Greatest Hits

Greatest-hits collections have been around since the beginning of the LP age, and remain a popular format even now -- in part because some pop stars make better singles than albums, but mostly because best-ofs offer more hits-per-minute than other albums.But are these albums really a better buy? Does the song selection truly present the best of a given artist's work? And does a singles-oriented approach always hold up at album length? Judging from the current crop of greatest-hits collections, the answer is sometimes yes, sometimes no.GREATEST HITSGloria Estefan (Epic 53046)

In Ages of Man, actor Marc Horwitz provides audiences with a new definition of tough. Horwitz might not chase criminals for a living or enter burning houses to rescue trapped children. All he has to do is stand on stage by himself and talk to people who aren't there. He just has to deliver 110 minutes of sonnets and Shakespearean dialogue while shifting between two dozen roles. He merely must act his heart out inches from a room full of blank-eyed, arms-crossed, foot-jiggling theatergoers who can see every drop of sweat trickling down his face.

Thursday night's double bill at Merriweather Post Pavilion was the next best thing to a 1970s rock 'n' roll revival.All that was missing at the show featuring Damn Yankees and Bad Company were sign-up sheets for the "70s Preservation Society" at the exit door.Despite its roots being drenched in music that's almost 15 years old -- with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw from Damn Yankees doing their big hits and Bad Company rolling through an unabashed and unabridged greatest hits package -- it was hardly an "oldies" show.

During a string of performances in Switzerland last year, pop star Seal sang his greatest hits -- grand, free-flowing tunes such as "Kiss From a Rose" and "Prayer for the Dying" -- as professional ice skaters twirled around him. He swears it wasn't as cheesy as it sounds. "You have to see it. It felt like one complete band with the skaters," he says. "They were skating in such a poetic way. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much. I wanted to do it again." So Tuesday night, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter will bring the same concept -- only bigger and better -- to Washington's Verizon Center.

The master of the overblown techno-musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber, sure composes shows that are big and loud. Even a concert version compilation of his greatest hits packs an aural wallop. But is it really music to the ears or just passable pop at high decibel levels?"The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber," which opened at the Lyric Opera House last night and remains there through Sunday, isn't likely to win any converts among those of us who swoon at Sondheim and wince at Webber. Still, the hefty 37-member orchestra, 12 vocalists and star Michael Crawford (aka "The Phantom of the Opera")

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the thinking behind a greatest-hits collection. The concept is self-explanatory: All the best stuff from a particular act in a convenient package.So why is it that greatest-hits albums don't always add up to the best of a particular artist? Either the album is missing one of our favorite songs, or it offers a different version of the song (a concert recording, the "single edit," a "special remix") than the one we want. All too often, we're left feeling that a particular "Best of ..."

It's easy to be cynical about the ways in which an untimely demise can alter an artist's reputation. "Death is a great career move," is an old recording industry joke, but it's true -- many mediocre musicians have earned lasting fame merely by virtue of having died too young.Hip-hop has been particularly vulnerable to the gone-too-soon syndrome. After the violent and unexpected deaths of Tupac Shakur (after a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996) and Notorious B.I.G. (after a drive-by in Los Angeles the following year)

Imagine for a moment that you're the biggest star in country music. Your albums routinely top the charts; your tours play to packed houses from coast to coast. You've set numerous records and won countless awards. Millions know your name.Why would you want to be someone else?That's the question Garth Brooks fans are asking as their hero, seemingly at the top of his game, takes a hiatus from country music so he can pretend to be rock star Chris Gaines.It would be convenient to say that the answers to this and other questions may be found on "Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines" (Capitol 20051, arriving in stores today)

Whitney Houston The Greatest Hits (Arista 07822-14626) A greatest-hits album should be a fairly straightforward affair. Unlike a "Best of" collection, which can pretend to differentiate between an artist's most popular and most worthy work, a hits album is by definition obliged to take its cues from the pop charts, and deliver said star's smashes. Anything else amounts to false advertising. So how, then, do we explain the new Whitney Houston package, "The Greatest Hits"? With 36 tracks spread across two CDs, it should have ample room for all her hits.

SO FAR SO GOODBryan Adams (A&M 31454 0157) What does it say about Bryan Adams that his best songs have all been raucous, guitar-driven rockers, while his biggest hits have all been sappy, sentimental ballads? That he may seem a tough guy on the outside, but deep down he's just an old softie? Maybe, but the answer suggested by his greatest hits collection, "So Far So Good" is a little simpler: He's just not rough enough to be a convincing rock and roller. No matter how much Keith Richards-style guitar he pumps into "The Summer of '69" and "It's Only Love," his voice lacks the sly, Jaggeresque snarl that would make the music seem dangerous.

