Even though the two-disc WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN may have more fully anthologized the Grateful Dead's fruitful Warner years, no previous anthology has ever summarized the band's entire career, on through the slim-pickin's mid-1970s to their celebratory late-'80s comeback. In this respect, THE VERY BEST OF… can be called a nearly definitive collection. Still, this is an entry point for the casual passerby, so the psychedelic largesse of the Dead's late-'60s albums is entirely eschewed in favor of the shorter, more concise songs of their folk-rock period ("Uncle John's Band," "Friend of the Devil," etc.). Consequently, this becomes a tribute not to the improvisational warrior Dead but to the creatively songful Dead, even as we hear them age gracefully into the older, wiser "Touch of Gray," which brought them a whole new generation of admirers.

Talking Heads fans sometimes have mixed reactions to David Byrne's solo work, complaining that it lacks the quirkiness and edge of classic Heads material. Those fans will have reason to take notice of the 2007 CD release of THE KNEE PLAYS, Byrne's score for Robert Wilson's opera THE CIVIL WARS. Originally recorded in 1985, THE KNEE PLAYS was Byrne's second solo outing, following THE CATHERINE WHEEL (an instrumental score for a dance production) and preceding his Latin experiments on REI MOMO.