The greatest Greatest Hits collection

Oh! Oh! Half of it is duff but you don't need any other records by them now it's come out, so I'd say the Best Of Blur, too. An MP3 of Popscene is perhaps of historical interest.

As a rule I don't really care for "Best Of" albums.

The problem with Hot Rocks is that you're missing "She's A Rainbow" and "Angie," and you miss the whole Goat's Head Soup/Exile on Main Street album period.

D-damn man, didn't you read the prompt?

Besides, as per Bruce McCulloch,

"Greatest Hits comps are for old women and little girls..."

It is also quite possibly the first album I ever heard - as my mother was an avid duster to "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife" on her cassette version when I was three (the cassette version really spoiled the awful cover as the heart shaped vinyl motife was squeezed to look like a licourice allsort). I bought it for a quid.

Which 'the Doors best of' are you referring to? Last time I checked the Doors were well on the way to releasing more greatest hits, anthologies and live retrospectives than original albums. It seems as if they have elipsed this format by some nasty postmodern mediation. (increasing the case with the Beatles if anyone hasn't noticed!)

*actually their last one is pretty good.

Personally, I'm very happy with Duran Duran's _Decade_, even if it is missing "Come Undone". Also, _The Best Of Blondie_ is great.

(I don't have _The Best of Blur_, but "Music Is My Radar" could only make it better. I almost bought the damn thing solely for that song.)

Anyhow, I nearly exclusively deal in greatest hits, sometimes, because it's just a lot easier than buying a pile of crap albums to hear like 2 songs. ABBA Gold, obviously, you need; St. Etienne's Too Young To Die is fantastic; Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits is really the only album by him you NEED (though I'd recommend others), despite its willfull and unfortunate leaving out of Rosalita; New Order's best of is really the only New Order album I listen to; same goes for Blondie's The Platinum Collection. I'd also give marks to Blur's best of, even though half of it is crap, because it allows me to rid myself of the rest of their albums finally. Oh, and Lenny Kravitz's greatest hits is good because Lenny is definitely a singles artist, so if you just skip over American Woman and Fly Away you've got a good time on your hands. There are 10,000 Beatles' best ofs, so you should get one of those for historical sake really, and if you get the right one you really don't need more than that.

The Smiths' "Singles" wasn't bad, especially after Best Of 1 and 2, which was bloody awful. Not to mention replacing Morrissey's cover design outside of North America. Happily "Singles" had his design, a nice picture of Diana Dors and with "Louder Than Bombs" was a better "Best Of" than the offical one was.

Madonna's Immacualte Collection, plus Frozen and Beautiful Stranger, two bona fide pop classics if you ask me.

...Finally, Abba Gold. Most of these are classics, but you need 'The Visitors' on there as well. The way it builds up into the chorus is just amazingly good.

I'd say a Beatles compilation, but basically, none of the many do them justice, it's just not possible to compile one that would please everyone. (And I genuinely believe that, whatever people may say, most people like the Beatles at least a little)

Just adding to the consensus here...

Bill

Josh, if the Doors you speak of is the 2-CD thing, quit while you're ahead. That's all the Doors you need. Sad but true story: As a teenager, I loved the Doors like every good American. I had that 2-CD Best Of. I liked it so much I thought I'd love the whole Doors catalog. So I sold the Best-of and went about acquiring the 6 studio albums. I bought all those, got very sick of the Doors, and in my early 20s sold all six. Now I have no Doors at all. Hence the wisdom of quitting while you're ahead.

And if we *have* to go on to the Beatles, then go for the Red and Blue Albums, which between them contain all 27 tracks which ended up on that abomination known as "One", but which also contain a good few tracks that don't get so many daytime plays on Capital Gold :). (well, "I Am The Walrus", which is the one that really matters, though the Blue Album chooses appallingly from Abbey Road). The only Beatles repackagings worth even considering owning.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00028HBK2.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

1. Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...) - Lou Bega
2. Macarena - Los Del Rios
3. Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club
4. Frenesi - Linda Ronstadt
5. Theme from "Harry's Game" - Clannad
6. Over the Rainbow
7. Barcelona Nights - Ottmar Liebert
8. Valse d'Amelie - Yann Tiersen
9. Bomboleo - Gipsy Kings
10. Pata Pata - Miriam Makeba
11. Jump in the Line - Harry Belafonte
12. Swingin' the Mambo - Tito Puente
13. Soul Bossa Nova - Quincy Jones & His Orchestra
14. Pass the Dutchie - Musical Youth
15. Hot! Hot! Hot! - Arrow
16. Grazing in the Grass - Hugh Masekela
17. Mais Que Nada - Sergio Mendes
18. Oye Como Va - Santana

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits may not delete the need to buy the actual albums but is probably the greatest collection of songs in existence.

Close second, Merle Haggard's "Songs I'll Always Sing".

i'm listening to the cult's 'pure cult' thingie. pretty damn good. needs 'aphrodisiac jacket' and a few more, but i guess they weren't singles...

Thread should have been closed after Dr C's choice of the Buzzcocks 'Singles Going Steady' way up there somewhere. As far as GH go, it doesn't get better than this.

"Once Upon A Time", Siouxsie and the Banshees, is great.

Yeah, Buzzcocks for me too. Chief competition would be Sly & the Family Stone and CCR. (Greatest non-existent GH = Bob Seger's)

Not The Beatles, simply because any "Greatest Hits" by The Beatles is automatically bound to be devoid of most of the great stuff they did.

Out of the ones not mentioned, Madness had a very strong run of singles.

And then there's Bob Marley's "Legend" too. Has been voted best "best of" a lot of times although personally I really don't think it worked out until all those extra tracks were added for the rather recent special edition.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/50000fall.jpg

maybe not the greatest ever but a pretty cool collection

http://umusicimages.ca/doublediscgold/parliament.jpg is awesome

http://kpuk.net/big_img/608.jpg

Is there really no AC/DC greatest hits/best of? AMG doesn't list one, nor does Amazon. How odd.

SuperFurryAnimalsOKThkxBye.

Tom Petty's first Greatest Hits comp (the 1993 where "Mary Jane's Last Dance" was a new track) is wall-to-wall awesome, although I lost it years ago and may have to upgrade to the 2 disc that has "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and some more recent stuff on it. Queen's Greatest Hits is another great one I grew up with, although now I feel motivated to hear the whole albums.

It's kind of a delicate matter, figuring out whether to buy a GH or get the actual albums, because I know once I get a best-of it'll discourage me from getting the albums. So I'm constantly weighing like OK, I can live with just an Elton John best-of, but I need to get Thin Lizzy's individual albums.

Pet Shop Boys' Discography, people!

Sparks "Profile." Excellent chronological overview of the many stylistic changes (on as many record labels) of one of my favorite bands evah.

you don't need any other records by them now it's come out, so I'd say the Best Of Blur

AS RONG AS RONG CAN BE

The answer to this thread is Steve Harley, IMO.

Definitely not the only album to own, but: John Lennon's <i>Shaved Fish</i>. All the big stuff, in the perfect order, and the most appropriate context for the absolutely-perfect "#9 Dream" (definitely not <i>Walls and Bridges</i>).

And one day I will remember that ILX uses BBcode. Sigh.

Sweet would fit in here. Just make sure you get a "Greatest Hits" that has "Love Is Like Oxygen" on it, not all of them do.

Sadly it is true. There is no AC/DC greatest hits.

Although why you would need an AC/DC greatest hits is beyond me. After all, you should own them all already. At least thru 1990 anyway.

Sly & the Family Stone's Greatest Hits will probably always be my favorite.

AC/DC's "Greatest Hits" was released in 1980 and is called "Back In Black".

No Bon, no cred.

Bingo

Sly & the Family Stone's Greatest Hits will probably always be my favorite.

-- JN$OT, Friday, November 2, 2007 1:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

Here's a few that haven't been mentioned:

The Guess Who - Their first GH compilation is a wonderfully concise and sequenced song cycle - those original records are pretty spotty. I usually place the first Blood Sweat & Tears GH alongside the Guess Who pick, but the BS&T GH leaves too many solid album tracks off the list making this a near-perfect near-miss.

A couple of recording from The Record PLant in Sausalito should be represented, if only for their outstanding soumd quality and song selection.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - From the Record Plant (tracks also appear on "Talking Blues") this never was a properly released as a GH, but those original Wailer's day's are super tight.

Kinky Friedman - Mayhem Afterthought (Stooooopid Good!) If you only own 1 Kinky record - this is THE one to have.

Swell Maps Collision Time Revisited. Not technically a greatest hits, I guess. It's my favorite band anthology, anyway.

The Pretenders, The Singles has a legit shot at the top spot here - pretty incredible run of hits

It sure is.

A few that I played frequently in high school and into my 20s: Neil's Decade, Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy, The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane, Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield, Heavy Cream, Dionne Warwick's My Greatest Hits (more my 30s with that one). The first attempts at Madonna and PSB compilations were impressive, although I was past the point where they ever became part of my life. I'm sure I've forgotten some.

a few favorites:

Merle Haggard - Hag
P-Furs - All This And Nothing
Saint Etienne - Travel Edition

A quasi-comp: Loretta Lynn Writes 'em & Sings 'em

love that Loretta album but disagree w/P-Furs, too much late period stuff sinks it

What do you consider late-period Furs? All of This... only sports "Heartbreak Beat" (and concludes by returning to the beginning with the title track).

patsy cline

My vote goes here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4b/SmithsSingles.jpg/220px-SmithsSingles.jpg

Oh -- that single disc Earth Wind and Fire comp.

Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium Vol. 1.

Should have added Patsy Cline (the single-LP green compilation). I played that all the time after Sweet Dreams came out.

xx+post

my bad - i confused P Furs Greatest Hits, which is weighted down w/post-1988 comeback tracks. All of This lineup is rock solid. these guys were great in the early 80s, definitely deserve some love

Johnnie Taylor's Chronicle The 20 Greatest Hits is non-stop stax soul finery

yeah when All of This is playing it def sounds like the greatest comp of all.

Is "Jody" one of his 20 Greatest, lovebug?

includes "Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone" AND "Standing In For Jody" - Jody got around

my favorite greatest hits is probably George Jones Anniversary - 10 Years Of Hits

covers his work on Epic w/Billy Shrerrill producing

The Pretenders singles collection is a great compilation but sadly not a perfect one thanks to I Got You Babe with UB40 tagged on at the end.

Other great ones I've played to death,

The Four Tops-The Ultimate Collection
Madness-Divine Madness
Roxy Music-Greatest hits (from 77)
Bjork-Greatest Hits

Oh -- that single disc Earth Wind and Fire comp.

^^^^ EWF Greatest Hits is pretty much game over for other greatest hits comps actually

like "September" is the best new song recorded for a comp.

which is weighted down w/post-1988 comeback tracks

Gotta say, I love the late-period Psychedelic Furs stuff. I mean, yeah, it's patchy but the best stuff is awesome (i.e. "Get A Room" and "There's A World Outside") in a completely different way than "Into You Like A Train".

Anyway, my fave greatest hits is The Go-Betweens "1978-1990". Good god damn what a goldmine.

I love that one too, especially the B-side portion.

This is the greatest Greatest Hits with the greatest cover:

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/dfb3d476befe19c24a84db0f140196f7/6537.jpg

not a popular pic, probably, because they obv had a bunch of good stuff that was released after it came out, but the Cure's Standing on the Sea is probably the "Greatest Hits" that I've listened to more than any other, and it might be my most played played release of ALL TIME. every single song is unimpeachably brilliant.

someone should start a thread on it oh wait The Cure - Standing on the Beach/Staring at the Sea

also, Substance, duh

Standing on the Beach was one of the first ones I thought of as well. Also, Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol. 1.

thirding the Patsy Cline 12 Greatest Hits collection -- has to be one of the earliest examples of greatest-hits-as-concept-album. I don't know how much editorializing influenced the selection, or whether all of her highest chart placements really were all the heartbroken numbers. The latter is certainly likely, but I remember being surprised when I dug into her catalog and realized she sang about cheating or having a good time herself just as often. But the Hits collection is the one release she has that actually works as a coherent suite, just one dagger after another, it is almost too much -- when you get to the one happy one at the beginning of side 2, 'Back In Baby's Arms' it is almost more agonizing just because you know there are still five utterly broken songs to go

This is totally Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight

i mean duh

Sade.

^^^^^

(but really you need all the albums and then it becomes redundant)

the greatest Greatest Hits would probably be a compilation that's front-to-back gold and also exhaustive when it comes to that artist's career (ie it obviates the need for anything else). no one springs to mind tbh.

Emperor

Stones - The London Years. Which cuts off in 1971, obviously, but perfectly traces in chronological order how they got from callow blues copyists to conquerors of the world.

Chronicle Vol. 1.

This is totally Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight

Scanning the songlist, looks perfect. I've always had this

http://991.com/newGallery/Chuck-Berry-Motorvatin-252056.jpg

plus all three Golden Decades, but the problem with GD I is that it leaves off "Come On" and "Let It Rock." The Great Twenty-Eight gets them all.

Should also mention Endless Summer. The perception of the Beach Boys has really changed over the years--"Oh yeah, the surf stuff" is probably how a lot of people would look upon Endless Summer today--but we played it to death when my friends and I discovered it in the mid-'70s. (Besides which, you get key proto-Pet Sounds stuff like "Girl Don't Tell Me" and "Don't Worry Baby.")

Taking advantage of rare occasion to say Whiney otm

there's a Marshall Crenshaw comp that is quite good,
but got me to thinking that a comp isn't nec. a greatest hits
so forget it.

I love that Crenshaw comp, although it wanes in the middle before the victory lap.

This is totally Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight

^^^

CCR close second

i wonder if nicole still hates "music is my radar"

the CCR greatest hits is incredible for how long it keeps going, and for how long it keeps topping itself

As amazing: you can say the same about most of the second CCR greatest hits.

you can also call Cosmo's Factory their greatest hits

Chronicle also came to mind for me, the first time I sat down and listened to this in earnest (probably 4-5 years ago) it was one holy-shit moment after another as I realized how many timeless tracks they had.

ctrl-f "Eminem"

phew THANK GOD

i kind of swore off best-ofs a few years ago after i realized they sapped my will to check out the acts' proper albums, but my favorite GH purchase since then was a 2-disc George Jones comp -- it's still a useful format for people who have 50 hits spread over 50 albums and/or a lot of output that predates the 'album era'

If you're referring to Cup of Loneliness you are OTM.

i'm referring to The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country, which spans a much larger timeframe, but i wouldn't mind having one that's more focused on the '50s stuff

Two CD's. One of the best buys ever:

http://www.amazon.com/Cup-Loneliness-Classic-Mercury-Years/dp/B000001E4N

yeah Cup of Loneliness is solid gold

Almost want to say Push Barman to Open Old Wounds but that's for another thread I guess, but I don't know where that thread is.

http://www.avclub.com/article/tom-pettys-greatest-hits-record-remains-best-best--239423

This was one I had growing up, though I eventually got all the albums too: Electric Light Orchestra - ELO's Greatest Hits (1979)

ctrl+f "stylistics"

:|

The Best of The Stylistics

Fixed

Among my most formative.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Chronicle Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Such a rare feat to have two separately released greatest hits packages that are equal in value. Prince's The Hits 1 & 2 are the only other ones I can think of right now. (Wait, Joni might be up there.)

The Beatles cheated by splitting up a chronological set with 1962-22 and 1967-70. The Eagles sold a bizzilion copies of both of theirs, but everyone knows the first one is the only good one. And Mr. Joel, I worship you, but you can't sell Volume I & Volume II in the same set at the same time. (Yeah, I know Prince sold his together too with the B-Sides, but they were also available on their own.)

The box format may have hurt this first.

these are prob the ones i've played the most over the years:

sly -- greatest hits
pretenders -- the singles
stones -- hot rocks/more hot rocks
chuck berry -- great 28
ronettes -- best of
smiths -- singles
prince -- hits 1 and 2
sam cooke -- portrait of a legend
the jam -- compact snap!
echo and the bunnymen -- songs to learn and sing
little richard -- 18 greatest hits
elvis -- elvis's golden records

one classic greatest hits i've never loved quite as much as everyone else is changesbowie/changesonebowie -- i prefer the albums. also almost included immaculate collection but i'm not as into the second half of that one.

with bowie, i'm definitely a tracks and not an albums person, but the tracks i like aren't the hit singles... where's "the supermen" or "panic in detroit" or "moonage daydream" or "1984"?

no Madonna comp can top the CR-90 you made for yourself in 1993.

http://cdn-s3.allmusic.com/release-covers/500/0000/278/0000278159.jpg

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/media/images/72877000/jpg/_72877782_queen_624.jpg

Erasure - Pop: The First 20 Hits
Saint Etienne - Too Young To Die
Pet Shop Boys - Popart
Suede - Singles (just remember to skip Positivity)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Bang! (this really is the perfect Frankie album)
The Cardigans - Best Of
Dexys Midnight Runners - Let's Make This Precious
Barry White - Greatest Hits (75 version)
Duran Duran - Greatest
Felt - Stains On A Decade
The Human League - Greatest Hits/The Very Best Of
Grace Jones - Island Life

The Shangri Las Myrmidons of Melodrama: it's virtually flawless.

The Beautiful South - Carry On Up The Charts. Played that one to death back in the day and still give it a spin from time to time.

The 2cd version with a disc of their excellent b-sides is even better!

Queen's Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits II, easily. For many people, these two compilations basically represent the entire Queen discography and the "proper" studio albums may as well not even exist. Which obviously is a viewpoint I disagree with.

Think we missed Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits. Came out in 1978 and re-introduced his original music to the world.

Buffalo Springfield -Retrospective is excellent and probably all that's needed.

Neil Young - Decade. Listen to this comp way more than the individual albums.

Super Furry Animals Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 is also perfect but not the best. that would probably go to Standing on a Beach, thou both bands are so much bigger than only their singles.

I'm very partial to Three Into One, the Island compilation of Foxx-era Ultravox. Think it's probably all anyone needs from that era tbh.

Unbelievably the thread got to here without anyone mentioning The Best of Leonard Cohen.

Boy Child is fucking impeccable (the reissue version, where they nixed the rope and the colt and replaced it with angels of ashes)

Is there a good, comprehensive comp of Gene Chandler?

Shangri Las - Myrmidons of Melodrama.

Re: Gene Chandler--There's this, which is oop and pricey.

I have a copy of that one, go ahead and mail me if you want the files.

That would be amazing. Thanks!

Sending you an email right now. LMK if it doesn't show up.

gotta say I really love those greatest hits/anthology comps that are half hits/great album tracks and half B-sides, unreleased and rare stuff. like The Kink Kronikles or Sound of Science by Beastie Boys. what other comps are like that?

are we doing really obvious ones? Neil Young's Decade is a fine example of that. it's has some of the monster hits, but also lots of great stuff you couldn't get anywhere else at the time

Unrest’s B.P.M. (1991-1994) is sorta like that (tho focusing on a specific period of time).

March To Fuzz by Mudhoney

For me personally it would have to be Every Breath You Take: The Classics

Chuck Berry's Golden Decade, and its sequels.

Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. II

related: the other half isn't b-sides/unreleased, but mostly just album tracks or lesser-known songs - e.g. the Beatles Red/Blue albums, McCartney's Wingspan, etc.

(I always think this is cool, because in the days when Greatest Hits albums were massively bought and listened to, it meant the artist got a final say in declaring by fiat, "this song is part of my canon, hit or no hit!". See also Paul Simon sticking "Hearts and Bones" and "Train in the Distance" on his comps.)

The flipside of that is when a stinker is plopped onto a disc to be memoralized alongside a bunch of classics.

The Time of The Zombies: Side 1 is "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" plus five other early A & B's and an album cut of "Summertime"; Side 2 is eight mostly unreleased songs from the RIP sessions; and Sides 3+4 are Odessey and Oracle.

Another Hits & Rarities: More Hot Rocks by the Rolling Stones.

My picks

The Replacements' Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?. Nothing but the hits.

The flipside of that is when a stinker is plopped onto a disc to be memoralized alongside a bunch of classics.

One that people don’t usually think of is Bob Marley - Legend

madness have had a LOT of compilations over the years, however, for a full rundown of the a-sides/b-sides and some extras, then (other than getting each of the expanded editions of the albums) this is the best option :

https://www.discogs.com/Madness-The-Business-The-Definitive-Singles-Collection/release/490961

only problem is that inbetween each track are vocal snippets from interviews with the lads.

Eclipse records in England did a series of complete a’s and b’s CD comps. Impressions, Dusty Springfield, some others. Don’t know about sound quality.

gotta say I really love those greatest hits/anthology comps that are half hits/great album tracks and half B-sides

There have been a few notable ones from artists whose best work wasn't necessarily hits - especially when many of the hits weren't that good. I know I've got at least a handful of these, but the only one I can remember right now is Artie Shaw's box set from the '90s which he personally selected himself. It's far better than any straight collection of his biggest sellers could ever be.

Bob Dylan doesn't quite have a "best of" comp like this - the standards and hits usually outnumber the deep cuts and previously unreleased material by a huge margin - but his catalog would be perfect for such a compilation. If I made one concentrating on his absolute greatest recordings from the '70s or the '80s, I'm certain half of it would consist of bootleg material, including stuff that wasn't officially released until the '90s or beyond.

those greatest hits/anthology comps that are half hits/great album tracks and half B-sides, unreleased and rare stuff

jethro tull 20th anniversary box (three discs) is like this

there are at least 1000 yes collections; presumably at least one fits the bill

Sabbaths’s We Sold our Souls for Rock and Roll is pretty great though it misses a lot of the later weirdness

Yes don't really have a lot of rare tracks or B-sides though

Devo's Pioneers Who Got Scalped probably counts here, loads of non-album tracks on that one. The trouble is the thing turns to shit a third of the way through 2nd disc, you really do not need to hear Devo cover "Head Like a Hole"

oh and Planet Jarre, iirc he remixed a lot of his tunes for it & there's half an hour of early & rare stuff

Need to hear that ^

Some of the albums named are desperately in need of an update - Kate Bush's "The Whole Story" is 34 years old! I created my own addendum. Others are too skimpy - Siouxsie & The Banshees really could use a proper anthology, not just the pair of singles comps. And then there's folks like Comsat Angels - no best of at all (though the Peel session comp functions as such).

I've created a folder of best greatest hits for my favorite artists. I try to find the best single disc, double disc and (sometimes) box set. It's not always easy - sometimes there's too many choices, or some that have some but not all the tracks you'd want. But it beats making custom playlists for everyone.

Bob Dylan doesn't quite have a "best of" comp like this - the standards and hits usually outnumber the deep cuts and previously unreleased material by a huge margin - but his catalog would be perfect for such a compilation.

Biograph was right in this mold, tho it's a big ol' box set

oh and Planet Jarre, iirc he remixed a lot of his tunes for it & there's half an hour of early & rare stuff

― frogbs, Thursday, 1 October 2020 18:09 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Need to hear that ^

― calstars,

or, just get the insanely brilliant AERO album/mixtape which JMJ morphs/blends all the classics into an insanely brilliant 70+ minute session.

Dylan's second greatest hits collection is the shit.

Others are too skimpy - Siouxsie & The Banshees really could use a proper anthology, not just the pair of singles comps

The Banshees do have a Best Of, but I prefer the singles comps (nothing from A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, really ?).

the talking heads sand in the vaseline comp is a good one of these, 8 or 10 bsides and rarities across 2 discs iirc

Yeah, that's a good example

disc 1 of that set is maybe the best collection of a prolific band/artist I can think of (and it's largely thanks to the two demos + single that lead it off).

(the best collection that fits on a single disc)

its one of those comps where the extra tracks do a good job of feeling like a natural part of the bands history & catalog, rather than seeming like value-added bonus tracks dug up to sell the comp

gotta say I really love those greatest hits/anthology comps that are half hits/great album tracks and half B-sides, unreleased and rare stuff. like The Kink Kronikles or Sound of Science by Beastie Boys. what other comps are like that?

― frogbs, Thursday, October 1, 2020 9:05 AM (three hours ago)

Eno Box I & II

Early '90s CD era was good for those 2-discers. Legacy was on a roll: The Legend of Paul Revere; Poco's The Forgotten Trail; Moby Grape's Vintage and Spirit's Time Circle come to mind.

Not to mention Rhino's Anthology sets, particularly the Sparks installment.

I thought I had mentioned the Sparks one in this thread, guess not. Yeah, it hits pretty much all the high points (at that time) of a long and varied career.

Lately I’ve been playing ZZ Top’s Rancho Texicano a lot. Does a similarly great job, and I like the way it divides between the straight ahead blues rock on disc 1 and the MTV years on disc 2. Listening to the latter as I type!

Biograph was right in this mold, tho it's a big ol' box set

In terms of unreleased material, it seemed a little stingy, especially when Ten of Swords came out around the same time.

But to be fair, "I'll Keep It With Mine," "Percy's Song," "Lay Down Your Weary Tune," "Quinn the Eskimo," "You're a Big Girl Now," "Abandoned Love," "Up To Me" and the Dec. 4, 1975 performances of "Romance in Durango" and "Isis" were indeed lost classics that SHOULD have been released soon after they were recorded.

"Baby, I'm in the Mood for You," "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and the "Forever Young" demo were all pretty good, very enjoyable.

The live 1966 cuts of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "I Don't Believe You" and "Visions of Johanna" were great, but not really the best representation of that epochal tour in terms of performance and song selection (for starters, two acoustic performances and just one electric?) - they really should have put out the Free Trade Hall or the Liverpool show in their entirety much earlier.

The heavily edited "Jet Pilot," "Caribbean Wind" and the live "Heart of Mine" were poor choices. "Caribbean Wind" was especially disappointing because it is definitely a great lost song, but they picked a thoroughly crappy version plagued by bad rewrites, a bad arrangement and a bad performance - they should have used the live version (the only live performance it's ever gotten), which was finally included in the Trouble No More Bootleg Series installment.

In Australia this was the standard Dylan best-of for many 80s households, which has a bit of a grab-bag quality - leaning heavily towards the hits natch but some curious selections in there

Interesting. Here is a playlist of that as far as I can tell: https://open.spotify.com/user/nickgino/playlist/1a4jYPZuLAtYtuwlgBCODb?si=FBQm6Kx1Sh-pNlMcloycOA

You should definitely own at least the first four LPs as well, but Bjork's GH is a phenomenal album.

agreed, it has brilliant sequencing and choice of tracks

apparently the sequence is the results of the online fan poll that chose the tracks, in descending order?? don't remember that factoid, wow.

apparently the sequence is the results of the online fan poll that chose the tracks, in descending order?? don't remember that factoid, wow.

Forgot about that poll, but that probably helped. While I'm at it, Kate Bush's The Whole Story is an excellent LP-sized compilation too. For anyone who needs a good introduction or who's not entirely sold on Björk or Kate Bush, those compilations pretty much hit the spot.

Re: some of the curious selections on Dylan's Biograph, I noticed later on that some of them were originally released as singles, which may explain why there were picked for the box set. It's too bad because sometimes when the label needed to put out a single, they didn't pick great much less the best songs from the respective albums. So instead of "Going Going Gone," we get both sides of the single for Planet Waves which also happen to be two of the most disposable songs on there, "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" instead of "Highway 61 Revisited" from Before the Flood, etc.

I’ve been jamming Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits album (the green album cover with the flower) and it really is fucking incredible. Just killer pop song after killer pop song all the way through.

^ college dorm room staple

That Dylan Masterpieces collection is a lot of fun.

https://i.imgur.com/3HoiENf.jpg

my man

While exploring Thin Lizzy, I came across this compilation.

(Hoping this image displays properly:)

https://img.discogs.com/E4E5QN9aEofnVTWyPVt66GHvugc=/fit-in/589x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1437904-1261145046.jpeg.jpg

Originally released in 1981, I believe it's the first hits/best-of that was authorized by Lynott, and it fell out-of-print a long time ago, never getting a reissue during the CD era or later. A shame because I really dig the cover - far better than the unimaginative cookie-cutter designs that were for the posthumous compilations.

I wasn't entirely sold on Thin Lizzy - their recording career feels wildly uneven - but outside of their celebrated live double-LP and Jailbreak, this might be the best place to hear them first. It feels like their best, most concise LP-length compilation. Great introduction and a great summation.

The cover concept is a good idea, but I’m not sold on the “multiple equine asscrack” execution.

Hah! Now that I think about it, I guess those aren't rocks, and they're not getting kicked up.

One that people don’t usually think of is Bob Marley - Legend

― All cars are bad (Euler)

Geir did 13 years ago in this thread.

I think I agree with Legend. Marley is quite frankly the most recognized figure worldwide in reggae music and the album everyone seems to own is Legend.

it should also serve as the only full-length by the artist you need. But feel free to disregard the last part if you like.

It may be interesting to focus on this particular criterion. Though I guess you’d have to set a certain bar, to exclude obvious/inarguable cases of one/two/three-hit wonders, etc.

(and I guess it would probably just turn into the usual round of, “Here’s another band I think sucks...”)

Btw - a great comp not mentioned on this thread (surprisingly, considering its vintage) is ESG’s A South Bronx Story.

Two posters mentioned the Go-Betweens - 1978-1990 above, but this is another compilation where the first disc is a greatest hits and the second is rarities, one side each chosen by Forster and McLennan.

Eric Weisbard in The Spin Alternative Record Guide says that this album "never leaves the stereos" of certain Go-Betweens fans who "become obsessive" for the band as the fans age out of "the conceptual games of alternative". It's a strange image of Go-Betweens worshippers superglueing their copies into the cassette deck.

Now I have the image of a really dense fan supergluing his CD in the tray, only to hear the motor grind to pieces when it fails to spin the disc for playback. But even in jest, that doesn't remotely align with the intellect of a Go-Betweens fan.

These are some 1 or 2-disc compilations of artists (hits or otherwise) that have served me well as either all I need or something good enough to spin when I need a fix of their work:

Fats Domino - My Blue Heaven: The Best of Fats Domino (EMI)
The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower (Living Era)
Mississippi John Hurt - Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 OKeh Recordings (Columbia)
Blind Lemon Jefferson - The Best of Blind Lemon Jefferson (Yazoo)
Little Richard - The Georgia Peach (Specialty)
Ennio Morricone - The Ennio Morricone Anthology: A Fistful of Film Music (Rhino)
ABBA - ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits (Polar)
Leonard Cohen - The Best of Leonard Cohen (Columbia)
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology (Motown)

Hard to pick a favorite of those. Probably whichever I am listening to at that moment.

"The Best of Leonard Cohen" definitely checks all the boxes

I have The Essential Leonard Cohen but i don't listen to it much. I usually listen to the first album or watch the Live in London DVD. The latter is probably my favorite Leonard Cohen.

Greatest Live Essential Best Hits

Greatest Live Essential Best Hits: The Anthology

is meaty, beaty big & bouncy still the best who compilation? there's quite a few others (i think i've owned at least three besides that one), but it's hard to argue with the selection, and it flows pretty well.

https://i.imgur.com/ZLdCowt.jpg
This has emerged as my all time fave

is meaty, beaty big & bouncy still the best who compilation?

I'd say yes. Not comprehensive obviously when it was released in 1970, but you can't find a more consistent and concise Who compilation. Great intro, and it doesn't lose much value if you start buying up the proper LP's (My Generation, A Quick One, Sell Out,Tommy,Leeds, Who's Next, etc.)

All my favourites already mentioned other than this early Stones album I stole from my dad.

https://www.discogs.com/The-Rolling-Stones-Rolled-Gold-The-Very-Best-Of-The-Rolling-Stones/release/8445262

As with 'Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy' it's a great sampler of everything good about a band up until just before they got a bit shit.

https://img.discogs.com/BwK2i42svROqDbxgkjDThb_1Rpg=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-633139-1359593747-2661.jpeg.jpg

either of the Girls Aloud compilations are a) cheap from your local charity shop b) bloody wonderful

carissas wierd - 'they'll only miss you when you leave'
pixies - wave of mutilation
neil young - decade
the cribs - payola

Haven't heard every Moloko album, but based on those I have, Catalogue pretty much leaves them in the dust.

I like when they're not comprehensive and can function as their own listening experience.

Elton John "Greatest Hits" and ChangesOneBowie are a good template for how to do this. Starting with their breakthrough hit and covering the next 4-5 years, they also include a couple not-so-famous choices that fit well in the sequencing. And they both work as a snapshot of their career until that point, before they later would score a dozen more hits and earn their "volume two."

The Essential Taj Mahal. I don’t know lots about him, but this contains all the “hits” I knew of, and with two discs I don’t have an urgent need to research his dozens of other albums.

And it’s really good!

I wonder who is the better judge of a greatest Greatest Hits:

- the expert who knows the entire oeuvre and can say, "this covers all you need to hear" or "this is the perfect introduction"

- the neophyte who says, "I am perfectly satisfied with this package and I feel no need to explore further"

?

I have been both and often the latter turned into the former.

Examples:

The first Nick Drake album I heard was the compilation Heaven in a Wild Flower, and having heard all of the other releases, including the archival ones, I still think it's a perfectly chosen and sequenced set. Ending with Time Has Told Me (the first song on his first album) rather than a Pink Moon or 1974 song gives it a regenerative aura.

On the other hand, I bought the Grand Funk Railroad Capitol Collector's Series CD twenty years ago, and enjoyed it all (except their terrible cover of Gimme Shelter), but never felt any need to go further. I do think Nick Drake is on a higher aesthetic level than GFR, though.

I'm not the biggest prog fan - except for King Crimson, there are very few albums that I really enjoy from start-to-finish. Compilations can be tough due to the nature of the music, but there's two that almost stand out as favorites:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-F%2BdLZTAL._SX466_.jpg

Classic Yes from 1981, compiled by bassist Chris Squire when they temporarily split. It was originally issued as a single LP with a bonus single - the '90s CD release put all nine tracks on one disc.

It's great, but Squire's own "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" is a strange inclusion. (Maybe he wanted more royalties?) A better pick would've been "Going for the One" which was an egregious omission. Also a few substitutions were made where he replaced the studio versions with live recordings. Had he kept the original studio versions and included "Going for the One" this would've been a perfect summation of their best work and a flawless primer.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71%2BWxAVnV6L._SX355_.jpg

A three-CD set released in 2004 in the UK and 2005 in the US. The reverse chronological sequence was a bad idea, and most of it has been needlessly remixed to the music's detriment. But the selection on the last disc covering their earliest years with Peter Gabriel is close to perfect. "Watcher of the Skies" is a regrettable omission, but the disc is already at capacity. If they programmed a double LP with the same track list plus "Watcher of the Skies" in correct chronological order, it would be the definitive Gabriel-era collection. (Only ten tracks, but almost 90 minutes in running time.)

Agh, let me try that again:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-F%2BdLZTAL._SX466_.jpg https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71%2BWxAVnV6L._SX355_.jpg

I've heard both of these compilations, in fact Classic Yes (without the bonus single) might have been one of my first purchases. "The Fish" was often played on classic rock radio segued from "Long Distance Runaround", so it had some claim to popularity.

The last disc of the Genesis collection is pretty good, but "Counting Out Time" is my least favourite song they released between 1970 and 1974. Also, they fade out "Cinema Show" before the "Aisle of Plenty" reprise, which makes practical sense but feels completely interruptive.

I love both these groups too much to imagine confining myself to these track listings, but I can see how they would appeal to a non-fan.

yeah, for me Pete-era GEnesis is an albums act.

http://cdn-s3.allmusic.com/release-covers/500/0000/278/0000278159.jpg

― mookieproof, Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:52 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

After the Fact by Magazine is a great encapsulation of their work, and also the only one to feature liner note quotes from Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. Paul Morley, who wrote the notes that quote Bruce, also wrote the notes for the Siouxsie and the Banshees compilation Once Upon a Time, mentioned above.

The last disc of the Genesis collection is pretty good, but "Counting Out Time" is my least favourite song they released between 1970 and 1974. Also, they fade out "Cinema Show" before the "Aisle of Plenty" reprise, which makes practical sense but feels completely interruptive.

Time constraints may have played a role, and they certainly limited their options. The much-longer "In the Cage" would be a better pick than "Counting Out Time" but that's an additional 5 minutes the disc doesn't have without dropping another track. (Would work on a double LP though.)

I love both these groups too much to imagine confining myself to these track listings, but I can see how they would appeal to a non-fan.

A fan will need the albums - if you're all in, you'll inevitably want the conceptual framework that comes with those songs. I think the last three with Gabriel and the first one (maybe two) with Collins taking over as frontman is usually cited as the essential works, but I haven't been able to enjoy them in their entirety. It took a LONG time to get into Genesis, they left me completely cold until I tried just the highlights. I may not be completely sold on them (yet), but I really like the highlights, which is what a good compilation should do as an entry point.

The Doors have way too many compilations, but I'm partial to the 2001 U.S. single CD compilation The Very Best of the Doors. It has a boringly generic title and cover, but music-wise it has nearly everything a Doors skeptic would want. (Longer two-CD sets feel like they're weighed down by risible crap.)

Truth be told, I didn't actually get it: I burned a chronologically-sequenced CD-R based on its track selection using audiophile masterings from DCC Compact Classics and Audio Fidelity while squeezing in two favorites into the leftover space: "Moonlight Drive" and "Land Ho!" A nice reference disc, looks like this:

1. Break On Through (To the Other Side)
2. The Crystal Ship
3. Twentieth Century Fox
4. Light My Fire
5. Back Door Man
6. The End
7. Love Me Two Times
8. Moonlight Drive
9. People Are Strange
10. Hello, I Love You
11. Touch Me
12. Roadhouse Blues
13. Peace Frog
14. Land Ho!
15. Love Her Madly
16. L.A. Woman
17. The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)
18. Riders on the Storm

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls!"

LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xillqqt0Y0

Weird Scenes was one of the first five albums that launched my record collection--played it to death in high school. I still like a few songs...

That was specifically a "deep tracks" compilation, because all the hits from the first five albums had been compiled on 13, sort of like Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2.

These are the comps that I have listened to the most (at least to Oct 96 when I started keeping such things).

Howlin' Wolf- Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues
Muddy Waters- Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues
^^^These are probably the most listened to records by these two artists as the comps came out in the 60s and have remained popular. I got some other comps by them that are more complete.

The Who- Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy
Rolling Stones- Hot Rocks
^^^ Early collections that are really good comps of their early singles to that point.

New Order- Substance
Joy Divison- Substance
Buzzcocks- Singles Going Steady
The Cure- Standing on a Beach
^^^Singles collections that were out early on CD and have remained popular. Can't really go wrong with them as introductions.

The Byrds- Essential Byrds <<< Newer collection, but this 2 disc one is the Byrds record I have listened to the most.

Mudhoney- March to Fuzz <<< I like their albums, but the first disc is a pretty tight comp and probably not much different than I would choose. Second disc is more b-sides and rarites and is quite a good listen.

Kiss- Double Platinum <<< I have had this on 3 formats since I was a kid (8 track, LP & CD). Even with the remixes, I have heard it so many times since I was like 8-9 years old, it has to be on this list.

Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy is all-time, most days the only Who I need.

A personal favorite comp of mine is Steely Dan Gold: Expanded Edition, which is the CD version of a comp that originally came out in 1982 in the "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" mold. My mom ordered it in the mid 90s as part of one of those BMG/Columbia House 10 CDs for a dollar deals. The track list is concise but absolutely stacked, and the songs imprinted on me in a big way at the time. They're mostly still my favorite Dan songs today:

1. Hey Nineteen
2. Green Earrings
3. Deacon Blues
4. Chain Lightning
5. FM
6. Black Cow
7. King Of The World
8. Babylon Sisters
9. Here At The Western World
10. Century's End (By Donald Fagen)
11. True Companion (By Donald Fagen)
12. Bodhisattva (Live)

https://img.discogs.com/dpX2FW1ieZTgmzVzrA6eJxs0Yac=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-13672129-1561498313-7208.png.jpg

Rolling Stones- Hot Rocks
^^^ Early collections that are really good comps of their early singles to that point.

Hot Rocks is great, but I wished they had done away with More Hot Rocks (Bits Hits & Fazed Cookies) and sequenced its "big hit" tracks into an expanded version of Hot Rocks - there was more than enough space to do that on those two CD's with the original Hot Rocks running less than 90 minutes, and it would've felt like a complete package of hits without any drop in consistency. (The "fazed cookies" obscurities should've been made available elsewhere - a lot of them already were.)

