Rob Zombie - Past, Present, Future

Record companies tend to squeeze every penny out of a band’s declining popularity through greatest hits compilations. It’s the perfect gimmick; sell a bunch of already released songs, tag on a bonus track or two that are lying around, add a few tour pictures, and turn a profit for almost no work at all. Not this time. Never one to be satisfied with prototypical rock musician behavior, this Rob Zombie collection offers odds and ends from various movie soundtracks (including House Of 1000 Corpses), two new songs, two cover songs, and heaps of Rob Zombie and White Zombie hits, nineteen tracks in all (thankfully NOT including his horrendously overproduced, ultra-digitized, train-wreck of a song from the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack). It also features a DVD with ten music videos, three never before released, and a 36-page booklet of photos and artwork. How much more could you want for the price of a CD? Zombie’s super-industrial-rock overtones and contrived lyrics set up a perfectly vacant and easily-digestible arrangement of songs that covers a wide-range of his career, the only exception being the remix albums. It’s rare to find a musician who has so much impressive material previously only available on various artist compilations; that fact and the addition of so many classy, sample/filter-heavy videos makes this far more than your average greatest hits. This is the ideal collection for those who jumped on The Matrix soundtrack bandwagon and might be interested in more of his German expressionist/cult horror film obsession, or just anyone who missed out on non-album tracks. My only complaint is that when comparing the early White Zombie songs to the newer stuff, it becomes apparent how far Zombie has strayed from his metal roots. Zombie now relies more on goofy production, bump-and-grind drums, and stale rhythms with too many repetitions. Sure, the past stuff is great, and I enjoy the entirety of this compilation, but the future looks disheartening. I hate to think this, but Zombie may have run his one-trick-pony into the ground. That’s the only negative thing I can say about the record; "I'm Your Boogieman", from the shoddy Crow 2 soundtrack, is practically worth the price itself. [www.robzombie.com]