Audio CD review:
Yngwie Malmsteen - Best of Yngwie Malmsteen: 1990-1999

Yngwie Malmsteen - Best of Yngwie Malmsteen: 1990-1999

Band: Yngwie Malmsteen Title: Best of Yngwie Malmsteen: 1990-1999 Rating: Release Date: 2000-11-07 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Gimme, Gimme, Gimmie - Yngwie Malmsteen, 2: Never Die 3: Brothers 4: Seventh Sign 5: Vengeance 6: Voodoo 7: Facing the Animal 8: Like an Angel 9: Another Time 10: Rising Force 11: Gates of Babylon - Yngwie Malmsteen, Blackmore, Ritchie 12: Blue 13: Hangar 18, Area 51 14: Caralina Rampante

Non essential for the fans - but for the newcomer? This is a concise collection of Malmsteens high points of the 90's with a few glaring omissions. OK I'm going to be really short and sweet on this one. First the good points. - Cool selection of tunes from the fast rockers like Seventh Sign and Never Die to blazing instrumentals like Blue and even something from his 'classical' album in Cavalino Rampante. - The tunes don't grate when put up against each other. - A couple of live renditions of tunes to break things up and the amusing cover of ABBA's Gimme Gimme Gimme (yes really!). - Insightful liner notes from sometime Kerrang scribe Mark Greenaway. The downsides are few - main one being that there are no tunes from 1990's Eclipse or Fire and Ice presumably due to licensing issues. Thus we can't have Bedroom Eyes or Final Curtain. Regardless this is a great disc to pick up for the casual rock fan - quite possibely the way to go would be to get your hands on The Yngwie Malmsteen Collection and this and have pretty much a snapshot of his solo career up to 1999. For those fans who already own the albums like me this is perhaps of limited appeal unless you REALLY want that ABBA cover version. This isn't a bad albut but I can only justify three stars due to it's potentially limited appeal. Yawn yawn yawn.................. The songs have and always will be terrible. The best of Malmsteen? This guy cannot write a decent piece of music at all. This is the difference between YJM and Eddie VH, VH write songs that appeal to more than just mainstream neo-classical retards. You could rename this the 'worst of' and it wouldn't make any difference. The Swedes like this kind of thing cause they don't understand the songs. Mind you that goes for everybody else out there that can hear. Two in One On the first hand, you have beauties such as the instrumental "Brothers", "Rising Force" in an amazing live performance, the blue "Blue" and the cover of ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme". It doesn't make much sense, but it seems to me that this collection of songs by Malmsteen was actually written by two people - one writing beautiful, complex and dazzling songs and one writing boring, repetitive annoyances. These songs portray Malmsteen's talents, both in the technical aspect, where he is considered world's fastest guitar player, and in the creative aspect, where you can listen to charming emotional melodies, possibly influenced from the neo-classical subgenre. On the other hand, there are songs here which are a complete catastrophy. "Hangar 18, Area 51" is simply boring and dogmatic. "Seventh Sign" starts out good, but degenerates into senseless playing without any consideration on the melody. "Facing the Animal" is just plain bad. This album features samples of Malmsteen's work throughout the last decade. It is diverse and interesting, and as one it might be a good entry point for new Malmsteen listeners. However, it is absolutely not "The Best of". You can see a complete list of all Yngwie Malmsteen discography, or go back to the Yngwie Malmsteen tabs