Edie Brickell Ultimate Collection CD

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians: Edie Brickell (vocals, acoustic guitar);

Kenny Withrow (acoustic & electric guitars, dobro, background vocals);

Additional personnel includes: Barry White (spoken vocals); Jerry Garcia (guitar); Chris Botti (trumpet, keyboards); Rob Wasserman (bass); Steve Gadd (drums).

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians were, arguably, a one-hit wonder, that one hit being the Top Ten "What I Am" in 1989, although they sold two million copies of their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars and attracted radio and/or minor chart rankings with a few other tracks. Still, their quick fade (they broke up in 1991) prevented Geffen Records from issuing a hits compilation domestically. Hip-O's Ultimate Collection takes advantage of the group's relatively brief renown to assemble an album largely devoted to rarities and unreleased material. Only three tracks are drawn from Shooting Rubberbands, plus a couple from its follow-up, Ghost of a Dog, and three from Brickell's solo debut, Picture Perfect Morning. Then there is the band's cover of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" from the Born on the Fourth of July soundtrack, Brickell's contribution to George Harrison's Nobody's Child benefit album ("Big Day, Little Boat"), and Brickell collaborations with jazz trumpeter Chris Botti ("Like I Do Now") and Rob Wasserman and Jerry Garcia ("Zillionaire"). Then come seven previously unreleased tracks from what appear to be abortive sessions by a group called the Slip that featured former members of the New Bohemians and from the New Bohemians themselves. No information is provided on this material (a press release says it comes from "'90s sessions"). The tracks find Brickell rocking a little harder than usual, but her individual viewpoint remains intact on such songs as "1873 (Buffalo Diary)" and "Girl in a Magazine." The extensive use of such recordings makes Ultimate Collection more of a miscellany than a best-of, but Brickell has always been a quirky, off-beat artist, and she is perhaps most accurately represented by a compilation that focuses more on side projects and incomplete efforts than on her small body of finished work. ~ William Ruhlmann

Brad Hunter (bass); Chris Whitton, Matt Chamberlain (drums).

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Additional Tracks

Producers include: Pat Moran, John Boylan, Tony Berg, Paul Simon, Don Was.

Compilation producers: Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Mike Ragogna.

Personnel: Edie Brickell (vocals, acoustic guitar, hand claps, percussion); Carter Albrecht (vocals, guitar, keyboards, hand claps, percussion, background vocals); Barry White (vocals); Kenny Withrow (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, dobro, background vocals); Bill Dillon (guitar, electric guitar); Larry Campbell (guitar, violin); Tony Berg (guitar, background vocals); Jerry Garcia, Marc Shulman, Robbie Blunt, Larry Saltzman (guitar); John Leventhal (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Paul Simon (acoustic guitar); Brian Stoltz (electric guitar); Sid Page (violin); Novi Novog (viola); Larry Corbett (cello); Brad Houser (saxophone, percussion, background vocals); Chris Botti (trumpet, keyboards); Zachary Baird, Leon Pendarvis, Paul Fox , Art Neville, Wix (keyboards); John Bush (drums, percussion, background vocals); Brandon Aly (drums, background vocals); Chris Whitton, Jerry Marrotta, Matt Chamberlain, Steve Gadd , Willie Green , Shawn Pelton (drums); Bashiri Johnson , Cyro Baptista (percussion); Scott R. Johnson , Charles Elam III, Earl J. Smith, Jr., John Henry, Vivian Cherry (background vocals).

Photographers: Michael Levine ; Michael Halsband; Dave Moynihan.