New Riders of the Purple Sage

This is the Columbia Records remastered, reissued Legacy edition of 2003's New Riders of the Purple Sage, with some bonus cuts tossed in for good measure. The problem is, that was never really a true best-of the New Riders anyway, but a lazily put together compilation that featured no less than five tracks off the band's self-titled debut album. The rest comes in the form of one cut each from Adventures of Panama Red (the title cut, of course), Powerglide (a cover of Ashford & Simpson's "I Don't Need No Doctor" done country style), Home, Home on the Road (Gene Pitney's "Hello Mary Lou"), and Brujo (Bob Dylan's "You Angel You."). The big complaint is that the band's last great radio hit, a stellar cover of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' "Dead Flowers" (with the offending verse left out) isn't here, even among the bonus cuts. As for those, there is a nice alternate version of John Dawson's "Linda" as an unreleased bonus, but there are three bonus cuts from Home, Home on the Road (again, no "Dead Flowers" though it was on that set) and the band's cover of Dylan's "Farewell Angelina," from Oh, What a Mighty Time. This one is still disappointing after all these years. If ever a band deserved a two-disc Legacy Essential offering, this is the one. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide