Moetley Cruee
parted ways with
Elektra
in the spring of 1998, releasing their second compilation,
Greatest Hits
, on their own label that fall. Weighing in at 17 tracks, including two pedestrian new songs,
duplicates much of
Decade of Decadence
, featuring no less than eight songs --
"Looks That Kill,"
"Home Sweet Home"
(original, not the
Decade
version),
"Smokin' in the Boys' Room,"
"Girls, Girls, Girls,"
"Wild Side,"
"Dr. Feelgood,"
"Kickstart My Heart"
(original, not the live version that was on
),
"Primal Scream"
-- that were on the previous collection. Considering all that overlap, you can be forgiven for thinking that the two compilations are interchangeable, but
actually has the edge, not just because it doesn't feature the silly
"Anarchy in the U.K."
cover, but because it features a greater selection of hits from their masterpiece,
Dr. Feelgood
, including
"Without You,"
"Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away),"
and
"Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.),"
all of which weren't on
. It has its flaws, to be sure -- the sequencing is illogical, the newer songs are lame, and the original
"Shout at the Devil"
should have been featured instead of the atrocious
Generation Swine
re-recording -- but it's still the best overview yet assembled. [This compilation was also released with bonus tracks in 2009.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine