon" CDs. The DELUXE EDITION, with the added bonus of a DVD with lots of music videos, is definitely well worth the money. Although I do not find her earliest videos from her first album very enjoyable, the later Sheryl videos are very fun to watch. "Soak Up The Sun" and "Steve McQueen" are my favourite videos. All in all, this collection is definitely worth a listen. It is one of my favourite CDs this year, and one of my favourite "Greatest Hits" compilations! Highly recommended! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm lowering the rating for this album for the sole reason that the CD version comes with 17 tracks (Kid Rock duet being track 11). On the MP3 download album, that track is mysteriously missing. Not even listed in the track listing. Of course I didn't realize that until AFTER I downloaded. Sneaky and not fair to the consumer.

It's not too often that one comes across a best-of album that actually tries to represent an artist's best work, rather than just slapping together some singles and putting it out for the holiday shoppers. The Very Best of Sheryl Crow is that rare exception.

Of course, as with any greatest-hits or best-of collection, it would be easy to quibble with the track selection, but this one mostly gets it right. The albums seem to be more or less evenly represented, there are the obligatory new tracks, and the inclusion of the duet with Kid Rock (which is actually very good - and probably the most overtly country-influenced record I've heard from Sheryl Crow) for non-Kid Rock fans who still want to hear Sheryl.

Of the new tracks, "Light in your eyes" is very good, and fits in well with this collection. "The first cut is the deepest", however, isn't that good - especially not in two (mostly similar) versions. Sheryl's voice isn't right for the song, which is kind of sappy anyway.

What really makes this edition worth getting is the DVD. A couple of the songs ("Run, baby, run" and "Anything but down") aren't on the album proper, for one thing, and I like not having to put up with the inane chatter of video DJs (not that music TV channels actually play videos anymore) between clips. Some clips of TV appearances (Storytellers or the 9/11 tribute, for example) would have been welcome, but this is a minor quibble.

Highly recommended.

Nice to have all of Sheryl Crow's hits on one CD, but the real bonus here is having most of her videos as well - 13 in all! The tracks selected for both collections have all the usual suspects, and the only surprise on the DVD is the inclusion of "RUN BABY RUN". I own all the albums, so this collection serves as a nice mix with two NEW songs and one of them on the CD twice - rock and country version of "The First Cut is the Deepest".

I am a little down they did not include "Sweet Child of Mine" as a video or song! And yes, no James Bond theme here either. But the usual suspects appear - from "All I Want to Do" to "Soak Up the Sun". I would say skip the CD version, and grab this set since it's both the songs and the videos. Nice package! You get to SEE and hear Sheryl - always nice. And is it just me or does she look BETTER at 40??!?!?

I bought the Import version of this CD and I love it. It has my favorite track, which is not included on the US version, "Let's Get Free". It also has "Run Baby Run," plus a version of "C'mon C'mon" featuring the Corrs. It costs more, but I bought it used and found a bargain. I highly recommend buying it instead of this version. The ASIN is B0000DBPHN.

Sheryl Crow's greatest hits albumn is a great albumn for casual fans that do not want some her less known songs. As a fan of Sheryl Crow, this albumn is great as well, even though some complaints are that it has left certain lesser known songs off for more of Sheryl's favorites. I was happy surprised that I Shall Believe and A Difficult Kind were added because those are two of Sheryl's most powerful songs. Her two newly recorded songs are good but I do not like the idea of having new songs on a Greatest Hits Albumn (they are suppose to be hits before they are the albumn) but I guess I will have to live with this trend from now on since all artists are doing it. As for the extra DVD, I think it is great because there is rarely an outlet for fans to own a legal copy of an artist's videos (since MTV & VH1 no longer play videos and downloading music videos might not fall under the time displacement exception to copyright laws). In all if you are a fan, you already own the deluxe edition (if you are a fan and don't then go get it). As for a causal fan get the regular edition but are into videos get the deluxe because some of her vidoes are great and add to the songs.

While Sheryl is tremendous & I adore her, this "greatest hits" collection is missing a few things....

CD - "Anything But Down" (a great rock out song) and the James Bond "Tomorrow Never Dies" theme.

DVD - the other video for "A Change Will Do You Good." Where is the colorful & fun version with Ellen Degeneres??? Instead we get a boring B&W version.

I never really considered myself a big Sheryl Crow fan until I happened upon this album. Then I realized that many songs I had heard and enjoyed before were hers (Favorite Mistake, If It Makes You Happy, A Change Would Do You Good). Of course, most people probably would know this, but I didn't. Anyway, for some reason I was inclined to buy it and it is hands down the best album I have ever bought. There is not one sub-par song on this CD. Crow is amazing and this CD has 17 songs that are very representative of that.