*(Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)

Mentioned once higher in the thread, but I think the Squeeze best of ("45s and Under") really is all the Squeeze I need. I used to have a few of the proper albums, but basically all my favorite songs from them are on the best-of. And every song on the best-of is good-to-great.

Mentioned once higher in the thread, but I think the Squeeze best of ("45s and Under") really is all the Squeeze I need. I used to have a few of the proper albums, but basically all my favorite songs from them are on the best-of. And every song on the best-of is good-to-great.

I was surprised Trouser Press gave it a mixed review: "As the band’s selection of which LP tracks to release as 45s often seemed totally arbitrary, there’s no sense of occasion. Even 'Annie Get Your Gun,' the sole new track, isn’t so great. Still, the LP is a handy introduction to the band’s early triumphs." Totally arbitrary? Maybe I'll have to revisit those albums, but I never thought "why was THIS a single?" or "why wasn't THIS a single?"

It's a great comp, and it even has a memorable, funny cover and title to go with it. The only Squeeze LP I've held on to is East Side Story, which is partly why I've stuck with the U.S. version of 45s and Under (it has Argybargy's "If I Didn't Love You" instead of East Side Story's "Labelled with Love") - considering the length, they really should've issued a 13-track version of 45s and Under on CD that would have covered all territories. East Side Story's a fine LP too, but it's not as consistently engaging as 45s and Under.

I wonder if the band corrected the omission on subsequent editions? The CD I burned years ago has both "Labelled with Love" and "If I Didn't Love You" (I prefer the latter).

Oh, definitely agree. I didn't know about that difference between US and UK, I would miss "If I Didn't Love You."

I don't believe so. After UME acquired A&M, they remastered it and reissued it with the U.S. tracklist as part of their 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection budget collection.

It wish someone like Mobile Fidelity would reissue it with all 13 tracks - they did East Side Story and it's easily the best Squeeze has ever sounded on any digital format.

Yeah, Squeeze is a good one. The Police's Every Breath You Take: The Singles is kinda the same deal for me.

Yeah, the Police really were a singles band - I've got Zenyatta Mondatta and Synchronicity, but the singles compilation I made gets far more play. It's basically the import-only Greatest Hits which is essentially Every Breath You Take: The Singles with more tracks and the original version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me" remake. The only reason I made my own copy was to get the best-sounding version possible.

*the original version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me." (Not a remake.)

the one where this greatest mega mix comes from! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9B95Sr37MM

Agreed on Squeeze - I love it so much I thought I'd try to expand it but after compiling all their other singles, nothing came close to being worthy of inclusion.

For the Police, I prefer the 2CD best-of cleverly called "The Police" as it covers almost every track you could want.

I legitimately love a lot of The Police's deep cuts and B-sides

These easily another album's worth of great material in Squeeze's first 4 albums:
Misadventure, Vicky Verky, Separate Beds, Bang Bang, Remember What, Slightly Drunk, It's So Dirty, In Quintessence, Points Of View, Woman's World

Hard disagree on the Steely Dan comp also. Some things just can't be abridged.

The Fall, having barely any hits, have some interesting compilation approaches: the random-feeling compilation that misses key singles for licensing reasons but works anyway to showcase the band at their absolute peak, Palace of Swords Reversed; and the chronological singles comp 84-89 A-sides, which certainly isn't a better lp than Wonderful & Frightening or Nation's or Bend Sinister, but tells a great parallel story of the Brix years; the 90s set A World Bewitched which admirably makes the case that their 3rd phase is just as high-quality as their first two if not as crucial or ground breaking. Someone really needs to make a post 2000 comp that does the same. Actually decade-restricted best ofs are often very badly needed for early "essential period" artists whose best ofs have too much dross - a 60s-only Zappa disc could be really helpful in making his case to a new generation of hipsters - and a post 2000 Neil Young disc would be pretty helpful.

Best of Blondie is one of those new wave hits comps I consider maybe top of the top-tier, above those by the Cars, Squeeze, Hall & Oates, the first Elvis Costello one, Catching Up With Depeche Mode, OMD, XTC's Upsy Daisy, Eurythmics, and the aforementioned Psych Furs All of this and Nothing (docked a point cos All that Money Wants is great but feels a bit too outside the timeframe covered), and the Pretenders (docked a point for UB40) and Police (docked for the stupid version Don't Stand '86). I think Blondie's albums aren't patchy exactly, but I think the singles are just so clearly what the band was trying to do, and they cohere better in a non-chronological overview than any other GH album I can think of.

Some best ofs I got a lot of mileage out of - Family Fodder (had no idea this would be so great when I bought it and the rest of the discography was interesting but not essential), Split Enz (wisely omitting the pre Neil stuff to make a coherent new wave statement), Heart (definitely all I need by them), Al Green (duh - easy contender for best greatest hits of all time), Orange Juice (paired with one of the Postcard comps, all I need by them), Steve Miller Band (a guilty pleasure, shame it doesn't have some of his early hits and psych stuff, glad it doesn't have his final hit 'abracadabra'), Oingo Boingo (never felt the need to go further here either), and as discussed above, ABBA gold, Queen (the 80s cassette that had all the hits including Bohemian, We Will Rock You, Bites the Dust, and Under Pressure), the Beatles Red/Blues, the Fleetwood Mac Green. Legend was a curse, kept me from buying Catch a Fire for a long time.

There needs to be a new Wire best of I think, disc one the current consensus on the best 77-80 stuff, disc 2 81-current including some solo highlights (mostly from Colin). The 77-79 cd from the 90s is missing too many of their best songs (mannequin, fragile, too late, heartbeat, map ref, 15th, go ahead, midnight banhof cafe) and the a-list one is a bit boring after a while.

> I legitimately love a lot of The Police's deep cuts and B-sides

Same, but the b-side comp doesn't really work as a listening experience, and they still haven't reissued Brimstone and Treacle with the wonderful Sting solo track "Only You", or the Klark Kent stuff, and any proper playlist of "weird Police" should include those as well as a few Rumblefish cuts.

> Hard disagree on the Steely Dan comp also. Some things just can't be abridged.

I think that Gold comp was a vol. 2 meant to have minimal overlap with the 2lp greatest hits which was briefly available on CD but deleted for some reason (to make way for the pointless box set perhaps?)

The A List is often my go-to Wire, and I love Wire's first two albums.

Agree with those who have said Squeeze. Two I would add:
Old 97’s: Hit by a Train
Guided by Voices: Human Amusement at Hourly Rates

Both sum up the bands’ careers nicely and are sequenced well. They’re both my defaults when I want to listen to either.

Judas Priest - Metal Works is a great one for those that are new to JP because it successfully covers all of the eras through Painkiller and it orders them in a way where it's not chronological, which is boring.

Singles Going Steady is really the right answer to this.

Palace of Swords Reversed is the best introduction to the Fall and i've probably played it more than any of their proper album. But it doesn't have their characteristic sprawl, it's very manageable. It feels abridged, or actually more like an excerpt. It's a lot like looking at a detail of a larger picture.

There's something about it that feels 'cheap' or thrown together. The licensing thing makes sense.

The A List is an example of the inverse, I think. Like Os Mutantes' best of, where it's hard to single out one of the first three albums as the best, but any one of them would be way better than the comp.

Same, but the b-side comp doesn't really work as a listening experience, and they still haven't reissued Brimstone and Treacle with the wonderful Sting solo track "Only You", or the Klark Kent stuff, and any proper playlist of "weird Police" should include those as well as a few Rumblefish cuts.

well yeah their b-sides were all over the place so I understand that. I actually had no idea they released such a thing and looking at it now it doesn't include "I Burn For You" which is nuts, it's legitimately one of Sting's best tunes. must be some kind of rights issue with the soundtrack. anyway I'd be all in on a "weird Police" playlist though really this would be like 75% Stewart Copeland stuff wouldn't it? I mean that Klark Kent comp really does sound like a lost Police album to me

Re: Steely Dan, I prefer the albums, but they did release a two-LP set in the '70s that's really good. The outtake "Here At The Western World" is bait - it was later included on other compilations including Gold - and I would have preferred that they replaced it with "Deacon Blues." Had they released this set a few years later, they could have also included "FM" and "Hey Nineteen." With those tweaks, it would have been a perfect 20-track "hits" set, but it's still a great listen as-is.

What's the consensus among Fall fans (I am not one) re 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong? I bought it when it came out, liked one or two songs, but was not won over.

The Steely Dan compilation I had was 1985's A Decade of Steely Dan.

Split Enz (wisely omitting the pre Neil stuff to make a coherent new wave statement)

There's a light sprinkling of early stuff on disc 2 of Spellbound, the .au/NZ best of.

xp I’m a Fall fan [thru ‘89 or so] but never heard a Fall comp, and can’t really imagine it being a good vehicle for the group—or at least their early material.

Oh, I forget about the 458489 comps. Those are good.

I like 458489, it was done very well. Covers a specific period, which makes it a better and more cohesive listen.

IIRC, A Decade of Steely Dan was an early CD that was supposed to help sell the format. The original edition does sound great, it uses Roger Nichols's digital transfers of the original master tapes. (Nichols knew CD's would probably take-off and made sure the best possible digital masters would be ready ahead of time.) Even though it covers the entire span of their pre-reunion output, It's a little short at 14 songs so It's missing key songs.

> Like Os Mutantes' best of, where it's hard to single out one of the first three albums as the best, but any one of them would be way better than the comp.

Wow, I gotta say I think this is one of the very best single-artist single-disc comps out there, in the exalted firmament of In The Jungle Groove (another one not yet mentioned), but I spent so much money on the albums when they were import cds in the 90s that I sometimes forget to put it on instead. The selection of very un-Mutantes sounding late-period tracks - the english Baby, the fake mexican and fake santana songs - is inspired because they end up giving the comp a sort of sprawling weird diversity.

We haven't really talked about this genre of 90s world reissue comps... Serge Gainsbourg's Comic Strip/du Jazz dans le Ravin, Best Best of Fela Kuti, Ethiopiques, 100% dynamite, mondo morricone, etc...

No one's mentioned De La Soul's Timeless yet.

