Flashback CD Review #82 - Melissa Etheridge - Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled

This review was written for the Rock Is Life.com website in 2006.

Melissa Etheridge
Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled
Island Records - 2005
http://www.melissaetheridge.com

What's The 4-1-1?

The first collection to gather Etheridge's best known songs, plus 5 unreleased tracks.

Genre

Rock / Pop-Rock

The Good

The 12 "classic" cuts focus primarily on the first four albums from Etheridge. They range from her first couple of hits "Bring Me Some Water" and "Similar Features" to her smash hit "Come To My Window". I was very happy to see that they also included "You Can Sleep While I Drive".

The five bonus tracks all turned out pretty good. The album closer "I Run For Life" which speaks to her battle with cancer is an excellent rocker. "This Is Not Goodbye" is a powerful track with a slow tempo.

The Bad

While I didn't find anything particularly wrong with the five bonus cuts, to my mind, a greatest hits collection should have no more that TWO new cuts. There was plenty of material left out from her "greatest hits" that could've been included. The inclusion of a studio cut of the Janis Joplin song "Piece of My Heart" was rather curious since that song is available on almost every single live bootleg you could ever hope to find for Etheridge.

The Verdict

The CD is a very basic method of introducing a new crowd to the music of Melissa Etheridge. The bonus cuts are a draw for the Etheridge completists. I would've preferred to see this collection be two discs because of the great material left out.

I'm not as big a fan of Etheridge as I used to be. I feel there was something missing after the Your Little Secret album. However, songs like "Occasionally", "You Used To Love To Dance", "All American Girl" and my personal favorite Etheridge song "Testify" should be given their moment in the Greatest Hits sun. Oh, and I'm leaving out a bunch of other great songs here as well.

If you want to give yourself a small dose of Melissa Etheridge to try her out, this isn't a bad way to do it. However, I'd recommend simply getting her first four albums right off the bat. Melissa Etheridge, Brave and Crazy, Never Enough and Yes I Am aren't just great rock for a woman; they are prime examples of what makes rock and roll great.

Did You Know?

Melissa Etheridge is a breast cancer survivor.

John Shanks, a longtime collaborator of Etheridge's, is one of the hottest producers in music today. He's produced tracks for Ashlee Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Lindsay Lohan and SheDAISY. He produced Etheridge's album Lucky.

Country singer Trisha Yearwood recorded a cover of the Etheridge song "You Can Sleep While I Drive".

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5