Depending on how you keep count,
The Essential Alice in Chains
is the third or fourth attempt at an
Alice in Chains
compilation -- 1999 saw the box set
Music Bank
and
Nothing Safe
, a single disc of highlights from the three-disc retrospective, and 2001 brought the release of the slightly too skimpy
Greatest Hits
. At two discs and 28 tracks,
The Essential
falls somewhere between the fan-oriented excess of
and the just-the-basics
, offering all of the group's biggest songs -- not just singles like
"Man in the Box,"
"Angry Chair,"
"Rooster,"
"No Excuses,"
"Would?"
but also album tracks like
"Sea of Sorrow,"
"God Smack,"
"Hate to Feel,"
"Dam That River"
-- in a comprehensive overview of their career. While this may be a little bit too long for those listeners who only want
AIC
's
grunge
staples -- conversely, there are certainly a handful of songs that diehards might miss -- this is nevertheless the best-executed
compilation yet, functioning well as an effective summary and introduction to their too-brief, complicated career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine