 MEGADETH
Greatest Hits: Back to the Start
Capitol Records 2005
www.megadeth.com
Sample it here
Read the Dave Ellefson intervew
Live Megadeth pics
What’s the 4-1-1?
To celebrate 20 years in the music business, Dave Mustaine teams up with his
former record label and his loyal fans to issue a ‘best of’ compilation.
The songs on this release were based upon a fan poll at Megadeth’s official
website.
Genre
Heavy metal / hard rock
The Good
The first thing you need to know is that this is the greatest hits of the Capitol
Records reissues that came out last year. That means that these are the remastered
and remixed version of the songs. For the most part, Back to the Start falls
in line with their last ‘best of’ release Capitol Punishment, but
a handful of fan favorites make this one just a little better. The long-overlooked “Prince
of Darkness” helped bring thunder to Risk, which was an otherwise
dismal release.
Metallica fans call it “The Four Horseman” but
Megadeth fans know it as “Mechanix”. This was a surprising inclusion
because it never appeared on Capitol records. “Kill the King” and
Dread & The Fugitive Mind” was rescued from the last compilation
album. They were probably two of the heaviest and catchiest songs that the
group wrote for Capitol in the later years. Instead of including “Almost
Honest” again from Cryptic Writings, the fans chose the guitar solo heavy “She-Wolf”;
a much better choice I might add.
Another track that was rescued was “Angry
Again”, which originally appeared on The Last Action Hero Soundtrack and
the long out-of-print Megadeth EP, Hidden
Treasures (they didn’t
even re-release it last year). You need not worry if you're just a casual
Megadeth fan, of course they included the hits; “Holy Wars…The
Punishment Due”, “Peace Sells”, “Sweating Bullets”, “Trust”, “Hangar
18”, and “Symphony of Destruction” among others.
The Bad
One thing, wasn’t the reason Mustaine chose to call this Back to the
Startbecause the sequence was going to run from the newest song to the oldest? What
happened there?
The Verdict
It’s a good compilation that has plenty of hits as well as fan favorites,
but I think there could have been more songs included. On a side note, just like
the remasters that came out last year, this release marks another step toward
Mustaine and Capitol wiping out the classic and original Megadeth sound. That’s
a shame.
Did You Know?
Penelope Spheeris, director of The Decline of Western Civilization Part II:
The Metal Years (in which Megadeth appeared), contributed the liner notes for this
release. She also directed the video for “Wake Up Dead”.
Rating:  out
of 5
Related Reviews:
Megadeth - The Complete EMI Rematers
Marty Friedman - Music For Speeding
--George Dionne
|
