Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Curtain Call: The Hits - Eminem Lyrics Download Mp3 album Zortam Music. Is Eminem's 'Kamikaze' Good Or Bad? A collection of Eminem's greatest hits from 1999 – 2004, as well as 3 new songs. This compilation read more ».
If Eminem's Curtain Call: The Hits really is his final bow and not merely a clever denouement to his series of Eminem Show and Encore albums, it's a worthy way to retire. And even if he stages a comeback years from now, there's little question that the first five years of his career, spanning four albums plus a soundtrack, will be his popular and creative peak, meaning that the time is right for Curtain Call -- it has all the songs upon which his legend lies. Which isn't necessarily the same things as all the hits. There are a few odds and ends missing -- most notably one of his first hip-hop hits, 'Just Don't Give a F***,' plus 2003's 'Superman' and 2005's 'Ass Like That' -- but all the big songs are here: 'Guilty Conscience,' 'My Name Is,' 'Stan,' 'The Real Slim Shady,' 'The Way I Am,' 'Cleanin' Out My Closet,' 'Lose Yourself,' 'Without Me' and 'Just Lose It.' They're not presented in chronological order, which by and large isn't a problem, since the sequencing here not only has a good, logical momentum, alternating between faster and slower tracks, but they're all part of a body of work that's one of the liveliest, most inventive in pop music in the 21st century. The only exception to the rule are the three new songs here, all finding Shady sounding somewhat thin. There's the closing 'When I'm Gone,' a sentimental chapter in the Eminem domestic psychodrama that bears the unmistakable suggestion that Em is going away for a while. While it's not up to the standard of 'Mockingbird,' it is more fully realized than the two other new cuts here, both sex songs that find Shady sounding as if he's drifting along in his own orbit. 'Shake That' has an incongruous Nate Dogg crooning the chorus, while the wildly weird 'Fack' finds Eminem spending the entire track fighting off an orgasm; it seems tired, a little too close to vulgar Weird Al territory, and it doesn't help that his Jenna Jameson reference seems a little old (everybody knows that the busty porno 'It' girl of 2005 is Jesse Jane; after all, she even was in Entourage). Even if these three cuts suggest why Eminem is, if not retiring, at least taking a long break, that's fine: they're reasonably good and are bolstered by the rest of the songs here, which don't just capture him at his best, but retain their energy, humor, weirdness, and vitality even after they've long become overly familiar. And that means Curtain Call isn't just a good way to bow out, but it's a great greatest-hits album by any measure.
Title/Composer | Performer | Time |
---|---|---|
1 | 00:33 | |
2 | Steve King / Marshall Mathers / Luis Resto | 03:25 |
3 | 04:51 | |
4 | Dr. Dre / Marshall Mathers | 04:28 |
5 | 06:44 | |
6 | Jeff Bass / Marshall Mathers / Luis Resto | 05:26 |
7 | Nathaniel Hale / Steve King / Marshall Mathers / Luis Resto | 04:34 |
8 | Jeff Bass / Steve King / Marshall Mathers / Luis Resto / Steven Tyler | 05:40 |
9 | Jeff Bass / Kevin Bell / Anne Dudley / Trevor Horn / Marshall Mathers / Malcolm McLaren | 04:51 |
10 | 04:55 | |
11 | Mike Elizondo / Tom Coster, Jr. / Marshall Mathers / Andre Young | 04:44 |
12 | 04:11 | |
13 | Dr. Dre / Marshall Mathers | 03:20 |
14 | Mark Batson / Mike Elizondo / Marshall Mathers / Che Pope / Andre Young | 04:08 |
15 | 04:41 | |
16 | Dido Armstrong / Paul Herman / Marshall Mathers | 06:20 |
Title/Composer | Performer | Time | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 04:57 | ||
2 | 03:25 | ||
3 | Melvin Bradford / Marshall Mathers / Andre Young | 04:24 | |
4 | 05:28 | ||
5 | 05:13 | ||
6 | Shawn Carter / Marshall Mathers | feat: Jay-Z | 05:36 |
7 | Jeff Bass / Mark Bass / Marshall Mathers | 04:01 |