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Curtain Call: The Hits
Greatest hits by Eminem
Released	December 6, 2005
Recorded	1997–2005
Genre	Midwest hip hop, hardcore hip hop, horrorcore
Length	77:55
Label	Aftermath, Interscope, Shady
Producer	Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jeff & Marky Bass, Mike Elizondo, The 45 King, Mel-Man
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Entertainment.ie link Rolling Stone 2005
Eminem compilation chronology
The Singles (2003) Curtain Call: The Hits (2005) Eminem Presents: The Re-Up (2006)

Curtain Call: The Hits is a 2005 greatest hits compilation album by the rapper Eminem. It collects Eminem's most popular songs, as well as four new tracks; a live version of "Stan" featuring Elton John, plus new songs "Fack", "When I'm Gone" and "Shake That" featuring Nate Dogg, the later two released as singles and top ten hits. It was released on December 6, 2005 under Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. It reached #1 on several charts, including the UK and the US. A special edition was also released which included a second CD, named 'Stan's Mixtape', which included a selection of seven songs not included on the main album.

History

The album debuted #1 in the UK Albums Chart, after two sales days, in a similar fashion to his previous album Encore. It also gave Eminem his fifth straight #1 album in the U.S. and U.K including 8 mile.

The booklet in the album contains pictures from throughout Eminem's career, including him performing at the Grammy Awards of 2001 with Elton John, a group shot of D12, an image from the video for "Superman", the cover of The Marshall Mathers LP, and images previously featured in the booklets from his past albums.

The song "Fack" is a new song and makes subtle references to the show South Park, by having the word "Fack" instead of Fuck like Eric Cartman of the series does. It also talks about an episode where a Gerbil is shoved up Mr. Slave's ass.

Artwork

The album front cover shows Eminem (not recognizable) standing on stage in a suit being surrounded by red roses on the stage floor. The back cover basically shows the same, though more focused on the roses. This is more or less the same as in the "When I'm Gone" music video. Opening the CD reveals two pictures of Eminem, one (on the left) where he is sitting at a desk with a lot of paper notes (probably lyrics) surrounding him and a man in a business suit talking to Eminem, presumably a record label manager. The right picture shows a tattoo of a portrait of Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade on his right arm. Below the portrait the text "Bonnie & Clyde" is visible.

Flipping the album open even further reveals both CDs. Removing the first CD reveals a reversed "E" and the text "Curtain Call" accompanied by the explanation of a curtain call: "n: an appearance by actor or performer at the end of the concert or play in order to acknowledge the applause of the audience [syn: bow]". Removing the second CD (Stan's Mixtape) reveals Eminem pointing a gun directly at the viewer, where the picture is focused on the gun and Eminem's face is blurred, though still easy to recognize.

The booklet has the same cover as the album. The first page shows a black and white picture of Eminem performing live and being surrounded by smoke from a smoke machine. The second page gives information about the first four songs on the album, acommpanied by three small pictures of which one is from The Marshall Mathers LP, one from The Slim Shady LP and the other showing Eminem wearing a black t-shirt with the text "Runyon Ave". In that last picture he holds a Detroit Police Department sign with the text "Slim Shady / D12 313 87", imitating a mug shot.

The third page shows Eminem in a sporting outfit, as known from the movie 8 Mile where he was known as "Jimmy". The third page also contains the information about the fifth, sixth and seventh song. The fourth page is a full picture of Eminem sitting on the ground in an alley while it is raining heavily.

On the fifth page there are three small pictures of Eminem rapping in a recording studio. The bigger picture (below the information about the eighth song) shows Eminem sitting behind a large panel of studio controls with Dr. Dre looking at Eminem from the other side. Then comes a picture of D-12 with Eminem kneeling in front, showing D12 brass knuckles. In front of them there's a large row of 40 ounces.

The seventh page shows a close up of Eminem showing regular brass knuckles. Songs nine to thirteen are on page eight with a small picture of Eminem in a suit reading a news paper. On page nine and ten, where the rest of the songs are mentioned, Eminem is surrounded by dozens of beautiful women in black underwear.

Most notable are page eleven and twelve, where the songs of Stan's Mixtape are mentioned, but also shows a picture of Eminem and Elton John performing "Stan" live. The last two pages show Eminem in Shady Ltd. clothing in the back of an SUV with Proof sitting next to him. On the right page the album's "cast" is mentioned. The CD and especially the booklet basically take you through Eminem's career, from his debut to his own clothing line and this greatest hits compilation.

Track listing

All songs written by Eminem.

Track listing

Clean version

A clean version is also available. It removes both "Intro" and "Fack" and moves "My Name Is" to track one. The tracks appear exactly how they appeared on the clean versions of their respective albums. So tracks like "The Way I Am" and "Stan" still leave words like "shit" and "ass" in.

Personnel

• Jeff Bass – Bass, Guitar, Keyboards,
• Karin Catt – Photography
• Larry Chatman – Project Coordinator
• Lindsay Collins – Studio Coordinator
• Tom Coster, Jr. – Keyboards
• DJ Head – Drum Programming
• Dr. Dre – Producer, Mixing
• Mike Elizondo – Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer
• Eminem – Producer, Executive Producer, Drum Programming, Mixing
• The 45 King & Louie – Producer
• Marti Frederiksen – Engineer
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardener – Mastering
• Scott Hays – Assistant Engineer
• Richard "Segal" Herredia – Engineer
• Mauricio Iragorri – Engineer
• Ben Jost – Assistant Engineer
• Rouble Kapoor – Assistant Engineer
• Steven King – Bass, Guitar, Engineer, Mixing
• Anthony Mandler – Photography
• Jonathan Mannion – Photography
• Joe Perry Project – Solo Instrumental
• Kirdis Postelle – Project Coordinator
• Luis Resto – Keyboards, Programming, Producer
• Tom Rounds – Assistant Engineer
• Les Scurry – Production Coordination
• Mike Sroka – Assistant Engineer
• Urban Kris – Assistant Engineer
• Nitin Vadukul – Photography

Chart certifications

• US - 3x Platinum (3,010,516+)
• Brazil - Gold (55,000)
• UK - 3x Platinum (900,000)
• Austria - Gold (35,000+)
• Australia - 3x Platinum (210,000+)
• France - 2x Gold (186,000)
• Korea - Gold (20,691)
• Europe - 2x Platinum (2 million)
• Switzerland - Gold (20,000)
• Ireland - Gold Platinum (105,000)
• Denmark - Platinum (40,000)
• Japan - Platinum (425,938)
• New Zealand - 4x Platinum (60,000+)
• Canada - 3x Platinum (335,000)
• Greece - Gold (10,000)
• Sweden - Gold (30,000)

Album chart positions

Singles chart positions

External links

• Eminem.com - Official site
• Aftermath - Aftermath fansite

References