And I say that statement with some pain. It really hurts me to give a Deftones release less than 5 stars, but their newest collection of B-Sides and Rarities is just one of those releases that had so much potential, and in my mind fell short of what the goal was. Not that there is much about the release that is bad, indeed this is a fine collection of songs if you are any kind of Deftones fan, but it's definitely lacking as to what it could have been. A lot of key songs are missing, and the pace/mode of the cd seems to be more centered on slower, moodier pieces, and lacking the balance that most Deftones releases seem to have. It's just one of those instances when your hopes are extremely high, and in the end you wind up getting dissapointed.
To begin the song selection seems odd to me. It's not that any of the songs are bad, just most are stuff we've already heard, or are just different versions of old songs. The "Digital Bath", "Change In The House of Flies" and "Be Quiet And Drive" acoustics, while good, have been heard by most fans. The "Teenager" remix isn't really that special or different from the original. Most of the good songs featured on here are cover songs. "Simple Man" and "No Ordinary Love" are Leonard Skynard covers. "The Chauffer" is an excellent Duran Duran cover. While we do get some cover songs, we get a couple of originals in "Crenshaw" and "Black Moon", however neither compares to the rarities that weren't placed on here. Which is why after listening to the cd, I'm still left with the question, "Where's the stuff we wanted to hear?" Foolishly left off the cd is "Teething", perhaps one of the best Deftones songs around (which appeared on the Crow City of Angels Soundtrack). "I Can Barely Breathe" (Escape from LA soundtrack) was also left off. I don't really understand the choice behind this because I guarantee most fans don't own those soundtracks, and this would have been a great place to put them. Songs which are mysteriously absent from the cd are :
"Teething" (The Crow: City of Angels Soundtrack)
"I Can Barely Breathe" (Escape From LA Soundtrack)
"Lovers" (B-side from Self Titled, appeared on "Hexagram" import)
"Boys Republic" (Only on the special edition of "White Pony")
"To Have And To Hold" (Depeche Mode Cover, amazing)
"South Of Heaven" (Slayer cover, also amazing)
"Venison" (Original Deftones demo song, really good and is floating around on the net)
The DVD portion though thankfully saves the cd from total failure. We finally get all the Deftones Videos in one place (although I'm still forced to ask, where's the video for "Teething"?). It's nice if you haven't seen any of them, and there's also a never before seen video of "Root" on here. Coming along with the videos is some live and behind the scenes footage as well, which is well worth the purchase of the cd since there hasn't been a decent Deftones DVD released yet. The booklet that comes with the cd is also very cool, mainly because it's a 24 page piece of history which includes linear notes from the band. Pretty neat if you don't know much about them. Another thing I like about the cd is that they went back to the cd design pattern featured on "Adrenaline" and "Around The Fur", which makes it feel like old times. Hey that can make all the difference.
Overall the cd is a good buy if you're a hardcore Deftones fan, but it's definitely lacking like mentioned in previous reviews. I find most of the songs on here to be moody, atmospheric pieces. There's not a lot of heavy ones which is kind of dissapointing. That's why I feel this cd could have benefitted from adding songs like "Teething." Overall though I can't complain much about the cd. It's still great Deftones music, and a great opportunity to hear a lot of rare tracks if you haven't run across them before on an import or the interent or something. I'd say this is only essential to the most dedicated Deftones fans. If you're a casual fan, I don't see this cd offering you much, and that is a good reason to skip it. Still I guess this will hold me over until the Deftones unleash their next studio effort on us.
Good, but could have been so much better
what??
