Curtain Call: The Hits

For a performer's acknowledgement of a crowd, see Curtain call.

Untitled

Curtain Call: The Hits is a 2005 compilation album by rapper, Eminem. Although it was inaccurately billed as Eminem's fifth studio album, Curtain Call is a greatest-hits album, containing only three original songs. It was released on December 6, 2005 under Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.

History

The album contains three new songs: "Fack", "Shake That", and "When I'm Gone". "When I'm Gone" is a sentimental song about Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade. "Shake That" is a club-oriented single featuring Nate Dogg, while "Fack" is a sexually-explicit joke track featuring Eminem talking in a very exaggerated tone more than rapping.

The album has debuted at #1 in the UK Albums Chart, after only being given 2 sales days to chart, in a similar fashion to his previous album Encore. It also gave Eminem his fourth straight #1 album in the U.S and U.K.

The booklet in the album contains pictures from throughout Eminem's career, including him performing at the Grammy Awards of 2002 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 album has currently has sold over 2.7 million units in the US and a worldwide total of about 7 million. This includes over 1 million in the UK, where it topped the album chart for 5 weeks, including Christmas, in 2005.

Artwork

The album front cover show 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 focussed 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 notably 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

#	Title	Featured Guest	Length	Note(s)
1	Intro		0:34
2	FACK		3:26	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by Luis Resto Recorded by Mike Strange & Tony Campana Mixed by Eminem, Mike Strange & Steve King Keyboards by Luis Resto Bass & Guitar by Steve King
3	The Way I Am		4:51	Produced by Eminem Mixed by Eminem Recording & Mix Engineer: Richard "Segal" Huredia Assistant Engineer: Thomas Rounds Bass & Guitar by Mike Elizondo Keyboards by Mike Elizondo & Tommy Coster, Jr.
4	My Name Is		4:29	Produced by Dr. Dre Mixed by Dr. Dre Mix Engineer: Richard "Segal" Huredia Contains an interpolation from "I Got The" performed by Labri Siffre
5	Stan	Dido	6:44	Produced by The 45 King Co-Produced by Eminem Mixed by Eminem Recording & Mix Engineer: Richard "Segal" Huredia Bass by Mike Elizondo Guitar by Sean Cruise
6	Lose Yourself		5:26	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by J. Bass Recorded by Steve King & Mike Strange Mixed by Eminem & Steve King Drum Programming by Eminem Guitar, Bass & Keyboards by J. Bass Keyboards & Programming by Luis Resto
7	Shake That	Nate Dogg	4:34	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by Luis Resto Recorded by Mike Strange & Tony Campana Mixed by Eminem & Steve King Keyboards by Luis Resto Bass & Guitar by Steve King
8	Sing for the Moment	Joe Perry	5:40	Produced by Eminem Co-Produced by Jeff Bass Recorded by Steve King Recording of Joe Perry's Guitar by Marti Frederiksen Mixed by Steve King Assistant Engineer: Mike Strange Drum Programming by D.J. Head Keyboards, Guitars & Bass by Jeff Bass Guitar Solo by Joe Perry Contains elements from "Dream On" performed by Aerosmith
9	Without Me		4:51	Produced by Eminem Co-Produced by Jeff Bass Additional Production by D.J. Head Recorded by Steve King Additional Recording by Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri Mixed by Dr. Dre Assistant Engineers: Alex Reverberi, Mike Strange & Urban Kris Keyboards, Guitars & Bass by Jeff Bass Contains resung elements from "Buffalo Gals" performed by Malcolm McLaren, Anne Dudley & Trevor Horn
10	Like Toy Soldiers		4:56	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by Luis Resto Recorded by Steve King, Tony Campana & Mike Strange Mixed by Eminem & Steve King Bass & Guitar by Steve King Keyboards by Luis Resto Contains interpolation from "Toy Soldiers" performed by Martika
11	The Real Slim Shady		4:45	Produced by Dr. Dre & Mel-Man Mixed by Dr. Dre Recording & Mix Engineer: Richard "Segal" Huredia Bass & Guitar by Mike Elizondo Keyboards by Tommy Coster, Jr.
12	Mockingbird		4:11	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by Luis Resto Recorded by Steve King, Tony Campana & Mike Strange Mixed by Eminem & Steve King Keyboards by Luis Resto
13	Guilty Conscience	Dr. Dre	3:20	Produced by Dr. Dre & Eminem Mixed by Dr. Dre Mix Engineer: Richard "Segal" Huredia Narration by Mark Avery Contains an interpolation from "Go Home Pigs", as contained in the film "Getting Straight"
14	Cleanin' Out My Closet		4:59	Produced by Eminem & Jeff Bass Recorded by Steve King Mixed by Steve King Assistant Engineers: Mike Strange & Urban Kris Keyboard, Guitar & Bass by Jeff Bass Additional Drum Programming by D.J. Head
15	Just Lose It		4:09	Produced by Dr. Dre & Mike Elizondo Recorded by Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri, Steve Baughman, Steve King, Tony Campana & Mike Strange Mixed by Dr. Dre Assistant Engineers: Michael Sroka, Ben Jost, Rouble Kapoor & Scott Hays Guitars by Mike Elizondo Keyboards by Mike Elizondo & Mark Batson Contains interpolations of "U Can't Touch This" performed by MC Hammer Contains lyrical excerpts from "Lose Yourself" performed by Eminem Contains lyrical excerpts from "Without Me" performed by Eminem
16	When I'm Gone		4:41	Produced by Eminem Additional Production by Luis Resto Recorded by Mike Strange & Tony Campana Mixed by Eminem, Mike Strange & Steve King Keyboards by Luis Resto
Bonus Track	Stan [Live]	Elton John	6:20	Produced by The Recording Academy

NOTE: In the clean version of Curtain Call, "Intro" and "Fack" were removed and "My Name Is" was moved to the first track.

In some versions of Curtain Call, "Fack" is removed and replaced by "Ass Like That" as well as the live version of "Stan" replaced by "Superman".

Limited edition bonus disc (Stan's Mixtape)

#	Title	Performing artist(s)	Producer(s)	Length
01.	"Dead Wrong" Rmx	The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Eminem	Chucky Thompson, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Mario "Yellow Man" Winans	4:59
02.	"Role Model"	Eminem	Dr. Dre and Mel-Man	3:26
03.	"Kill You"	Eminem	Dr. Dre and Mel-Man	4:26
04.	"Shit on You"	D-12	D.J. Head	5:29
05.	"Criminal"	Eminem	F.B.T. and Eminem	5:14
06.	"Renegade"	Jay-Z featuring Eminem	Eminem	5:37
07.	"Just Don't Give a Fuck"	Eminem	F.B.T., Eminem (Co-Producer)	4:01

Chart certifications

• US - 2x Platinum (2,713,610)
• Brazil - Gold (55,000)
• UK - 3x Platinum (900,000)
• Austria - Gold (15,000+)
• Australia - 3x Platinum (210,000+)
• France - 2x Gold (186,000)
• Korea - Gold (20,691)
• Europe - 2x Platinum (2 million)
• Switzerland - gold (20,000)
• Ireland - 7x 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 - Platinum (30,000)

iTunes promo tracks

1. "Bad Guys Always Die ("Wild Wild West" Soundtrack Version)" (featuring Dr. Dre) –4:41
2. "Bad Influence"–3:39
3. "Get You Mad"–4:23

NOTE: These three tracks were only given to those who pre-ordered the deluxe Curtain Call album on iTunes.

External links

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