Best of the Best

Bonus cuts:
Six Nights A Week* / Isn't It Amazing* / You'll Never Walk Alone** / Minstrel Sunday** / Without Her (Father Paul)** / Caroline** / Glad She's A Woman** / Which Way To Nowhere** / Bruno's Place**

* The Crests ** The Brooklyn Bridge

Comments:
Johnny Maestro (John Mastrangelo) is one of the greatest male vocalists in the history of rock and roll. In the 1950's he fronted one of the first integrated doo wop groups, The Crests. They formed in Manhattan, and included Harold Torres, Talmadge Gough, J.T. Carter, and the older sister of Luther Vandross, Patricia Vandross. Their biggest hit was 16 Candles which hit #2 at the end of 1958 and three of their other records, Trouble In Paradise, The Angels Listened In, and Step By Step all made it into the Top 20.

When the British Invasion hit in the mid sixties, it became increasingly harder for doo wop groups to score hit records. Johnny cut a few solo discs including What A Surprise, and Model Girl, then began working the local club scene with The Del Satins, a group who had a minor hit called Teardrops Follow Me. Before Johnny joined the group, their lineup included Fred Ferrara and Les Cauchi, who had done all the background singing on Dion's solo recordings including Runaround Sue and The Wanderer. While working the club scene, The Del Satins met the members of a seven piece band called The Rhythm Method and the two groups decided to team up and form what was soon to be known as The Brooklyn Bridge.

Neil Bogart, head of Buddah Records, signed the band and selected The Worst That Could Happen as the group's first single, a 5th Dimension album cut written by Jim Webb. It was Johnny Maestro's first Top 10 record in almost a decade. The Brooklyn Bridge, featuring beautifully textured harmonies behind Maestro's powerful vocals, had several other hits including Blessed Is The Rain and Welcome Me Love.

Today the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the premiere live acts in the world. They sell out wherever they appear and never fail to put on a tremendous performance. The show consists of many Crests hits, some of the Dion material, and a great sampling of the Brooklyn Bridge hits, plus overlooked album cuts. A highlight is Maestro's passionate performance of You'll Never Walk Alone. Johnny Maestro is one of the greatest vocalists of all time and certainly deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bonus cuts:
Got A Feelin' / No Salt On Her Tail / Trip, Stumble and Fall / Glad To Be Unhappy / Midnight Voyage / Straight Shooter / Safe In My Garden

Comments:
In 1964, The Journeymen featuring John and Michelle Phillips crossed paths with The Mugwumps whose members included John Sebastian, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. As it turns out, both groups disbanded, but John, Michelle, Cass and Denny decided to work together as The New Journeymen and headed to the West Coast in search of success. Upon their arrival in LA, the quartet auditioned for Dunhill Records executive Lou Adler, who immediately signed them and became their producer. Adler was impressed with the group's ability to intertwine folk, rock, jazz and pop, while encompassing it all with their beautiful 4-part harmony. The group changed their name to the Mamas and the Papas and their first album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears was released in the Spring of 1966, reaping both commercial and critical acclaim. The album, which featured their first 2 smash singles, California Dreamin' and Monday, Monday, soared to number one and stayed on the charts for months. They were an overnight success, but growing personal problems within the group created tension between the individual members almost immediately. Despite that fact, they went on to record several excellent albums and were one of the most sought-after live acts of the mid-to-late 60s. By 1969 however, the group was history – victims of changing times, personal embattlements, and an overindulgence of drugs and alcohol. Through their trials and tribulations, the group was able to create some on the most enduring folk/pop/rock of the era and their music lives on today in all it's pristine glory. Most of their original recordings are currently available on CD, but for an outstanding overview of their work check out the excellent compilation titled "16 of Their Greatest Hits" on the MCA label. It's the Mamas and the Papas at their very best and showcases not only the group's songwriting and harmonious talents, but also the outstanding studio production wizardry of Lou Adler.

Bonus cuts:
It's always really interesting to hear Manson's take on other people's music. While he's known for his intelligent and highly incendiary lyrics, it was actually a cover of the Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams that broke the band to a mainstream audience. Manson has done great covers of songs by The Ramones (The KKK Took my Baby Away) and Soft Cell (Tainted Love) but my favorite Manson cover is the version of Screaming Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You that Manson did for the David Lynch film Lost Highway. Marilyn also has a small role in the film. Also, Manson's third album, Antichrist Superstar is a masterpiece. Very few bands from the 90's made albums that can compete with it in terms of intelligence or intensity.

