The two-CD compilation isn't a balanced retrospective of his lengthy career, heavily emphasizing his 1969-1971 recordings, which in fact comprise all of disc one. And it doesn't represent many of his albums at all (particularly the ones not done for or ), including just one post-1985 track. On the other hand, for the vast majority of listeners who want a best-of that offers more than a single-disc greatest-hits anthology can, it serves its purpose well. His best-known songs are here, in the original -sung versions: and His earliest records are sampled particularly deeply, with no less than nine of the 12 songs from his 1970 debut, , appearing. Still, there's no doubt that his early work was his most popular and best, and the disproportionate representation allows for the appearance of good songs from the era that escape skimpier greatest-hits collections. And there's no doubt that disc two, devoted almost entirely to post-1971 material, is less impressive and consistent, not to mention more haphazardly organized in its chronology, with the 1972 track appearing as the second-to-last cut. Room's also made for a few songs recorded with others, those being (a duet with ), (done with , , and ), and (on which he paired with ). ~ Richie Unterberger