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Album Details

• Artist: Afghan Whigs
• Album: Unbreakable: A Retrospective 1990-2006
• Label: Rhino
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2007-06-29

How does one begin reviewing a compilation of a band that was so dear to one's heart? That is the question as I sit with Unbreakable: A Retrospective of The Afghan Whigs playing on the headphones. I know what's around every corner, I even anticipated correctly the two new recordings that Greg Dulli and gang recorded for this Rhino comp ("I'm A Soldier" and "Magazine"), which both are nice additions to the Whigs catalog. While there is no compilation that could replace the perfect Gentlemen album Unbreakable does a great job on tying as much as one can into one 18 track album.

Apparently Dulli and bassist John Curley handpicked the songs and sequenced them as well. When Afghan albums are so meticulously sequenced this must have been a hard thing to separate tracks like "What Jail Is Like", "Be Sweet" and "Gentlemen" from their best album, Gentlemen. The album also takes a number of tracks from Black Love and 1965 to fill out the track listing. "Turn On The Water" made the cut from Congregation and the album opener, "Retarded" from Up In It.

So, even though it seems obvious, Unbreakable is a good place for those who  have never heard this very influential 1990s band that was so sadly overlooked. Don't miss out on Dulli's equally impressive Twilight Singers.

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