Comments:
Marilyn Manson appeals to me on a few different levels. I truly do like the music he makes, but in all honesty that takes second place in my book to the way he pushed America's buttons with such surgical precision. The self-proclaimed "faggot anti-pope" is publicly, anti-Christ, pro-gay and pro-drugs - oh and he also likes to sing about guns, abortions, and sex. I don't know if you remember, but people went fucking crazy over this guy! He actually got banned from a concert in New Jersey based on an obscenity issue - a concert where no one took issue with the drugged out, bat head biting, pissing on the Alamo, headliner, Ozzy Osbourne. Just shortly after winning a court battle in order to play with Ozzy, the school shooting at Columbine happened, and even though the killers had professed that they didn't like Manson, he was quickly blamed for the tragedy. Marilyn was thoroughly under people's skin. While many would have cracked under it, Manson reveled in his negative press, and repeatedly tried to push things even further. In the following years, he performed on MTV with breast implants and assless pants, began a highly public relationship with porn star Jenna Jameson and became an ordained minister in the Church of Satan.

In addition to the music and the outrageousness, or more accurately an extension of those things, is the fact that Marilyn Manson is and incredible live act. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform about six months before the band's popularity exploded. The gig was moved to a smaller club because ticket sales were poor, and when the band played, they wore very little makeup, had no lighting other than what the club provided, and Manson actually slashed himself with a razor during the show. Three years later, I saw them play to 50,000 people. They were in full costume/makeup, and had thousands if not millions of dollars worth of props, lighting and special effects, including a fake wine bottle that Manson broke and sliced himself with. It was one of the greatest rock spectacles I've ever witnessed. I'm comfortable saying that if nothing else, Marilyn Manson is the best showman of his generation.

Bonus cuts:
Gypsy Woman* / I'm So Proud* / Woman's Got Soul* / We're a Winner* / This Is My Country* / Choice of Colors* / Check Out Your Mind / Beautiful Brother of Mine / Ghetto Child / Give It Up / Little Child Runnin'
Wild / Give Me Your Love / Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)

* with The Impressions

Comments:
Curtis Mayfield's contribution to music is immeasurable and his legacy is nothing short of colossal. As leader of the Impressions, he wrote and recorded some of the finest soul music of the 60s, and as a solo artist in the 70s, he pioneered funk, while introducing hard-hitting urban commentary to his audience. Curtis Mayfield was not only an outstanding singer and performer, but also a brilliant musician who wrote most of his own material. He was a voice for the people, and his lyrics spoke openly and honestly about the struggles of African-Americans at that time. Mayfield was also an accomplished guitarist, and his musical virtuosity can be heard on just about every one of his recordings.

His career began with The Impressions, a gospel-inspired vocal group formed in the late 50s that went on to achieve fourteen Top 40 hits. In 1970, after 12 prosperous years together, the group split, leaving Mayfield free to pursue a solo career. His first solo album simply titled "Curtis" was a masterpiece. Bruce Elder of the All Music Guide writes: "All of Mayfield's years of experience of life, music, and people were pulled together into a rich, powerful, topical musical statement that reflected not only the most up-to-date soul sounds of its period, plus the immediacy of the times and their political and social concerns, but also the most elegant R&B sounds out of the past. Indeed, it was practically the 'Sgt. Pepper' album of 70s soul." The album was a huge hit, but his biggest commercial achievement was yet to come with the release of his soundtrack to the1972 film, Superfly. Mayfield once again had the opportunity to express in striking detail the trials and tribulations facing the black community living in the ghetto, dealing with the problems of drugs and poverty. Both the soundtrack and the film were an overwhelming success, and Superfly turned out to be Mayfield's biggest selling album.

He continued to have hits into the 80s, and served as a mentor and musical influence for upcoming artists, but sadly on August 14, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a lighting rig fell on top of him at a concert in Brooklyn, NY. Despite being handicapped, he remained relatively active as a writer and producer, releasing an excellent solo album in 1996 titled New World Order. Shortly thereafter however, his health began to deteriorate and he passed away on December 26, 1999. Curtis Mayfield was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first in 1991 with The Impressions, then again as a solo artist in 1999. In the words of Aretha Franklin, "Curtis Mayfield is to soul music what Bach was to the classics and Gershwin and Irving Berlin were to pop."

