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The Tube Hits, Episode Two, The Capitol Years

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 02/22/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Tubes were, when they were released from their A&M contract, in a legendary quandary. They had made four albums that had sold modestly but in no massive numerical value, and their mammoth stage show was an expensive undertaking. They had completed their most ambitious album with "Remote Control," only to see it make a minimal splash. In short, they owed their former label over a million dollars.Once they signed to Capitol, they were given marching orders. Have hits or die. That is what this "Best Of" disc represents. When Super Producer David Foster came on for "The Completion Backward Principle," The Tubes dumped the recorded eccentricities and went from being quirky/cool to being slick. Hired guns were brought in and "Talk To Ya Later" was recorded with both ears glued to the radio, and voila, a hit was born. Suddenly, The Tubes were MTV/radio friendly and scoring on the top 40 with "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" and the Top 10 with "Outside/Inside's" "She's A Beauty." After those successes, the band was never quite the same. The stage shows remained wild and woolly affairs and Quay Lewd was never far from the mike, but the toned down studio Tubes were content to be subtle. On the other hand, how many bands could get the Earth Wind And Fire horns to funk up a song about cunningulus ("Tip Of My Tongue") and get it on rock radio? Their final attempt at studio wizardry (Todd Rundgren produced and heavily imprinted "Love Bomb") was too little too late; the wonderful single "Piece By Piece" is included here. Of the bonus cuts, "Sports Fans" and "Keyboard Kids" are of some interest, but could've been passed over. "The Best Of The Tubes" is a showcase of a band that was too bizarre to ever sell out, but wasn't beyond glossing up the funhouse mirror. If you pick up the A&M "The Millennium Collection" in addition to this "Best Of The Tubes" CD, you'll have as good an overview of the band as you're likely to piece together on your own."

"Best of..." , but only from their Capitol Records releases

John S. Harris | Memphis, TN | 03/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oh, the legal hassles of the music business! As with almost every Tubes "greatest hits" release, this CD has a "best of" compilation from only one of their record labels, in this case Capitol Records. They only released 3 records for Capitol ["The Completion Backward Principle", "Outside/Inside", and "Love Bomb"], so that's where all of this CD's material comes from. The Tubes released some great material for A&M records before 1980, but you will have to look elsewhere for that. Three tracks that find their way onto this CD that didn't appear on any Tubes album are "Keyboard Kids" (unused track from either the "Love Bomb" or "Outside/Inside" sessions), "Sports Fans" (a live show staple circa the "Completion..." era), and "When You're Ready To Come", the B-side to the 45 of "She's a Beauty." "Keyboard Kids", featuring vocals by now ex-member Bill Spooner, is disposable, but the other two are pretty good.
There has been some remastering done to these tracks, and they all sound pretty great! Worth buying? Yes, if you're a die-hard Tubes fan. But if you are one of those die-hard fans, you wouldn't have to ask yourself if it is worth buying. You'd just buy it anyway, right?"

Best Of their 80's output

E. Kelley | Rialro | 04/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The reason that White Punks on Dope and What do you want from life are not on this greatest hits package as an earlier reviewer mentioned, was that this cd was put out by Capitol records, who do not have permission from A & M to those songs. Do your homework! Anyways this album highlights their more commercial output from their 80s stay on Capitol Records. During their stay they, they decided to go for a more streamlined sound incoroprating the best of new wave and rock, and leaving alot of the zaniness behind them. This cd includes their biggest hit, She's a beauty. a song you wont find on a studio album, Sport fans, and a song that would go well in their 70's act, attack of the 50 ft woman. If you want the best of their 70's A & M music I suggest you try, T.R.A.S.H. There you can find the 2 songs that were "left out" from this compilation"