The Bellamys have always been one of my favorite C&W groups - since my 20's roughnecking in Wyoming & Okla. So when I was putting together a C&W CD collection, The 25 Year Collection [Vol. 1 & Vol. 2] were two of the first CDs I got. Now I find that like a few other stinkers in my collection [John Anderson, Bill Anderson, Ed Bruce, T.G. Sheppard, ETC.] This is a FREAKING RERECORD!!!
AND EVEN WORSE, I BOUGHT NOT ONE BUT TWO!!!! What I want to know is why Howard & David would do this to their fans???? Is it because they don't have enough $$$? To wrest control away from the greedy record companies? To give their diehard fans a treat? Because no other BB collections are out there? Because other country stars have done it? Whatever the reason, it's just not good enough. Sure the songs sound OK. But don't the hardworking people of this country deserve to know what they're getting? If The 25 Year Collection [Vol. 1 & Vol. 2] is meant to be a special checking in thing, why not mark the dates clearly to make sure that fans know what they're getting? [Sure there is a picture of middle aged brothers, but lots of CDs have up-to-date photos. Leading a casual shopper to think maybe they oversaw the selection] Fact is, the whole business of rerecords is sleazy & underhanded. Not at all the wonderful values that lie at the heart of BB songs. And it makes me never want to buy another C&W CD again! Shame on you guys. You should donate every cent of this travesty to charity! Oh, and you can pick your CD back up it's in the trash with the rest of the garbage.
Despite being re-recordings, these are all extremely well done and no attempt has been made to do anything dramatically different with them. A few (not many) are live cuts, but the live effects are kept to a minimum.
The two volumes each contain twenty of their best songs. On this volume, you will find many excellent songs, including For all the wrong reasons, Dancin' cowboys, Almost Jamaica, Kids of the baby boom and You're my favorite star.
As I wrote in my review of the other volume, they were released as a double-CD in the UK and it doesn't seem to make sense to buy just one without the other. If you only want one Bellamy brothers CD, you can probably find a single CD which contains the essentials, which are split between these two volumes.
One obvious omission from both volumes is Too much is not enough, a song they originally recorded with the Forester sisters. However, there is much else to enjoy here and you can always buy the Forester sisters greatest hits (worth having even apart from that track) if you want that song without having to buy any other Bellamy brothers CD's.
Don't worry about these not being the original recordings - buy this and it's companion volume and enjoy 25 years of their good-time music.
ordered a cd december 5th and its january 13th and they still can not tell me when the item will be shipped. this is rediculous! it was supposed to be a christmas gift but not now.
Short and simple. This is the BEST CD ever put out by the Bellamy Bros. Period!!
