Disc 11. Intro 2. Fack 3. Way I Am, The 4. My Name Is 5. Stan - (with Dido) 6. Lose Yourself 7. Shake That - (with Nate Dogg) 8. Sing For the Moment 9. Without Me 10. Like Toy Soldiers 11. Real Slim Shady, The 12. Mockingbird 13. Guilty Conscience - (with Dr. Dre) 14. Cleanin' Out My Closet 15. Just Lose It 16. When I Gone 17. Stan - (with Elton John) Disc 21. Dead Wrong RMX - (with The Notorious B.I.G.) 2. Role Model 3. Kill You 4. $#!* on You - (with D-12) 5. Criminal 6. Renegade - (with Jay-Z) 7. Just Don't Give a F***
Label: Interscope Records (USA) Release Date: 12/06/2005 Original Release Date: 2005 Recording Mode: Stereo Producer: Chuck Thompson; Mike Elizondo; Mel-Man; Jeff Bass; The 45 King; Dr. Dre; Eminem; Luis Resto Recording Type: Studio Distributor: Universal Distribution
Personnel: Eminem; Joe Perry (guitar); Dido, Jay-Z, Nate Dogg. Recording information: 54 Sound, Detroit, Michigan (1997 - 2005). It's hard to believe, given his gargantuan impact on popular culture, that Eminem had only released four full-length albums by 2004. That year's ENCORE showed the rapper's artistic vitality fading just a bit, but 2005's CURTAIN CALL, an overdue greatest-hits collection, helps remind audiences that Eminem produced a stunning string of singles in a short span of time. Naturally, CURTAIN CALL eschews the artist's most controversial material ("'97 Bonnie and Clyde," for example, from THE SLIM SHADY LP), focusing instead on his highest charters, like 8 MILE's "Lose Yourself" and introspective confessionals like "Cleanin' Out My Closet" (a rant against his mother) and "Mockingbird" (a tribute to his daughter). But even at his most sentimental and dramatic, Eminem displays a level of artistry that surpasses nearly anyone in hip-hop, if not pop music in general. Satirical, vicious, funny, and energizing, Eminem's material is never less than absorbing. CURTAIN CALL is packed wall-to-wall with winners (except maybe "Sing For the Moment," which reworks Aerosmith's "Dream On" in tiresome fashion), and at its most brilliant (like the self-reflexive romps "The Real Slim Shady" and "Stan") it's as era-defining as anything by N.W.A, Public Enemy, or even Bob Dylan. Though his individual albums are all pretty essential, CURTAIN CALL provides a valuable overview of an artist whose skills are unassailable, and whose role as a social gadfly remains as complex as ever.
Entertainment Weekly (p.81) - "This hits package captures the half-decade moment when the tortured Detroit MC ruled the zeitgeist with whip-smart gross-out humor and jolting family confessions." -- Grade: A- Uncut (p.86) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "CURTAIN CALL sizzles with profane pop genius..."
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