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Time Machine: the Best of Shack | 
| Artist: Shack
Label: Sour Mash
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £6.98
You Save: £5.01 (42%)
New (9) Used (1) from £6.97
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 3282
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5055059100800
ASIN: B000UPCDWS
Release Date: September 24, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 10 to 12 days
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| Tracks:
| • | I Know You Well | | • | Comedy | | • | Cup Of Tea | | • | Al's Vacation | | • | Pull Together | | • | Meant To Be | | • | Butterfly | | • | Sgt Major | | • | On The Terrace | | • | Undecided | | • | Cornish Town | | • | Miles Apart | | • | Streets Of Kenny | | • | Shelley Brown | | • | Neighbours | | • | Holiday Abroad | | • | Wanda |
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| Customer Reviews:
Compilation of a great cult band... October 30, 2007
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
There are well known stories relating to the Head brothers who have been the nucleas of Shack since their formation in the late 80s following the demise of the Pale Fountains. These are stories dug up everytime Shack have released a record in the last decade - their bad luck, record companies folding, studios burning down, addictions, releasing singles about disabled folk getting it on in Amsterdam (where is Oscar?), and how they should have been as big as The Roses. Great gossipy stuff, but take that away and focus on what's left - a bunch of great songs from several great albums and here they are (mostly, though Ted Kessler's excellent sleevenotes address the point regarding the tracklisting - maybe they should have issued a double best of, like Flying High by Gene Clark?). Still, here are 16 tracks from 1990 onwards (nothing from Zilch as the production by Ian Broudie was of its time - hope they re-record some of those songs, or that they turn up on the projected live album), plus two newies in the form of Holiday Abroad and Wanda. My favourite song these days is Moonshine, and that's not here - still, I will point you back to the source records. As a primer this collection rocks and it's nice to have 69 minutes of greatness on one happy cd...
My first Shack album is one I still have a budget priced tape of - HMS Fable, which got some great reviews but didn't shift much - they were great supporting Beth Orton that year and it was a pleasure every few years to get a Shack album. Hope a new one appears soon...The mythic Waterpistol is the one people go on about, a much better album than either The LA's or The Stone Roses, it would be nice to see a tarted up/expanded version of it and the rest of the Shack back catalogue in the near future.
The album opens with 'I Know You Well', the earliest song here and one found as a bonus track on the pricey Japanese import of Zilch - this was a single from 1990 and one somehow lost amid the whole Madchester thing - they probably registered less high than The High! Later on is another hard to find single from 1991, 'Al's Vacation' - both sound like they've been copied from elsewhere and not mindblowing quality, but both remain classic singles and offering the template Shack have mined since. There is a suspicion that they put something in the water in Liverpool, so many of those bands seem to have a thing for Beefheart & Love (the Head brothers toured with Arthur Lee in the 90s and regularly covered A House is Not a Motel)- Shack were probably the first to do that, and The Coral and the decidely average Zutons owe them a debt. I'm not sure why it is that I have problems with Oasis and Weller, but have no problems with the band they call Shack - many of the songs do sound like the Byrds or Love, but somehow sound like Shack too. People go on about the Libertines, but they only had a few tunes - Shack have loads and here most of them are. If you like great songs and melodies to live by - get some of this Psychedelic Scouse!!
Very hard to pick something from any of their albums, so I shall stress the whole primer notion - though Sgt Major had to be included, reminds me of the first time I heard Waterpistol and got my mind thoroughly blown. Other Waterpistol gems include Neighbours (some great ba ba ba's - up there with those on certain early records by Julian Cope). Shame that there's nothing from the Magical World of the Strands, a collection well worth investing in, so the jump is made to HMS Fable for the tracks Comedy, Pull Together, Streets of Kenny, & Cornish Town. Great stuff, though I was bowled away by the live versions of some of the Fable tracks on their recent tour - make it a double live album please!
The selections from Here's Tom with the Weather are great, though you'll end up naming the missing songs, the best here is Meant to Be which is one of their most adventerous recordings with great brass and an inventive take on that Byrds/Love sound - it's probably their You Set the Scene! Hard to quibble with the tracks from ...On the Corner of Miles and Gil - Shelley Brown is a masterpiece (then again so is Moonshine...and the rest), while Cup of Tea remains a joy (why is it that bands like Shack and Super Furry Animals make these great pop songs and get nowhere?), and it's great that Butterfly is included - the two John Head lead vocal tracks on Miles and Gil are particularly wonderful, and here he sounds a bit like Gene Clark.
If you've never heard Shack...you missed out, but you could start here. If you have heard of them, you'll probably buy this anyway, and moan about what was left off. Compilation of 2007 anyway, and here's to more stuff from Shack in 2008 - a National Treasure, I feel.
Fantastic compliation for a fantastic band September 25, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
No band deserve a best of more than Shack - they've released some of the best albums in the history of pop music but had scant critical or financial reward (partly their own fault). With these albums there's always going to be a debate about what's been missed out - and with this it's a shame there are no tracks from the Pale Fountains or the Strands album, probably because of problems with different record companies. Nevertheless this is a wonderful collection of songs from the most undervalued band in the universe.
Track missing ! September 9, 2007
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
If you have the remotest knowledge of Shack or interest in them. then buy this - simply put every track is amazing. Simple as that.
But as with most Best Of's these days, there's always a few essential tracks missing - cynics may say this is to force you to buy further studio albums.
With this album the big missing song is Natalie's Party.
Easily in the top 3 ever Shack songs, where the hell is it?
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