TOP 10 TRACKS:
1. Bat Out Of Hell 2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) 3. Heaven Can Wait 4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go 5. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad 6. Paradise By The Dashboard Light 7. For Crying Out Loud 8. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) 9. Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back 10. Not A Dry Eye In The House

Comments:
Question: On a hot summer night would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? She answers with a breathless, "Yes." He replies, "I bet you say that to all the boys" . . . CRASH ! BAM! BOOM! The nighttime surf rushed over the Jersey beach and crashed into the sea wall of sound, and while Bruce was checking out Madame Marie up on the boardwalk and Johnny and Jukes were trying to make it all right with Ronnie Spector on the stage at The Stone Pony, this whale of a singer in a white ruffled tuxedo shirt proved there was a lot going on down on the beach where it was burning and she took the words right out of his mouth . . . must have been while she was kissing him!

The first seven cuts listed above are the tracks in order from his monumental 1977 album "Bat Out Of Hell." It was part Phil Spector, part Bruce Springsteen, part rock and roll Broadway musical and a one of a kind pop extravaganza. Phil Rizzuto even made a guest appearance and it is the Meatloaf experience in a nutshell, a classic, a masterpiece and an essential for any rock CD collection. The epic title cut, "Bat Out Of Hell" is a perfect Todd Rundgren power pop production and the songs written by Jim Steinman form a rock and roll opera.

Seeing Meatloaf perform is the next best thing to a rock musical on Broadway. In fact, it's better than Broadway. He is one of the few rock stars worthy of the name "performer" and may be the second hardest working man in show business. Meat made a series of albums after Bat that came nowhere near it, but the two that at least, come close to duplicating it are 1993's "Bat Out Of Hell II," and 1995's "Welcome To The Neighborhood." Cuts 8 & 9 are from Bat II and cut 10 is from Neighborhood. Any or all three could have fit comfortably on the original LP. So go with these two if you want a little more. I could have written if you want a second or third helping of Meatloaf, but that would have been too easy and I would do anything for your love, but I won't do that.

Tracks compiled by Ray D'Ariano / Back to index

Bonus cuts:
The three disc live set that comes in the box set "Live Shit: Binge and Purge" is excellent. It was recorded in Mexico City on the tour to support the Black album and shows the band at its peak. The set also comes with a live DVD.

Comments:
Metallica made 5 classic albums in a row from 1984-1991 (Kill Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All, and Metallica a.k.a The Black Album) and in my opinion, haven't made a good record since. In 1996, they released Load, and essentially announced to the world that they had decided to suck. They followed Load up with Re-Load, which reaffirmed the message, and then did a double live album performing with a symphony orchestra which had the potential to be cool despite the fact that it sounded like a lame idea, but wasn't. They also released a half-decent double album of covers (half of it was the out of print covers e.p. recorded during the golden era, and that saved the whole package). Finally in 2003 the band released St. Anger, a heavy metal return to form which is no where near as good as their early work, but makes it clear that the band is now at least trying to not suck anymore. Unfortunately they also recently released the film Some Kind of Monster where they bitch at each other and cry for an hour and a half . . . Jesus Christ, what kind of heavy metal band is this?

Bonus cuts:
And It Stoned Me / Warm Love / Bright Side of the Road / Wonderful Remark / Whenever God Shines His Light / Dweller On The Threshold

Comments:
With over 30 studio albums to his credit, Van Morrison has covered a lot of ground, from soul, blues, rock, country, celtic, and jazz. Hailing from Belfast, Ireland, he began his professional career with Them, a band known primarily for their raw fusion of jazz, rock and soul. After 2 albums with Them, Morrison felt it was time to try his hand at a solo career. His initial release "Blowing Your Mind" was not a very satisfying project for him personally, even though it did yield his first Top 40 hit "Brown Eyed Girl". With a new approach to his music and a new record label, Morrison jump-started his career with the brilliant "Astral Weeks", the first of many timeless classics soon to follow. An extraordinary talent, Van Morrison continues to lay the groundwork of a musical legacy not only embraced by his fans, but also by his many peers.

Bonus cuts:
Even with 2 box sets, a second rarities CD, a greatest hits album, three studio albums, a double disc live album, and their first five albums being remastered with bonus tracks, there are only a handful of new Motley Crue songs, post 1991, that are worth listening to. They are "Hollywood Ending", "Enslaved", "Bitter Pill" and "Afraid" . . . let me know if I missed any.

