This 2008 best-of from Universal collects 24 tracks from the seminal '60s folk/blues/country-rock legends on a single disc. While the package may offer little in the way of liner notes and other bonus material, it's as good a single-disc retrospective as one could hope for, balancing all of the radio hits that made 1976's Chronicle, Vol. 1 and 1986's Chronicle, Vol. 2 the gold standard for most listeners. The sound is exquisite, and while some of the band's beloved deep cuts like "Pagan Baby" and "Epitaph" are nowhere to be found, it's the most comprehensive "hits" collection out there (to date). The only downside (depending on one's preferences) is the appearance of the single 45-rpm edits of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Suzie Q," but the brevity works in context with the rest of the set, which includes enough classic rock staples like "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Long as I Can See the Light," "Up and Around the Bend," "Lookin' Out My Back Door," and "Born on the Bayou" to fuel a billion nasty commutes.
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