Well, Ethiopiques and 100% Dynamite were V/A comps, and "Mondo Morricone" is not a 'greatest hits' collection.
xp

He has at least several 'greatest hits' type releases, most notably the 'Fistful of Film Music' Anthology, but there are dozens of better 'specialty' compilations for each style.

For the "mondo" stuff 'Eviva! Morricone' has been my go-to.

The Best Best of Fela Kuti is kinda weak because it cuts the songs down, frequently omitting the long instrumental sections that kicked them off.

Haha, I can think of a couple of artists who would arguably be well served by a compilation that omits the long instrumental sections, but Fela Kuti obviously isn't one of them. That's a dealbreaker.

Hard disagree on the Steely Dan comp also. Some things just can't be abridged.

― enochroot, Monday, June 28, 2021 3:34 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh I'm with you--no SD compilation is a substitute for the original albums, but because I was introduced to Steely Dan via the Gold compilation at a very young age I have a soft spot for those particular tracks in that particular order. It was a trip to hear the studio version of "Bodhisattva" several years later after only knowing the raucous mid-fi live version with the drunken intro monologue from that comp.

My intro was the Showbiz Kids comp, which has the same problem: it's so good, I had to get all the albums. I never listen to the comp anymore

I have the Every Breath You Take: The Classics comp, and I do like it better than any of their albums, but I'd slot at least a few more tracks on it. Weird that it's missing "So Lonely" and "Canary in a Coalmine", two songs I've heard on the radio

Howard Jones and Style Council have enjoyable best-ofs but I've never felt the need to go further

Turns out "Singles Going Steady" is a comp. I wasn't sure until just now.

― billstevejim, Friday, July 20, 2018 5:39 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I keep second guessing that one too

― Gâteau Superstar (dog latin), Friday, July 20, 2018 5:41 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's a comp, but it sort of stands apart because most of those songs don't appear on any other album.

It's a comp that plays like an 'all killer no filler' album. Which is remarkable considering the chronological sequencing. It's also very clever. The title is clever, putting the b-sides on side b is clever...

Going for the obvious ones but these are the ones I either own or I have seen on my friends' houses:

ABBA - ABBA Gold
Al Green – Greatest Hits
Björk – Greatest Hits
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Legend
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Joy Division - Substance
New Order - Substance
Fugazi - 13 Songs
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle
The Cure - Galore
Rolling Stones - Forty Licks
Depeche Mode - The Singles 86>98

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91f9RepvqrL._SX355_.jpg

this creedence collection is by no means comprehensive -- it only has five songs on it -- but it's perfect for when you want to ball and have a good time

cash money records platinum hits vol 1
oyasumi hologram 1
perfume complete best

No one's mentioned De La Soul's Timeless yet.

The U.S. version (or maybe just the most common version worldwide) is a great singles compilation, but that's another one that got a different track list elsewhere, this time in Australasia. The U.S. version is better, though De La Soul Is Dead had some great tracks weren't released as singles so a singles collection can't do it justice.

The Best Best of Fela Kuti is kinda weak because it cuts the songs down, frequently omitting the long instrumental sections that kicked them off.

Unfortunately, those tracks are so long that a concise best-of or "hits" collection isn't possible without big edits. Similar to James Browne's 20 All-Time Greatest Hits!! (all single edits which cut out a lot, if not nearly as much), I think The Best Best of Fela Kuti is a nice sampler and a good intro for those completely new to his musical world. But a box set compilation would be great too for those who prefer those tracks uncut.

I have the Every Breath You Take: The Classics comp, and I do like it better than any of their albums, but I'd slot at least a few more tracks on it. Weird that it's missing "So Lonely" and "Canary in a Coalmine", two songs I've heard on the radio

Yeah, Greatest Hits had "So Lonely," though it didn't have "Canary in a Coalmine." "When the World...." and "Driven to Tears" are also great and the former got a ton of radio play - I put those on my homemade comp. Zenyatta Mondatta is possibly the only Police LP that I might like from start-to-finish.

Turns out "Singles Going Steady" is a comp. I wasn't sure until just now.

Possibly the greatest album ever made from a basic singles compilation. I didn't realize it when I first got it because it sounded so cohesive, but when I got familiar with the band, I discovered that they actually sequenced the 45 A-sides on the LP's A-side, and the 45 B-sides on the LP's B-side. You could say that's unimaginatively logical and straightforward, but it plays so well, some things just work themselves out.

*James BROWN

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/4TcAAOSw4eRgfe1M/s-l500.jpg

It's def "Singles Going Steady"

But I think my second fave is Motorhead "No Remorse"

No Remorse is a great compilation because Lemmy got word that the label was gonna put one out, so he took the project over and sequenced it himself, plus added four tracks by the then-new lineup of the band to prove that they weren't has-beens.

Re James Brown, a standard "greatest hits" is never gonna do it — the compilations from the late '90s centered on short time periods are fantastic: Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang, Make It Funky: The Big Payback 1971-75, and Dead on the Heavy Funk: 1975-83.

Emperor did an excellent best of. I prefer it to listening to their albums

Emperor did an excellent best of. I prefer it to listening to their albums

Did they pull a ZZ Top and overdub the drums?

This Cat Stevens CD is surprisingly good, maybe the best out there:
https://www.discogs.com/release/594021-Cat-Stevens-Remember-The-Ultimate-Collection

Look like his own indie release, but it reuses what may be the masters from the original Island CD releases, supposedly the best sounding digital masterings of his music. The type of compilation I like from an artist that doesn't figure among my favorites - scoops up all the best stuff and puts them together in a way that leaves the impression that there's more to explore. Sometimes I'll be disappointed or sometimes I'll find I've underestimated them, but the point is it makes me give the rest of their catalog another chance. Even if a revisit proves disappointing, at least the hits CD earns them a secure place on my shelves.

Or rather not an indie release, Discogs lists Island and I just noticed their logo on some parts, though not very conspicuous

Ghastly album art, though.

oh yeah. that's why i thought it was a self-release

I've never heard that particular compilation, but I really doubt that mixing up his 60s pop songs with the 70s folk songs would work (instead of putting them in chronological order).

omg - that cover art is all-time

I've never heard that particular compilation, but I really doubt that mixing up his 60s pop songs with the 70s folk songs would work (instead of putting them in chronological order).

Yeah, chronological might be better. It generally is for compilations. I'm not a fan though, so mixing it up still works for me - I think the changes keep me on my toes.

The cover is awful, but I'll say it's kind of charming to me. Like I never think of Cat Stevens unless he pops up in a good movie like Rushmore. But the title feels more like "Remember Cat Stevens?" to me, like "whatever happened to him?" and the picture tells you everything there is, even in its low-budget look - the guy's on a different path and a long, loooong way from the music business.

Really wish ABBA Gold had replaced "Thank You for the Music" with "Lay All Your Love on Me." Would've made that disc perfect for me (and all the ABBA I'd ever need).

After going through Rufus's catalog, I have a much greater appreciation for The Very Best of Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - their albums aren't bad, they really stand out as a singles band, and that compilation (originally released in 1982) scoops up all the hits. On paper it sounds utilitarian, but it really is their best stuff and it's sequenced into THE great Rufus album IMHO. I don't even fault them for missing out on their last hit, "Ain't Nobody" from 1983 - the sound is so different, it would have disrupted the cohesiveness of the whole LP. I just wish one of the audiophile labels would remaster it - the current CD was done in the '90s, and it sounds too bright to me. (First pressing even had an egregious error on "Once You Get Started," where they overlooked a bad splice that messed up the master tape. Some copies are still out there even though MCA had a replacement program for it.) Also the packaging really sucks, like they were told to whip up something on a $5 dollar budget:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/516xyaGasyL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg

If could they just fix the presentation, it would go over as an essential addition to any music library.

^^ bought this about 10 years ago, and, yeah, it needs "Ain't Nobody" and a better sleeve.

Cover Connection:

https://i.discogs.com/Xn7Wd8OmNryNDcgU_i52OAl7vn0Vw8Loc1vdDW_0Ros/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEyNDA0/Mjc5LTE1MzQ2MDQ4/MDEtNjMzMy5qcGVn.jpeg

Also early '80s -- was there a darts craze or something?

Visually punning on the theme of 'Hits'?

The Eagles one brings to mind skee ball even though the holes don't line up in a straight line.

I wonder how many "hits" collections used a pun for their cover art? Joni's was the first one I ever noticed - it's kind of a dopey joke but I always find it amusing:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pCD45UWRL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg

Extending the idea to her "misses" helped make an impression:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41t3MmoCCPL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg

Public Enemy's take on the same idea is especially memorable:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51zV4MbTTCL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg

there's an Australian band called Mondo Rock who I assume have zero profile outside Australia - I think of them as late 1960's rock vets trying to get a bite of the new wave cherry but unable to totally overcome their yacht rock leanings - with enjoyably FM-friendly results

ANYWAY while they were still a going concern they released a greatest hits record which is absolutely the only Mondo Rock record you might need (if you needed one at all, I absolutely do)

BUT the CLEVER BIT is that they included a new non-album single - 'THE MOMENT' and the hits LP is called 'UP TO THE MOMENT' - do you SEE?

I gave a Pop Con talk on the very subject.

Hah, that's awesome! Thanks Alfred!

xp LOL, that's like a Norm MacDonald joke.

Devo also, with the Hits and Misses thing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Hits#/media/File:Devo_Greatest_Hits.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Misses#/media/File:Devo_Greatest_Misses.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Hits#/media/File:Devo_Greatest_Hits.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Misses#/media/File:Devo_Greatest_Misses.jpg

Huh. Not sure why the image links aren't working, but these ones:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Hits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo%27s_Greatest_Misses

The Shadows, 'More Hits!'
https://i.discogs.com/1LPG8oorqZ3deXqfXoc1D0dhiZ4NOzUt5EC8ZUhqGnY/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:598/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE3NzAw/NTAtMTQ4NTkwMDg3/OC0yNDcyLnBuZw.jpeg

I used to have a Gilberto Gil compilation that was shoddily packaged but the songs were perfect. It was such a good introduction to his range of music: forro, samba, tropicalia, psych, melancholy ballads, etc.