Comments:
You may have noticed in the above that I said there weren't many NEW Mötley Crüe songs worth listening to in the past fifteen years or so . . . there is however lots of cool "new" older material that came out in that time. For one, the fist disc of the box set Music To Crash You Car To Vol.1 has the complete album Too Fast For Love as it was released on Elektra, and the complete version that the band had pressed on their own Leathur Records before they got signed. The rougher rawer version which is pretty much unanimously thought to be the better of the two was extremely hard to find until this release. Also, those of you that remember the now out of print rarities collection, Decade of Decadence, will be happy to know that the tracks that were exclusive to that set "Primal Scream", "Angela" and a few others, were included on the newer rarities set Supersonic and Demonic . . . along with some crap from the John Corabi era that most Crue fans wish would just stay hard to find.

TOP 10 TRACKS:
1. Mississippi Queen 2. Theme From an Imaginary Western
3. The Animal Trainer and the Toad 4. Nantucket Sleighride 5. Silver Paper
6. For Yasgur's Farm 7. Long Red 8. Dreams of Milk and Honey
9. Travelin' in the Dark 10. Crossroader

Comments:
All of the above and more are contained on a collection called The Best of Mountain. If you are a purist the two CD's you need to own are Mountain Climbing! and Nantucket Sleighride. You may want to add Flowers of Evil for the live side.

In the mid 60's The Young Rascals ruled the New York City - Long Island club scene. The band that was running a close second were The Vagrants featuring Leslie West and his brother Larry. They were louder, they were brash and they were known for putting on a spectacular show where they often destroyed their own equipment before it was all over. Felix Pappalardi produced a single for them on Atco, but their recordings never really captured The Vagrants live power. It was a case of the live experience being better than the records. (Their garage rock version of Respect can be found on Nuggets).

Pappalardi went on to produce a little power trio from England called Cream. He was the producer of Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, and Goodbye. In the new liner notes for the Mountain Climbing! CD we learn that when Leslie first heard Disraeli Gears he asked his brother, "How come we don't sound like Cream?" His brother answered, "Because we suck that's why." Leslie went to The Village Theater, which would later become The Fillmore East, and saw Cream. He was humbled. "When the curtain opened my jaw dropped and I now know what my brother was talking about. I really started to practice and practice." The Vagrants were no more. A short while later Cream also broke up.

Leslie and Felix reunited as Pappalardi produced and played bass on West's solo album called Mountain. When they needed a touring band they recruited Norman Smart on drums and Steve Knight on keyboards. They named the group after the title of West's album, Mountain. Smart was soon replaced by a Canadian, Corky Laing. He doesn't play drums, he attacks them and they respond with powerful rhythms. His cowbell intro to their most well known tune, Mississippi Queen is legendary. Corky's unique style with Leslie's power riffs and rugged vocals combined with Felix's more melodic vocals and bass captured the magic. Mountain had their own sound – Cream filtered through New Yawk with a touch of Canada for good luck.

A woman holds a major spot in Mountain history. Gail Collins co-wrote many of the tunes, like Nantucket Sleighride with her husband Felix Pappalardi. She also did the artwork for the psychedelic covers of Climbing and Sleighride. Those were the good things, but then in 1983 she shot and killed her husband.

You can see a recent concert performed by the current Mountain line up, West, Laing, and Richie Scarlet on a DVD called Sea of Fire. They still put on a great show and are working in the studio with Warren Haynes producing a CD of Dylan tunes. Leslie West and Corky Laing have been together for 35 years (Mountain, West, Bruce, and Laing (Bruce being Jack Bruce from Cream), and Leslie West's Wild West Show). They belong right up there with all the greats, Clapton, Hendrix, Moon and Bonham, because they are rock and roll! Do you know what I mean?

Bonus cuts:
The album MTV Unplugged in New York, is easily my favorite thing the band ever did. Aside from acoustic re-workings of their own songs, the band also offers a fantastic collection of cover songs. They do tunes by The Vaselines, David Bowie, and not one, not two, but three by the Meat Puppets. In addition, the highlight of the whole thing is "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?," a song originally by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter. Cobain's haunted vocal and agonized screams really make the song his own. I guess that's why they changed the title. The song's real name is "In the Pines."