I guess we all have our musical guilty pleasures. My friends have ragged me about some of my choices. My homegirl Kayce: "The Carpenters? Rashod, no! Your black card is so revoked." My homeboy Curtis: "Air Supply, Toto - you actually bought these CDs?" But they don't know about my Barry Manilow jones. Sometimes when I'm at home feeling a little silly (a glass of wine or two usually brings this on), I scan the bottom shelf for his greatest hits. I jam to "Copacabana (At the Copa)," snapping my fingers and doing my two-step move across the floor.

It is all about the funk, his stellar musicianship that inspires so many and, at times, leaves us spellbound. Prince's talent knows no limits. When he appeared on the pop scene in the late '70s, he was (and still is) like no other. And because he is such a genius, because he tirelessly challenges our notion of black or pop music, we have allowed him to be as eccentric and as nasty as he wants to be. Back in the day, before Purple Rain, the dude performed in black bikini underwear, heels and leg warmers.

WASHINGTON, Va. - About the only thing that wasn't over the top at the Inn at Little Washington's celebration of its 25th anniversary last week was the very short man dressed as George Washington. The idea of having this costumed "Little George Washington" greet guests as they arrived in the tiny Virginia town (population somewhere around 160) known as Little Washington, was just one example of the wit, theatrical flair and attention to detail displayed by Patrick O'Connell and Reinhardt Lynch, proprietors of the inn, widely regarded as among the best restaurants in North America.

Where to begin the strange story? In December 1970, Elvis Presley is flying from Memphis to Washington, D.C., on American Airlines and asks a stewardess for writing paper. He proceeds to write a five-page letter to President Richard M. Nixon and personally delivers it at the northwest gate of the White House on the morning of Dec. 21. The letter results in an Oval Office meeting between the King and the president. Years later, a photograph of them shaking hands becomes the most requested document of the National Archives and Records Administration, outstripping requests for a photo of the USS Arizona being blown up at Pearl Harbor.

ANYONE who missed the exhibition of 19th and 20th century French art from the Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Museum permanent collections, shown together here in the spring of 2000, can catch it in London at the Royal Academy of Arts. What with the effect of mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases on tourism to the English countryside, air fare bargains to London may be more readily available than in most tourist seasons. London is not without incredible riches in French art of the period.

Bruce Hornsby Here Come the Noise Makers (RCA 07863 69308) Thanks to his association with the Grateful Dead - he spent 18 months on the road with the band after the death of keyboardist Brent Mydland - pianist Bruce Hornsby is sometimes lumped in with the jam-band movement. But even though he and his sidemen clearly love to improvise, the heart of Hornsby's live album, "Here Come the Noise Makers," is the songwriting, not the serendipity. That's not to say the band doesn't stretch out, because it does - and brilliantly so. Most of the selections on this double-disc set clock in at seven minutes or longer, and some, such as the 12-minute romp through "Mandolin Rain" and the Dead's "Black Muddy River," are everything improvisational rock should be. But that's just one element of the band's side.

BROKENVTCNine Inch Nails(Nothing-TVT-Interscope 92213)There's no art to noise-making; pulling music out of noise, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. "Broken," the new EP from Nine Inch Nails, is packed with brutal, abrasive sounds -- jagged shards of metal guitar, distortion-curdled vocals, drumbeats that punch and pummel. Yet beneath that tortured swirl of sound lies passion, a sure sense of song craft and an entrenched devotion to melody. That's how NIN maintains its tuneful intensity even in the face of ear-punishing aural aggression, from the slam-bang assault of "Last," through the dense, danceable roar of "Happiness in Slavery" to the clangorous crunch of "Physical" (one of two bonus tracks hidden at the end of the CD)

1986 World Series Greatest Hits (and misses!)Oh, Noooooooooooo!The most famous error in World Series history probably cost the Boston Red Sox the 1986 crown. It was made in Game 6 against the New York Mets. The score was tied, 5-5, in the bottom of the 10th inning. A tricky grounder rolled between the legs of Boston first baseman Bill Buckner. The Mets scored a run and won the game. One night later, the Mets beat the Red Sox again to win the Series.Meet Jamal AndersonAtlanta falcon running back Jamal "Jam" Anderson is a steamroller.

Whitney Houston The Greatest Hits (Arista 07822-14626) A greatest-hits album should be a fairly straightforward affair. Unlike a "Best of" collection, which can pretend to differentiate between an artist's most popular and most worthy work, a hits album is by definition obliged to take its cues from the pop charts, and deliver said star's smashes. Anything else amounts to false advertising. So how, then, do we explain the new Whitney Houston package, "The Greatest Hits"? With 36 tracks spread across two CDs, it should have ample room for all her hits.