After reading Alfred's Pop Con talk, I looked up Garth Brooks's best of and was stunned that it sold it's 10 million copies in a little over a year before he yanked it off the market. (That was in the U.S. alone, but it did equally phenomenal business in Canada as well.) I've seen him on SNL more times than I've played his records, but I keep forgetting how humongous the guy was in the '90s.

Also came across his previous "hits" CD which was apparently a McDonald's charity release. Pretty skimpy selection, but a much better album cover that visually translates the concept, tearing apart chunks of his other album covers to Frankenstein together a photo of him. (Helps that his album covers usually just show in the same exact post over and over again in different backgrounds and clothing.)

Garth Brooks' American sales are staggering, and I was there at the time.

(The Hits is terrific btw).

Oh man, I remember those McDonald's CDs, some thin greatest hits sets plus a teaser for the then-upcoming Roxette album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am4_Dcq1c6w

that's up there with the Rock Art cups Taco Bell offered for a weird pairing of artists (Scorpions and Bell Biv Devoe)

Ok, one of the Taco Bell Biv Devoe cups is on ebay for $10 and I must not buy it, because the clutter in my house needs to be addressed before I buy any more tacky bullshit. But how much do I want that? A cup that asserts that its music is "mentally hip-hop smoothed out on the R&B tip with a pop feel appeal to it"?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195705579028?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=pRzYl4DmThu&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

LOL. I'm guessing they didn't bother reaching out to Tom Waits and Iggy Pop for their Rock Art cup.

poll please

collect all five free Rock Art Cups yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Got another one:

The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Pretty much every artist under Sony's ownership has had their own installment in Sony's decades-long series of The Essential compilations. Some graphic design, with same logo font on top of a black & white photograph. To be fair, these are usually well done, and Vaughan's installment is still hands down the best compilation in his discography. I wouldn't call any of his albums bad, but I'd rather hear his music concentrated into this package. (The two-CD version, not the later "3.0" version with the underwhelming third disc.)

*Same graphic design

There's a really good one of those for, of all people, Anthony Braxton. The Essential Anthony Braxton - The Arista Years pulls two CDs' worth of material from a string of albums he put out in the mid to late 70s that are among his most accessible work. Honestly, if they made a physical version it would be almost the perfect entry point into his catalog, but it's digital-only (and on streaming services). Amazon Music link

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51N1QNqzlUL._UX716_FMwebp_QL85_.jpg

Over two decades and no mention of The Soft Boys - "1976-81", 2CDs of psych punk perfection.

https://i.imgur.com/j4iX86h.png

It makes me want to vomit that this has not been mentioned in this entire thread:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Blondie

Hold yer vomit, Dan Perry mentioned it in Feb. 2001

Super Furry Animals Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 is also perfect but not the best. that would probably go to Standing on a Beach, thou both bands are so much bigger than only their singles.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, November 30, 2016 10:06 PM (seven years ago)

Some to add that I don't think have been mentioned:

Echo and the Bunnymen - Songs to Learn and Sing
Bauhaus - 1979 - 1983
Swervedriver - Juggernaut Rides '89–'98
The Jesus and Mary Chain - 21 Singles
Spoon - Everything Hits at Once

Greatest Hits that are singles collections in chronological order appeal to me. Prime examples being the Pet Shop Boys 'Discography' and Erasure's 'Pop! The First 20 Hits' (if you got off the Erasure train then YMMV with 'Total Pop! The First 40 Hits').

Thanks Hideous Lump, I realize now I was feeling nauseous for unrelated reasons

xps Will have to check out that Anthony Braxton set. Sony's remastering program has been continuously very active, but it's frustrating and sad that almost everything they're remastering is strictly for the streaming and downloads.

I thought that Blondie set was remixed? I never bought it for that reason - I wanted the original mixes or if applicable the single mixes. I ended up burning a CD-R using the new box set from Numero.

I never got that Aerosmith compilation because they used single edits - not recreations but the actual dubs they created while making the edits to the full-length versions, i.e. a loss of one generation and whatever else they may have done to the sound besides the edit. I ended up burning a CD-R from the '90s remasters with a couple of changes and a few additional tracks.

The one for Echo and the Bunnymen is still THE disc I listen to whenever I play their music. I kind of wish they added "Villiers Terrace," but it's still a great compilation. (For some reason, one of the cassette editions in the UK has four more bonus tracks: https://www.discogs.com/release/8124339-Echo-The-Bunnymen-Songs-To-Learn-Sing )

The Jesus and Mary Chain compilation is a great idea. My only complaint is the mastering which is kind of brickwalled, but for those who don't care or actually like the mastering, it's essential.

Pet Shop Boys' Discography is virtually perfect, definitely on my short list of truly great and essential compilations. I even sprung for the UK CD even though it has the same track listing because I preferred the sound on that one. (Different mastering engineer, warmer EQ. The U.S. pressing is a bit colder and harder sounding.)

While I'm at it, I'll add The Best of OMD as another great compilation that's ALMOST perfect. My only complaint is the few alternate versions they stuck in there - I wish they used either the original single mixes or full-length LP versions where applicable.

My vote goes here:

― Steamtable Willie (WmC), Monday, January 2, 2012 1:36 PM

Dead image link now, so I'll rep again for The Smiths — Singles (1995)

No-one's mentioned Led Zeppelin yet. As a fairly casual Zep fan, the Mothership double CD has all I need.

does anyone remember these 'Winning Combination' CD compilations from the early 2000s that each featured hits by two different artists? Statistically, all of these are 50% more likely to be the greatest Greatest Hits collection than anything mentioned in the thread so far.

https://i.discogs.com/AW4ujzp9gJZwv9KqKHMIxJ8ay0Lk9qF3F4a4MUz6lMs/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTc4NDUw/MjItMTU0NzQxOTA4/MC04NzMwLmpwZWc.jpeg

https://i.discogs.com/wGY-uHAPqXjY0qahcvKDcVWrdCuk2eu7GJgaK2e91rw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:508/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE3MTg0/OTk3LTE2MTIwNDE2/OTYtNDA4OS5qcGVn.jpeg

https://www.discogs.com/label/475351-Winning-Combinations?page=1

Sly & the Family Stone probably

I'm often intrigued by the timing of greatest hits collections — Santana's (which is 7x platinum, supposedly) contains only songs from his first three albums, and came out right at the end of two years of almost entirely instrumental jazz fusion albums. Sly's came out because he couldn't finish a full batch of new songs — according to Wikipedia, "'Hot Fun in the Summertime' was intended to be included on an in-progress album with 'Everybody Is a Star' and 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)'; the LP was never completed, and the three tracks were instead included on the band's 1970 Greatest Hits LP."

Sly & the Family Stone probably

https://i.imgur.com/UjzQzsv.png
This is my Todd go to, also the first stuff of his I ever heard. Perfection in selection and sequencing imho

The Sly suffers a little because it's pre-Riot. Around ten years later the put out a double-LP (eventually a single CD) called Anthology that duped the the Hits tracklist and added "Don't Call Me..." and the Riot & Fresh singles.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/anthology-mw0000199351

To state the obvious: if you're a fan...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World:_Their_Greatest_Hits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_3_Dog_Night

I have the first, not the second. Advantage of the second is the inclusion of "Out in the Country," but there's probably waste, too.

Disc one of the UK version of Bowie's 'The Singles Collection' covers 1969 to 1977, roughly in chronological order but has a few amendments to the running order for the sake of sequencing, and includes a non-album single ('John, I'm Only Dancing') and a live cover ('Knock On Wood').

Does Bowie have an ideal compilation? I own the 3CD version of Nothing Has Changed but I don't think that's actually a very good or representative best-of, and every other one seems to have some major omissions or weird choices, or both.

The double-disc Three Dog Night comp adds, in addition to "Out in the Country": "Celebrate," "Mama Told Me Not To Come," "Eli's Coming," "Easy to Be Hard," "Pieces of April," and "Try a Little Tenderness." To be honest, I could take or leave the last few of those, but those first few are pretty crucial --- I'd say it's pretty solidly their greatest Greatest Hits album.

Speaking of definitive 2xLP collections in the shadow of a more successful single-disc version: my real introduction to the Monkees was the two-disc, mail-order-only version of Then & Now... The Best of The Monkees from 1986. Absolutely wall-to-wall Monkees classics, and not saddled with the three new 80s recordings that appear on both the single-LP version and the otherwise more generous CD issue.

https://i.imgur.com/WLkLfkJ.jpeg

For Bowie I would say 'Changesbowie' is the best one.

(xpost) Ha! Almost did a direct shout-out to Doctor Casino on the Dog.

(And yes, "Mama Told Me Not to Come" is crucial, missed that--how did that ever get left off the single disc?)

I have the two-CD Celebrate set, which is packed and perhaps too much 3DN, but it manages to show how strong some of their album tracks were, the included prehistory is quality (including the Redwood version of "Time To Get Alone," produced by Brian Wilson), and the liner notes are very well-done.

The Sly suffers a little because it's pre-Riot. Around ten years later the put out a double-LP (eventually a single CD) called Anthology that duped the the Hits tracklist and added "Don't Call Me..." and the Riot & Fresh singles.

In terms of content, Anthology is a great compilation and probably their best. (Especially since they fit it on to one single CD.) Unfortunately, like Greatest Hits they used shitty-sounding fake stereo dubs of the three non-LP singles. Over time (a long time actually) true stereo mixes were eventually made one by one, and that's what you're likely to hear on newer compilations like Sly's own installment of Sony's Essential series. FWIW, I think their Essential set (which is a two-CD set) is overlong, diluting the impact of their best material.

Audio Fidelity's reissue of Greatest Hits goes for a lot of money and it was plagued by mistakes that took two recalls to fix, but it's probably my favorite compilation. I usually listen to Riot and Fresh in their entirety anyway (along with Stand!) so I don't mind how it cuts things off before Riot. The Audio Fidelity release has surround sound mixes that tbh I never listen to, but they also use the original mono mixes which for many of its tracks were THE hit mixes, so for that alone I prefer it over all other Sly compilations.

Re: Bowie, he deserved a box set modeled like James Brown's Star Time, but once Rykodisc released a more rarities-heavy set, it probably killed off the chances of that happening under their watch. Nothing Has Change is more like a Star Time box set but it's too short and misses too much essential stuff. I guess for new listeners, Changesbowie would be a good budget pick, though the really expensive gold CD edition is better simply because they use the original version of "Fame," not the remix done for the movie Pretty Woman. But now that CD prices have gone down the tubes, I'd recommend The Singles: 1969 to 1993 as the one to get if you only have one compilation you can listen to - I usually see it for less than $10, and it's TWO discs so it doesn't skip any of his classic studio albums and is more representative of each one.

