obviously the difference in quality between it and all of his other studio albums is so clear that no-one would try to claim it's anything other than his finest work (or even their favourite of his records, really, let's not be needy dicks).

the production's so fucking slick, without ever sacrificing on authenticity or sounding overly commercial, vocally he was at the top of his game, and the sheer number of classic tracks on it is pretty remarkable.

that said, it's a double album, and they're rarely good. for me there's quite a bit of filler on it, but there's a core of, say, 15 timeless tracks. had they cut it down to a single album of those, for me it'd be very near to the standout album of the genre, if not #1.

be needy and dismissive below...