Comments:
I recently got into an argument with a friend who happens to be a huge Nirvana fan. I've known him for a long time, and know first hand that he was one of those morons that ran around writing "Kurt Lives" graffiti in 1994 after Cobain killed himself. The argument which was of the friendly variety, was about who "started" "alternative" music. He claimed it was Nirvana. I took a more existential approach and claimed there was no such thing as "alternative."

My view was that sometime in the early nineties, somewhere in America, in some boardroom, a decision was made that Poison, Motley Crue and Skid Row had to go. The shift from hair metal to "alternative" or "grunge" as America's mainstream rock format was just too spontaneous and widely accepted to actually be anything other than contrived. Plus, the bands in the initial alternative/grunge influx didn't really sound alike. Nirvana was punkish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were funkish, Alice in Chains were metalish . . . there was no sound . . . and therefore no genre. The only thing they had in common was that they didn't sound like hair metal (where even though I'm a fan, I admit everyone sounds kinda the same) and they were getting played constantly by Kennedy and the like on MTV.

Even the band – at least the one guy that sang, played guitar, and wrote everything – hated the term grunge, and hated that they were becoming a huge rock band thanks to the magic of heavy rotation. In case you managed to miss it, in April 1994, Kurt Cobain proved that he really meant it when he said he didn't want to be famous by shooting up a shitload of heroin (reportedly enough to kill two men) and then removing his own head with a shotgun. He went straight past famous and became a legend.

That said, if you ask me . . . No – Kurt Cobain and Nirvana didn't create alternative grunge music, but it surely did destroy them.

Bonus cuts:
I'm The One, Tenderloin, Radio, Antennas, Olympia Wa., and Corazon De Oro . . . the six tracks which make up NOFX's half of BYO Records' Split Series Volume III on which NOFX performs six Rancid songs and Rancid performs six NOFX songs.

Comments:
Over their 20 year career, NOFX have released tons of songs on compilations, singles, and ep's some of which are next to impossible to find. The vast majority of these songs can now be found on the 2-cd set "45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Be On Our Other Albums" The set, which actually has 47 or 48 tunes on it contains amongst other things the entire "Fuck The Kids" e.p. and the entire "Surfer" e.p. …save one song each to keep the folks that have the ultra rare originals from rioting.

TOP 10 TRACKS:
1. Oh Pretty Woman 2. Cryin' 3. Only The Lonely
4. You Got It 5. Blue Bayou 6. Dream Baby
7. Not Alone Anymore (with The Traveling Wilburys)
8. Running Scared 9. Candy Man 10. It's Over

Comments:
Elvis Presley called him the greatest singer in the world and fans were thrilled for over four decades with his amazing four-octave vocal range. In 1956, Johnny Cash suggested that Roy get together with Sam Phillips at Sun Records and his illustrious recording career began with the tune "Ooby Dooby." Roy went on to have 22 Top 40 hits between 1960 and 1966 along with his posthumous hit "You Got It" in 1989.

Orbison was often asked about the sunglasses that became an ever-present part of his personna: In 1963 when he forgot his regular glasses on an airplane, he headlined a tour with The Beatles wearing his prescription sunglasses, thus his trademark look was born. After a very successful solo career in the 60's, he faced years of decline but made a huge comeback in the late-80s as a member of The Traveling Wilburys featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne.

After the release of the Wilburys debut album, Petty and Lynne collaborated with Orbison on "Mystery Girl" a body of work that became the highest charting album of his career. Unfortunately it was released several months after he suffered a fatal heart attack in December 1988 at the age of 52.

Bonus cuts:
"Paranoid." Yes it's a Black Sabbath song, but for me the definitive version has always began with Ozzy screaming "Alright, we're gonna do . . . PARANOID!" That is to say that the definitive version for me is the live version of the song from the Randy Rhodes era of Ozzy's solo career. Plus Mama I'm Comin Home and Goodbye to Romance for the softer side of the prince of fucking darkness.

Comments:
Ozzy's solo career, at it stands now, is book-ended by a pair of incredible heavy metal guitar players. On the early albums, Ozzy was joined by the legendary Randy Rhodes, who died in a plane crash that Ozzy happened to witness. And as of late, Ozzy's band features the soon to be legendary Zakk Wylde. Check out the live albums, Tribute and Live at Budokan to sample Rhodes and Wylde respectively.

One other interesting Ozzy band lineups note: In 2003, bassist Robert Trujillo quit Ozzy's band and joined Metallica, replacing Jason Newsted who had left the band in disgust in 2001. He had left metal's biggest individual to join metal's biggest band. Then in an act of heavy metal incest, Newsted took Trujillo's spot in Ozzy's band!

