Hard to believe, but Capitol's 2008 collection
Idolize Yourself: The Very Best of Billy Idol is only the second
Billy Idol hits album to be released in America, following the first -- 2001's
Greatest Hits -- by just seven years.
Greatest Hits weighed in at 16 tracks and
Idolize Yourself spans 18, adding two OK new songs to the mix (the moody "John Wayne" and the ham-fisted "New Future Weapon"), swapping out a live acoustic "Rebel Yell" and a cover of
Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for the latter-day cuts "Speed" and "World Comin' Down," but otherwise this is built upon the same core 14 hits as
Greatest Hits. This means that either compilation would serve the needs of most
Idol fans well, but
Idolize Yourself gets the edge, as the latter-day songs are just a bit better and it's also available in a deluxe edition with a DVD containing almost all of
Billy Idol's music videos (two, "Hot in the City" and "Cradle of Love," are present in previously unreleased alternate cuts), which are essential to truly appreciating an artist whose fame was built in large part on his videos. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine