The Top 50 Compilation albums ever (presented by Chris L)

fuuuck I was gonna go for the Anthology Of American Folk (again) until I saw Flex Your Head

nice variation on the theme here

is that LA Gemstones the triple MP3 thing? it's amazing

One Kiss obviously all-time as well

Yeah it went up to 10 discs' worth, iirc

Las Vegas Grind came out just as I was getting a bit tired of alternative rock and starting to explore older music. These ultra obscure 45s were right up my alley, an alley I didn't even know existed until I heard this album.

Lux and Ivy's Favorites obviously classic as well.

Missing some of my favorites but honestly too many good ones in here to even attempt a vote.

I dug out Saturday Night Fish Fry for the first time in well over a decade the other day and I was astounded at how consistently great it was, so I'm going with that.

yeah that one was a total revelation for me as well

Disco Not Disco, but only because it does a better job distilling into a single disc, compared to the six of Can You Dig It?

ONE KISS CAN LEAD TO ANOTHER, without hesitation. If you had included DIY UK Pop 2, it might've been a tougher call (although vol. 1 is certainly no slouch).

The inclusion of that and many other fine, fine comps encourages me to deep dive into this list.

I've been thinking for a while that there should be a thread to compile an imaginary One Kiss vol. 2. There is just so much amazing girl group stuff out there.

threads on that box note the Dream Babes series of comps, which I have still never heard

They're largely fantastic, very highly recommended. I have several other comps that are equally aces (will have to seek out the names).

I regret I haven't spent more time w/ the Numero girl group box, Basement Beehive.

^I have that and don't dig it that much

(also voted One Kiss here, based on the impact it had upon my life/taste)

I love a bunch of these but there is no better music than Studio One

btw - the Dream Babes comps are all UK groups (AFAIK), so it's a different thing

I have all the (Ace Records) Where the Girls Are and Early Girls CDs – a great next step after One Kiss.

Nuggets as I pulled that back in the day. II is almost as good too.

Either Goodbye, Babylon or the Lux & Ivy collection

Don't know a lot of these, but with Disco Not Disco already picked, and Smithsonian and first Nuggets mostly memory babes at this point, I'll go with New York Noise, which I'd still like to hear right NOW (and so I shall, knowing right where it is, in the cart to my left as I type).

Gee, I'd not encountered Beretta 70 before but given that euro crime soundtracks are almost the only thing I listen to these days the tracklist looks irresistible lol.

Then again pretty much every volume of Éthiopiques blew my mind in the '00s...

This list was made for an “all of the above” option

Studio One Rockers is such a great compilation. A perfect introduction to a golden period of Jamaican music.

Soul Jazz's Studio One Roots was another contender for the list. All of their reggae I've sprung for over the years are top-tier.

I want to single out one of the most recent comps on the list: Paris in the Spring. The title refers to the events of May 1968 and a darker mood that subsequently crept into a lot of French late 60s/early 70s music. The vibe is heavy on Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson with a touch of Jean-Pierre Melville/70s French crime films. Contains Nino Ferrer's "Looking for You," which might be one of the most cinematic songs I've ever heard (Aquarium Drunkard wrote about it)

Ethiopiques vs Studio One Rockers vs Tokyo Flashback... unfair!

xpost I somehow missed the inclusion of 100% Dynamite. I have yet to hear a Soul Jazz comp that was any less than fantastic and revelatory.

Another Soul Jazz classic I forgot to consider:
https://www.capradio.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=780/media/4063469/nu_yorica.jpg

That was a tour van favourite back in the late 90s! What better way to soundtrack a tricky autobahn junction than with Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted for Tokyo Flashback

would like to have seen The Indestructible Beat of Soweto here. Nu Yorika! and Nu Yorika 2! were both pretty great, but I had a hard time keeping up with the Soul Jazz output

a lot of these have been seminal to my listening and indeed to my development as a human being. i could never really pick just one.

voted African Scream Contest just cuz

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.