Still So Far To Go - The Best Of Chris Rea [CD]

Like many other admirers, for me Chris Rea has few equals amongst artists when it comes to the quality and depth of his musical output over the last thirty years.

I am lucky enough to own the complete Chris Rea CD catalogue, so why should I decide to purchase his latest "Greatest Hits" collection, when I have previously rejected doing so, with many of the earlier compilations on offer?

Was it because of the two new contrasting tracks on offer? No, although "Come So Far...." And "Valentino"are both an enjoyable listen.

Was it because of the "extras" on the limited edition package? No, although it was fascinating to see older video footage again, and savour the interesting, informative and often amusing half hour interview with Chris, that was also included.

My decision was based on the fact that the vast majority of the tracks on the double album have been re-mastered by Rhino, and I was intrigued to discover how much more of an enjoyable listen they would be, as a result of this. Most of his contemporaries have already reissued re-masters of their most popular albums at least once, but not until now Mr Rea.

As with the recent re-mastered release of The Beatles catalogue, I believe that it has been a very worthwhile exercise. Played on a good stereo system, there is significantly increased treble response on many of those so well known songs, and additionally the sound has greater clarity and definition. I was able to listen to more detail within the whole sound, and for me this was important, and gave me greater listening pleasure. I realise that some will not necessarily see this as particularly desirable, and be quite happy with the original recordings, which were by no means badly mastered, or of a poor quality.

The release of this album has whetted my appetite to the possible release of re-mastered CD versions of "On The Beach" and all of those other wonderful albums that long time fans love so much. As an introduction to Chris Rea's work, this album contains a very good and sensible choice of songs, but that said many of my own particular favourites are missing!

Until then, I can't wait for the Colston Hall in March, and the "Still So Far To Go" Tour!

Chris Rea : Still So Far To Go (Review)

Once again we are treated to another Chris Rea compilation, or maybe I should say yet another Chris Rea compilation. As a fan of Chris Rea it is always nice to have another album, but there are some down sides. To be honest, while this is a very thorough compilation and the first, (somewhat) official compilation to cover 2 discs rather than the usual 1. I can't help but find some frustration and missed opportunities here. I will endeavour to explain myself.

For me Chris has had three eras, if you will. First off what I will refer to as his first era, which is everything up to (and including), `New Light Through Old Windows'. So that is to say songs such as `Stainsby Girls', `Let's Dance', `On The Beach' and `Fool (If You Think It's Over)'. This era clearly features a lot of his big hits, and probably most of the `radio friendly' songs. More commercial at times but not to say that the songs aren't brilliant, as they most certainly are!

Next up we have the second era, which is `Road To Hell' up to and including `King Of The Beach'. Here Chris is more `off the leash' and has more apparent input and influence. Songs from this era include `The Road To Hell', `Auberge', `Nothing To Fear' and `The Blue Cafe'. There were less hits from this era, but still great music.

The third (and current) era is `the blues' era. This features everything from `Dancing Down The Stony Road' up to `The Return Of The Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes'. To be honest we are past commercialism altogether here. This is very much Chris doing his own thing. The music is still as good as ever, but maybe less accessible to a general audience.

This compilation features tracks from all three Chris Rea eras but the frustration for me is in some of the choices of the tracks featured, or lack thereof. Understandably there have to be constraints with the limitation of 2 discs, but the choices of some tracks I find disappointing. For instance, from `Dancing Down The Stony Road' we have `Stony Road' and `Easy Rider'. While `Stony Road' is a given. As it's the title track, I would far rather have heard `Dancing The Blues Away' or `Heading For The City'.

What about songs from `La Passione'? We only have `When The Grey Skies Turn To Blue', which while I like this, I have to say I am baffled as to why `Girl In A Sports Car', which was a single and is undoubtedly the best song on the album, isn't featured.

As for `The Blue Jukebox', we only have `Blue Street'. Why on earth isn't `The Beat Goes On' on here. Again, a track that is truly stand-out and doesn't make it onto the compilation.

Tracks from the `Blue Guitars' musical book are harder to pick out, there are just so many, but I would have wanted to hear either something like `What I'm Looking For' or `Who Killed Love' or something similar.

Well, those are the frustrations out of the way. Now I want to say why I feel this is a big missed opportunity. This applies pretty much entirely to songs from the first era of Chris Rea. The problem is that the versions of the songs on the album are all what I would call the `New Light' versions. That is to say the versions of the songs that Chris Rea re-recorded for his first greatest hits album `New Light Through Old Windows'.

Admittedly some of the new versions I really like. There is a great version of `I Can Hear Your Heartbeat' and of course the version of `On the Beach' that most people will know. However, probably my favourite Chris Rea song, `Stainsby Girls', is massively lacking. The original version, from `Shamrock Diaries', is fantastic with incredible energy and a real rocky edge. The new light version by contrast is very lifeless. The same applies to `Let's Dance'. The original version I love, but the `New Light' version seems very rushed.

Also, we almost never hear the original versions of the singles on this or any compilation. The opportunity I feel has been missed here is that this should have been a genuine singles collection, with the original single releases of the records featured on the album. By using the `New Light' versions they are merely covering ground that has been covered so many times before.

On the plus side the album does feature 2 new tracks, one of which, `Still So Far To Go' is truly Chris Rea at his absolute best. However, if you do have any of the five or six compilations that have already been on sale, then maybe it's not so worthwhile after all. And what about featuring some live tracks from `The Road To Hell And Back'?

This is only my opinion but I would have done a lot of things differently. What is a good compilation could have been a great compilation. Finally, are we ever going to see a greatest hits video compilation? It would have been so easy to do a special edition with a bonus DVD!

I am listening to the CD and may write some things on the remastered tracks at a later stage. I want to answer the query raised in a number of other comments. You need to be connected to the internet. And your web browser must be consistent with the software used on the Rhino site before the second CD will interact with the Rhino web site. I discovered that I had to change my web browser to internet explorer before the CD would talk to the Rhino website. Some other browsers are supported but Google Chrome is not one of them. I hope this helps.

I am giving the CD 5 stars on the basis of the interview alone and access to copies of some of the Blues Guitars paintings. Extremely interesting interview. I like the look of the Italia guitar and suspect that Chris does too--an ugly duckling which is really a swan in Rea's hands!