Search - Various Artists :: Best of Miami Vice

For beginners only

L. Chin | 08/08/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation is better than previous attempts in capturing music, the memories, from key scenes. But as others also note, there are major omissions. Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", obviously. And what "Vice" junkie could forget the memories evoked by "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits, "Cry" by Godley & Creme, "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, "Bad Attitude" by Honeymoon Suite, "Tell Me" by Terry Kath, or even Sheena Easton. Russ Ballard is hard to find anywhere.



Because individuals decide which "Vice" scenes, which music (from a huge cross-section of music from a five year time span during which Jan Hammer and Tim Truman, both magnificent, ran the show), mattered the most, no single collection will be definitive.



In the end, people are best off getting Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice: The Complete Collection" sountrack compilation, and making one's own "hit" collection using song lists from the various "Miami Vice" web site."

Good, but not great.

L. Petit | Akron, Ohio USA | 06/03/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As others have noted, the exclusion of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" is ridiculous; It's not a 'Best Of' if one of the most iconic songs ever used in the show isn't included! There's plenty of other odd exclusions, too: Russ Ballard's "Voices", Honeymoon Suite's "Bad Attitude", Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms", and Terry Kath's "Tell Me" are the most notable songs absent from this release, and I would have gladly subbed any of them for Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", The Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited", George Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone", Autograph's "Turn Up The Radio" or Sheila E.'s "Glamourous Life". Are those good songs? Sure. But, they don't really come to mind when I think of Miami Vice, not to mention they're all over other 80's compilations and the radio. If we're going that route, at least include Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me".



Even lesser known songs from the show's run would have sufficed: Tommy Shaw's "Girls With Guns" and "Dangerous Game", both of which are excellent songs (and luckily, finally recently reissued on their respective albums: "Girls With Guns" & "Ambition"). Ditto for The Nobodys "No Guarantees", a hard-to-find track. Speaking of rare, Miami Vice's own Don Johnson sang "Streetwise" for his "Heartbeat" album, but cut it from the LP. It's a good song, and was used in season three's also-named "Streetwise". That would have been a great addition. Genesis' "Land of Confusion" used in the final episode, would have been great, as well.



But, even though this disc fails to truly be a "Best Of", it does feature some great tracks. Both of Glenn Frey's oferrings are true MV classics, as is Jackson Browne's "Lives In The Balance". Jan Hammer's instrumentals are cut to three tracks (couldn't have thrown the "New York Theme" or "Candy" in, huh?), but they give a good view of his genius. The MV themes are just as cool as ever, and "Crockett's Theme" is out and out awesome. Steve Jone's "Mercy" is as great as ever. The more mainstream tracks here that I didn't mention above, Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me" and Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is", actually work here, though again, why no "Voices"?



You'd be better off buying the official soundtrack and it's sequel (ignore the never-released-in-the-U.S. third soundtrack), as well as Jan Hammer's own "Best of Miami Vice" (cheap and easy to find, much more so that the complete collection) but this serves as a good introduction to MV's music, just not a definitve one. It's pretty obvious this was released to piggyback on the 2006 feature film version, and sadly it plays more like any 80's compilation album than an MV compilation album.



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