Greatest Hits From the Bong in Bloomington, MN

The first proper "best-of" from
Cypress Hill
arrives nearly 15 years after their debut, a surprisingly long time considering how compilation-happy their parent label,
Sony
, has been. Whatever the reason for it, the wait for this comp was entirely worth it, since
Greatest Hits from the Bong
is filled with top-notch tracks and saves the consumer from having to purchase the group's disappointing albums --
Temples of Boom
,
IV
-- while leaving enough of their classics --
Skull & Bones
Black Sunday
, and their nearly perfect debut -- unheard until the decision is made to dig further. The mostly chronological layout may seem dry, but it displays the growth of the group and all the risk-taking and genre-blending that happened along the way. Raw gangsta tracks and hedonistic odes to pot smoking give way to reggae-influenced numbers, layered
Clash
samples, and more intricate smoking songs. Two new tracks toward the end -- the
Ambrosia
-sampling "The Only Way" and the tight and hardcore "EZ Come EZ Go" -- offer something new for the regulars and while "EZ" is very good, "Only Way" is a hooky triumph. Including the reggaeton remix of "Latin Thugs" with
Tego Calderon
is a very 2005 move, but it's a hot track and if there ever were a hip-hop act that seemed a natural for the reggaeton explosion, it's this Latin, reggae-loving crew. With a running time of less than 50 minutes and the lack of an essay or words from the band,
isn't perfect, but being all killer and no filler, it's close enough. ~ David Jeffries