When Dick Gregory returned to the world of recording in 1969, he quickly built up a lot of material: four albums, 12 sides, and quite a few hours' worth, all within the space of two years. All of this must have seemed rather intimidating to those who didn't know where to start, so several years later Tomato pulled together the best bits for this three-record compilation. Though it's certainly an exhaustive compilation, it's hard to see what the release is meant to accomplish, as it includes almost all of The Light Side: The ...
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When Dick Gregory returned to the world of recording in 1969, he quickly built up a lot of material: four albums, 12 sides, and quite a few hours' worth, all within the space of two years. All of this must have seemed rather intimidating to those who didn't know where to start, so several years later Tomato pulled together the best bits for this three-record compilation. Though it's certainly an exhaustive compilation, it's hard to see what the release is meant to accomplish, as it includes almost all of The Light Side: The Dark Side and a sizeable chunk of Frankenstein, while giving less space to Live at the Village Gate and Dick Gregory On:. In one sense, that really speaks to the strength of Gregory's material -- almost all of what he had to say on his two double albums seemed important enough to merit inclusion on a best-of compilation. On the other hand, it doesn't function very well as a sampler for those wondering which of his albums to get, and at three records' thick, it's almost as monolithic as the back catalog it was compiled from. The good news is that if you drop your money on this one, you will have a real rarity: a three-record set with virtually no filler at all. ~ Sean Carruthers, Rovi
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