Search - Gato Barbieri :: Gato Barbieri - Greatest Hits

Disappointing; doesn't do justice to this great musician

04/27/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I hate to say it, but I think A&M really missed a golden opportunity here. I think they must have given more thought to the money they could make as a result of Gato's recent comeback than they gave to the preparation of this "Greatest Hits" collection. This release could have helped to introduce a whole new generation of listeners to the fascinating story of Gato's musical evolution. Instead, they included the most minimal kind of liner notes possible. How can one issue any kind of collection of music of someone as innovative and influential as Gato Barbieri and not include a discussion of how it fits into the context of Gato's long career or any of the colorful and enlightening details about how the music came about? And as the music selected is concerned, it is not very well arranged. The songs are mashed together in what seems like no particular order and seemingly without regard for cadence. This makes it impossible to get a sense of the beautiful flow of the music on the original releases, most especially Ruby, Ruby. And the resplicing of the Theme from Firepower is unfortunately obvious and unpleasant to hear. There are many wonderful songs on the original A&M releases, but you only hear a fraction of them hear and not in the best way. My recommendation? Buy the original releases, buy the Passion and Fire Collection (so you can have the two songs included from Euphoria, which has never been release on CD) and by *all* means, go to hear him live! But don't waste your money on this collection. It doesn't nearly do justice to Gato or his music."

DECENT, BUT NOT EXEMPLARY

L. S. Slaughter | Chapel Hill, NC | 09/21/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, licensing being as complex as it is, I understand why "Last Tango in Paris" is not included here. But the collection simply doesn't deserve the title of "Greatest Hits" without Gato's most famous composition. Still, it's a nice plate of smooth jazz from the mid-70s mostly: funk-sheen with Gato occassionally ripping up the charts."