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Gold Stars 1992 2002
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 An odd "best of"., July 25, 2005
An odd compilation obstinately listed as a best of Juliana Hatfield but decidingly avoiding her early material, "Gold Stars" is nonetheless a good introduction to Hatfield's music and essential for fans due to the presence of seven unreleased tracks and one rarity.
From her early records (all tragically out of print courtesy of Atlantic Records), there's one track from her debut, "Hey Babe" (standout "Everybody Loves Me But You"), a pair each from "Become What You Are" (singles "My Sister" and "Spin the Bottle") and "Only Everything" (single "Universal Heart-Beat" and "Fleur de Lys"). These are fairly representative of the albums and should provide a good introduction to her early material for anyone not familiar with it, and while I could complain readily about the track selection, it is what it is.
The album also includes two tracks from her rejected album, "God's Foot". Atlantic refused to release the album, Hatfield tried desparately to reclaim it and failed, this is the first legitimate release of any of it. If these songs are evidenced, the album was filled with detailed arrangements and phenomenal songwriting. Hatfield felt it was her best work, and its failure led to her moving to independent labels.
From her time on the indie labels comes one from the EP "Please Do Not Disturb" (the superb, powerful "Sellout") and two each from "Bed" ("Live It Up" and "Sneaking Around"), "Beautiful Creature" ("Somebody is Waiting For Me" and "Cry in the Dark") and "Total System Failure" ("Houseboy" and "My Protegee"). This is where I really feel quite contentious by the material selected-- a best of without the breathtaking ballads "Trying Not To Think About It" (from "Please Do Not Disturb") and "Close Your Eyes" (from "Beautiful Creature") seems a bit artificial, and certainly "Bed" outtake "Anemia" (released on the extremely rare Japanese release of that record) is among her best in my assessment, but this is all opinion, and these are decent tracks reasonably representative of the albums.
The remainder of the recording is two covers-- The Police's "Every Breath You Take" as a churning alt-rock guitar-driven piece and a relatively straight cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"-- and four unreleased tracks from 2001 recording sessions. Remarkably, I didn't find any of these four to be particularly intriguing, although "Your Eyes" is probably my favorite of them.
All in all, a reasonable introduction to Hatfield, though I'd dive straight into "Become What You Are" or "Beautiful Creature" (if you're a bit weird) rather than getting this.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
This girl make me fly, September 2, 2004
She is rebel, she is intellectuall , she is romantic, she is ingenue, she is ironic, , every song is composed of these elements and its difficult to find a composer like her because the rest of the "woman who rock" just have one or two of the elements i mention but not juliana, she have it all you want to rock? Juliana gives you rock, you feel romantic? Juliana can sing about it, for every state of mind in this album you gonna find in Juliana your soulmate.
HM
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Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 A mixture of the old, the newer and the newest, February 19, 2003
I know a lot of people have criticized Gold Stars because it's not the compilation of hits they expected. Indeed, Juliana put some new music on this cd and some songs that might not be considered "greatest hits," but I think the cd nicely captures her array of sounds. It's a great cd, even if it's not truly what one might expect. A lot of fans want to hear Juliana's old stuff and others want to hear her new stuff, and as the saying goes, "You can't please all the people..." She tries to please both sides, and give some new music to boot.The sound of this cd varies so much, it's really a pleasure to listen to, as it takes the listener on a ride first chronologically through Juliana's career, then melodically through her different styles. For anyone who is a Juliana fan or those just listening to her for the first time, Gold Stars is a great choice.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Im turned on., August 6, 2002
Upon first glance at the tracklist I realized I knew nothing after track 5. But curious about her later work I bought it and am very happy I did. I found all her songs up through the 2 covers to be just what I hoped for. It all starts out very "chick rocky" then starts to mellow as things play on. Good cover choices. New songs are not as good as the rest, but good. Of the songs I didn't know, I really like "Live it up" and "Houseboy". Both good JH rockers. So sure, it may be missing a few songs like all "hits" collections are, but whats here is 20 tracks that sound as good as she looks.
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
What an odd album., July 23, 2002
Considering how many wonderful songs Juliana Hatfield has in her catalogue that hardly anyone has ever listened to, this bizarre little collection makes no sense to me. Is it a singles collection? Then where is "What A Life"? Is it a "Best of"? Then where's "Don't Rush Me", "Addicted", "Might Be In Love", "I Got No Idols", "Choose Drugs", "Little Pieces", "Cool Rock Boy", "President Garfield", "Daniel", "Feelin' Massachusetts", and pretty much the entirety of "Bed"? Is it a bumper for the tiny "Please Do Not Disturb" release? Then where's "Get Off", "Trying Not To Think About It", "As If Your Life Depended On It", "Give Me Some Of That", and "Edge Of Nowhere"? Is it a proper release of "God's Foot"? Obviously not, nor is it a later day work compelation (where's Juliana's Pony?).So what do we have? Some singles, some B-sides, some bonus tracks, some covers, and a teeny bit of new material. Well look, if you're a casual Hatfield follower who missed these tracks on albums, I'd have to recommend it. You get all of the major radio hits, some lesser known gems, and a decent sampling of a great performer who's gone mighty underappreciated for a lot of years. Beyond that, I imagine all the hardcore fans have this stuff already, in one form or another. I do have to say though, that an affordable two-disc assemblage (think Rhino's "The Very Best of Elvis Costello") would have solved a lot of this release's problems.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 A greatest hits cd that didn't want to be a greatest hits cd, July 22, 2002
I was excited about this release until I saw the track listing. I sold my Juliana cds a while back to my local independent used cd store, and was looking forward to a collection that would give me all the hit songs in one handy package (because I sorta miss my old Juliana cds). Well, as other reviewers have mentioned, there is a significant lack of the "hits" on this record, and instead we get seven, SEVEN! tracks of new material. What a missed opportunity. Juliana has a back catalogue filled with many excellent (and some not so excellent) songs, and I had hoped that this release would let the "cream" rise to the top by collecting only the best of her material. Instead, we get a paltry sampling of her classic early tunes. I guess I'll have to go pick up used copies of Hey Babe, Only Everything and Bed, that way I'll get to hear enough of the hits that didn't make it onto Gold Stars.
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