Wow thanks for that info

No. Bowie's best comp is 1993's out of print Ryko The Singles Collection: every single through 1993. Essential.

maybe already mentioned, but i really love the Coltrane Atlantic Best Of comp.

https://i.imgur.com/UjzQzsv.png
This is my Todd go to, also the first stuff of his I ever heard. Perfection in selection and sequencing imho

Can't get the link to load, but I'm a newcomer to Todd and interested. What is it?

“The very best of TR”
He’s sitting barefoot on the floor in the dark and his name is written out in a kind of horror movie font

XP^^Rhino's The Very Best of Todd Rundgren, which features in the liners some funny comments from Todd about the nature of 'Greatest Hits' and how he doesn't necessarily agree that the included songs are truly his best stuff.

I haven’t heard this one but it looks pretty cool

https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-store/artists/todd-rundgren/the-complete-u.s.-bearsville-and-warner-bros.-singles/603497853878.html

the chronological singles comp 84-89 A-sides, which certainly isn't a better lp than Wonderful & Frightening or Nation's or Bend Sinister, but tells a great parallel story of the Brix years

https://i.postimg.cc/7PjGs3kx/chicago.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/jdNWGDxy/carpenters.jpg

I like them both. Everything you'd ever need, just before they both ceased to be of interest. (Actually, the Chicago comp is at least one song into their useless MOR decade.) Probably two of the biggest selling compilations ever at one time.

I'm not a fan of Chicago (I tried), but a solid update of that Greatest Hits would be to include ALL the hits they had when they put out that record (up to and including "Old Days") and to use the full-length versions preferred by the band. IIRC to would be 18 tracks at just a hair under 80 minutes. Would be a definitive CD reissue.

They'll always be a Top 40 band for me ("Questions 67 and 68" to "Feelin' Stronger" version), so honestly, full-length versions would be the last thing I'd ever want.

Thanks for the Todd answers. Looked up the liner notes on Discogs, fun read. One track after another: "What, this song? Yeah, meh. The lyrics are awful, that's why it was a hit."

Does Bowie have an ideal compilation? I own the 3CD version of Nothing Has Changed but I don't think that's actually a very good or representative best-of, and every other one seems to have some major omissions or weird choices, or both.

that 3cd version is the greatest greatest hits collection

The three-disc version of Nothing Has Changed received critical acclaim, with many praising its reverse sequencing as offering a different way to enjoy the artist's career.

First one I was aware of was The Best of Roxy Music (2001) but I’m sure there were others earlier. The very idea of this bothered my linear-thinking brain no end when I first saw/heard it, but it does flow quite well.

There is Absolute Classic Masterpieces by Felt from 1992 but I figure there has to be an earlier example.

when all is said and done...

https://i.discogs.com/Sk7nQMoR8jHWb-Dp7FD3oh-wqFkmS4b1a0YxL3YU43U/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:574/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTgwNjk4/Mi0xMzQ1MDA4ODQ5/LTI3MTMuanBlZw.jpeg

kinda almost perfect.

The first one of these that hooked me as a kid was the Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions with the blue cover… solid selection

everything felt did was perfect

One of those jukebox favorites for yeaaaaaaaars. xpost to scott

Gold Mine Trash was earlier

xp to Kim

they didn't need that long solo deebank track on ACM but its okay. its all good in the Felt hood.

xp I was answering my own question above regarding reverse order compilations.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/hvYAAOSwyTpjtcxg/s-l1200.jpg

It might as well be a different band of course, but this is still my favourite Fleetwood Mac 'album'.

that rules, I also really like this German reprise FM one from around the same time:

https://www.discogs.com/master/147914-Fleetwood-Mac-The-Best-Of-Fleetwood-Mac

I don't know that one - will have to seek it out.

What was the earliest reverse chronological greatest hits compilation?

There is Absolute Classic Masterpieces by Felt from 1992 but I figure there has to be an earlier example.

The same year there is Some Girls Wander By Mistake by Sisters of Mercy which starts in the middle then goes back to the beginning, probably a wise sequencing.

https://www.discogs.com/label/441825-Chess-Blues-Masters-Series

Literally in reverse chronological order, Pulp's 'Countdown 1992–1983'.

Bananarama Greatest Hits is not strictly reverse chronological, but the Stock-Aitken-Waterman years are up front and the earlier Swain-Jolley years at the end.

Underworld's 1992-2002 comp is insanely stacked, granted you probably couldn't make a bad UW comp if you tried, even still just insane how many bangers are on this thing

Re: Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, this CD (more or less culled from the Blue Horizon box set) was my introduction:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51cK6R+ctXL._SX300_.jpg

The only glaring omission is "Love That Burns," but it's a big one IMHO. I would've ditched the "Albatross" remake to make room for it (especially since the disc opens with the original "Albatross") but it's possible that remake was more or less the economic reason for producing this CD.

Need Your Love So Bad was playing when I got married, yet I've never heard this longer version! Damn.

"albatross" is one of the great achievements of western civilization

Not really the thread for it, but this 2-hour version of Albatross by Keith Fullerton Whitman also one of the great achievements of western civilisation: https://soundcloud.com/kfw/fleetwood-mac-albatross-blend

xp otm

It's PSB's Discography for me, no contest, BUT

"Live Rust" -- still the best-nearest-thing to a good "Best of Neil Young" intro that isn't overlong
"Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael" -- a lovely 1990s object, double CD chunky plastic case, handsome George on the packaging, and lots of Wham when they were still (somewhat) undervalued. The selection on "25" is better -- "Precious Box" is on it, for a start -- but this one is more perfect (and has a much better cover)

Finally landed on the one single-disc greatest hits that rivals Earth Wind & Fire's

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Respect-M.E..jpg

No. Bowie's best comp is 1993's out of print Ryko The Singles Collection: every single through 1993. Essential.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 9 June 2024 00:51 bookmarkflaglink

the thing with that one is, it isn't every single, and some of the songs weren't even released as singles. different track listings on UK vs US as well so they both have different omissions

"Live Rust" -- still the best-nearest-thing to a good "Best of Neil Young" intro that isn't overlong

Live Rust has the weird reggae Cortez the Killer which drives me nuts

I like Live Rust, and Decade misses a lot--impossible not to over a modest three albums--but I'd still take Decade. The new songs were really exciting at the time, topped by unearthing "Sugar Mountain."

what's the best best-of/comp for a band/artist that never had an album? this one goes in my top ten:

https://i.discogs.com/8CWtgDpL4v8OLjsIc1evPLp-A3RrgMEWLUMQJicsoWQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:539/w:540/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE2MTQ1/NzgtMTM4OTUwMTYw/MC02OTU3LmpwZWc.jpeg

also this. and if you have never listened to The Poets, you totally should!

https://i.discogs.com/mG4CiF1wKth3ZU9B_4-qTk1_kUpV8tAkF-mmXbFVxic/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:587/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTUwNzQ5/ODktMTU0NjI2NDMy/OC05NTU1LmpwZWc.jpeg

The Essential Taj Mahal. I don’t know lots about him, but this contains all the “hits” I knew of, and with two discs I don’t have an urgent need to research his dozens of other albums.

― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, October 19, 2020

One of my all timers is his Best of vol 1 from ‘81,

xposts

Lol this was the only version of Cortez I knew for a long time - when I eventually heard it on Decade, I was like "where's the reggae bit?"

xps The Missy Elliott disc is awesome. Anyone know why it was never issued in the U.S.? (Not that it matters - imports for it are cheap. I got another copy last year to replace one a friend never gave back for $10.)

No actual hits, but The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History. I downloaded it years ago, but just bought it for real last week and have been listening to it in the car the last few days. The two songs Nirvana covered, "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," are both brilliant (with great user-created videos available on YouTube). Many other excellent songs: "Son of a Gun," "Rory Rides Me Raw," "Bitch" (sung by Frances McKee, who looks like Mary Lynn Rajskub on her gatefold photo), "No Hope." Of the 19 songs, the only one I'd remove is the Divine cover ("You Think You're a Man")--just feels a little gimmicky and anomalous to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toQx3VavKqk

> Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

i don't think he does

It's so weird--there's the title ("does"), the chorus ("doesn't"), and then Nirvana changed the title to match the chorus.

odd, i've always known it as the latter

odder still, the lp i have doesn't even contain it:

https://www.discogs.com/master/318194-The-Vaselines-Dum-Dum

"wants me" was something we'd sing in school assemblies

https://www.discogs.com/master/85439-The-Vaselines-All-The-Stuff-And-More - 'doesn't'. but everywhere else is 'does'

On Returning (1977–1979) is by far the Wire album I've listened to the most.

The lp misses out a bunch of tracks to fit ("Mannequin" ???) but it's expensive now.

The two songs Nirvana covered, "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,"

Nirvana also covered Son Of A Gun

Mannequin isn't on the CD either. I like the live version of 12XU it opens with

Oh that’s right.

It was “Dot Dash” I was thinking of.

what's the best best-of/comp for a band/artist that never had an album?

Alan Braxe & Friends - The Upper Cuts

or maybe Basic Channel - BCD

Ah, the Vaselines, they used to provoke a mass exodus to the bar whenever they were the support act at gigs in Glasgow... which seemed to be often.

You know what is a solid greatest hits album that could really have been mentioned in this thread earlier?

Idol Songs: 11 Of The Best (1988).

The Boy Child compilation is all I need from Scott Walker's early career.

I’m three ales and a gummy into the evening and ready to declare that disc one of ZZ Top’s Rancho Texicano best of is my ideal example of this.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51YVKjG83VL._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Marshall Tucker Band's first "greatest hits" album, first released in 1978, easily found on a CD that usually sells for a dollar or two.

They've since released a longer and "remastered" Greatest Hits collection, but I think their music wears thin pretty fast. The original compilation is only eight songs long and it plays like a solid album, likely all you need if you're not taken with them. (Even here, the hits play like an album rather than a compilation, with one mighty peak, a couple of smaller ones and the rest simply pleasant.)