Here are some recent compilation releases by artists whose albums you should already own on compact disc. Perhaps youíd like to pick them up anyway and play them when you canít decide which great album to listen to or you can buy them and give as gifts to the uninitiated.

Well, that title certainly is a misnomer, which is good in this case because ëmisnomerí is such a fun word and itís be awhile since Iíve had the chance to use it in a sentence. But seriously, folkies, thereís no possible way you could fit every essential Bob Dylan recording on a two CD set, so maybe this should have been called The Best of the Essential Bob Dylan or at least what Sony Music reckons it to be. Okay, so what have we got here? 30 tracks digitally remastered and yes, they do sound pretty darn good. Pardon me why I pause to think about the money Iím gonna have to spend to re-buy all those other Dylan CDs when they get the super-duper audio upgrading treatment. (Sigh) Packaging looks nice. Cool B&W cover photo but not much annotation to speak of. The song selection is impressive. Good to see Jokerman on the same collection as all those other classic Zimmy tunes. Yeah, even for someone like me who has almost the entire catalog, this is a treat to pop into the changer and give a listen. But if you think you can buy just this set and be done with it, youíre wrong. And if youíre gonna get this one, you shanít delay. According to the sticker on the CD (and stickers on the CD never lie), this is a limited edition and once itís gone, you canít have it.

The first Badfinger compilation to include songs from both their Capitol and Warner Brothers recordings. With fewer songs chosen from a bigger selection, this compilation is a lot tighter than Capitolís previous Best of Badfinger compact disc and itís sequenced better. Thereís no messing about this time as the solid one-two-three punch of "No Matter What," "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" kick off the proceedings, but the quality of the music doesnít stop there. Not a weak track in the bunch, great song follows great song and one can only wonder what might have been if this band had the luck of The Beatles and been managed by someone who actually gave a damn about their future. Of course, not every good Badfinger song can be included on this compilation and those who really want to experience the wonderful talent of this band should pick up No Dice and Straight Up for sure and at least toss in Ass for good measure. Packaging is far and above superior to that of the before mentioned Best Of, whose cover looked like a cheap TV offer rip-off. Nice color pictures in the glossy 16 page booklet but I havenít read the liner notes yet. (Do I really need to be told about the tragedy of Badfinger one more time?) Give Capitol a thumbs up on this one. Although they might wanna think about a nice ten track Very Very Best of Badfinger budget piece to sell to the hit suckers whoíll never fully understand the brilliance of "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke". And Warner Brothers might wanna cough up domestic releases of Badfinger and Wish Your Were Here for the rest of us.