Uncle Tupelo has received far more attention retrospectively than the band ever did while active. Maybe the best thing about this compilation, then, is that it ignores the myth and exalts the music. Issued eight years after the Jay Farrar/Jeff Tweedy split that yielded Son Volt and Wilco--and compiled with the participation of both parties--the anthology gathers its 21 tracks from every stage of the band's brief career. It's all here: lurching rockers like "Graveyard Shift" and "Outdone," ballads both rich ("Still Be Around") and raw ("Gun"), and more polished acoustic tunes, like the stark "Black Eye" and the bouncy "New Madrid," that came as Tweedy found his voice. There's also Farrar's definitive cover of the traditional "Moonshiner," and on "Chickamauga," his most desperate, galvanizing guitar solos. And, of course, there are the "hits" ("Whiskey Bottle," "The Long Cut"). Interspersed throughout are seven formerly hard-to-find songs, including covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Stooges, live versions of the album cuts "Looking for a Way Out" and "We've Been Had," and the non-album originals "I Got Drunk" and "Sauget Wind." To top it off, everything's been remastered, and the sonic upgrade does wonders to brighten up and animate the older material. --Anders Smith Lindall

Label:      Columbia – CK 62223, Legacy – 62223

Format:     CD, Compilation, Digipak

Country:    US

Released:   2002

Genre:      Rock

Style:      Alternative Rock, Country Rock

FACTORY SEALED

PLEASE NOTE VERY SLIGHT MARK ON SPINE, DOES NOT AFFECT ANYTHING ELSE

TRACKLIST:

1     No Depression

2     Screen Door

3     Graveyard Shift

4     Whiskey Bottle

5     Outdone

6     I Got Drunk

7     I Wanna Be Your Dog

8     Gun

9     Still Be Around

10    Looking For A Way Out(Acoustic Version)

11    Watch Me Fall

12    Sauget Wind

13    Black Eye

14    Moonshiner

15    Fatal Wound

16    Grindstone

17    Effigy

18    The Long Cut

19    Chickamauga

20    New Madrid

21    We've Been Had(LIVE)