Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz, Randy Newman - Saturday Night Live: 25 Years of Musical Performances, Vol. 1 (1999)

Tracklist

01. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes - Paul Simon
02. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You - Sting
03. Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
04. Round Here - Counting Crows
05. Why - Annie Lennox
06. Secret O' Life - James Taylor
07. Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel
08. Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
09. Honey Bee - Tom Petty
10. Casey Jones - Grateful Dead
11. What Would You Say - Dave Matthews Band
12. Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel
13. Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello
14. Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps) - David Bowie
15. I Love LA - Randy Newman

Since its debut in October 1975, Saturday Night Live has always prominently featured musical acts and during its lengthy history, there have been a number of remarkable performances -- so many, as a matter of fact, that it's hard to believe that a collection of musical highlights wasn't released until the fall of 1999. Two volumes of musical performances containing 15 tracks apiece, were released simultaneously that year, purportedly to celebrate SNL's 25th anniversary (yes, it actually coincided with their 24th birthday, but jumping the gun is part of the show's history -- they celebrated their 20th anniversary on their 19th). Given that so much music has aired on the show, it's inevitable that some favorites are missing -- whether it's the Replacements' legendary drunken appearance or Simon & Garfunkel's reunion. Still, most of the featured tracks on Saturday Night Live: 25 Years, Vol. 1 are pretty great. The most notorious of all is Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio," which he performed after being warned by the network not to sing it, but it's not the only highlight here -- Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," Jewel's "Who Will Save Your Soul," Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way," Tom Petty's "Honey Bee," the Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones," Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young," David Bowie's "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)," and Randy Newman's "I Love LA" are all worth the price of admission. It is true that the collection leans a little too heavily on '90s material (which makes sense, since it was released in the '90s), but as the start of a (hopefully) long-running series of compilations, it's very good indeed.

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