Just for the record, and to add to the confusion, neither bassist was in either band in 1986 when Metallica first broke out by stunning audiences nationwide as the opening act on Ozzy's Ultimate Sin Tour.

Bonus cuts:
For years I thought, like most people, that Cowboys From Hell was Pantera's first album. Actually, they did several before that on independent labels which are not in print anymore. Some of these albums feature all four members of Pantera as we know them, and others feature a different vocalist (Pantera without Phil?!?!) I haven't heard them all yet but the one I was able to find, Power Metal, is excellent and worth the effort it took to find it.

Comments:
After breaking up a couple of years back, Pantera split right down the middle into two new bands. Brothers Vinnie and Dimebag formed the band Damageplan, while Rex and Phil play together in Superjoint Ritual. Neither group is awful, but neither is even close to as good as Pantera was. On the bright side, at least they just broke up instead of going into group therapy and making a movie about it where they cry in each others arms and blurt out how much they love each other. Hopefully the split will just last another year or two and then the best heavy metal band of all time will get back together.

Sadly, the above was written before the tragic murder of Dimebag Darrell Abbott in December 2004. In a recent statement, Philip Anselmo apologized for all the negative things he had said about Dime lately ("He deserves to be beaten severely" was the quote on the cover of the new Metal Hammer magazine) and went on to call Dime "the most beautiful person and one of my best friends in the world." Nonetheless, Vinnie Paul asked that Phil not attend his brother's funeral, and it seems that the two are not about to make-up anytime soon. With no Dime, a real Pantera reunion is absolutely out of the question . . . maybe twenty years from now they'll do some lame Doors with Ian Asbury singing kind of thing, but in any real sense, Darrell's death marks not only the passing of one of metal's best guitarists, but the unquestionable demise of its best band.

Bonus cuts:
The early Funkadelic albums, Maggot Brain and Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow, are masterpieces which almost defy comparison to anything else in rock history. To come close you have to take one part Sly & the Family Stone, one part Jimi Hendrix Experience and one part Pink Floyd and smash them together . . . then celebrate both the beauty and the ugliness of such a combination. The production on the albums is incredible. Eddie Hazel's guitar (which Clinton at times inspired by telling the guitarist to imagine his mother had just died) is flawless, and the power of the music is undeniable. Essential is the word.

Also, rappers in the early 90's like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, sampled nothing more frequently than they did the music of George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic. In the mid-nineties, Clinton released a career-spanning greatest hits CD called Greatest Funkin' Hits. The disc showcases remixes of songs originally recorded by both P-Funk and Clinton as a solo act. The remixes feature extra verses added by the very rappers that renewed people's interest in the music. If you came to P-Funk via hip-hop, this is for you. If you didn't, it probably isn't.

Comments:
Although both groups were formed by George Clinton, at roughly the same time, and featured many of the same musicians, initially, Parliament and Funkadelic were very much two distinctly separate bands. Parliament was an R&B/Funk band who's sound was what most casual listeners associate with P-Funk…."WE WANT THE FUNK"…and the such. Funkadelic on the other hand was more like a rock band; albeit a rock band from another planet. Later on, in the mid to late seventies, the line between the two groups began to thin, and the two bands began to sound more and more alike, leaning more towards the Parliament, disco/funk, side of things. By the time Funkadelic's One Nation Under A Grove was released in 1978, the bands were more or less one in the same. Due to legal issues, Clinton disbanded both groups in the early 80's but continued to record and tour with their members as George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars.

Bonus cuts:
Crazy Mary / Release / Garden / I Got Id / Corduroy / Breath / Present Tense / I Am Mine / You Are / State Of Love And Trust / Glorified G / Dissident / Porch

Comments:
Here's one that just doesn't have balance. When I assemble these Best of the Best lists I try to touch on each phase of an artists' career, as long as the music is worthy. I feel that an artist's entire existence is usually what makes up their overall appeal. But, what usually ends up happening is that gut thing. I start to eliminate the inferior work by listening to my gut feeling. And the gut was screaming on this one.

Pearl Jam is a band that released a masterpiece debut in 1991, and with it, they took over the world. It was difficult to only have four tracks (Alive, Even Flow, Black, Jeremy) from that debut on this list. Not too ma