Artists/bands with whom the Greatest Hits/Best Of/Singles collection is probably the only thing you ever need to own.

rolling stones
blondie

any disco band

FGTH is one of the few where it isnt true - the first album is usually cheaper than the hits collection and has all of them anyway, you gain nothing by owning anything from their 2nd.

little richard?

I have to disagree with the person who said the Buzzcocks. The first 2 albums have some great album tracks!

My Sudden Infant tape from the RRR recycled cassette series has Chronicles Vol 1 on the B-Side. I'm sure there's decent album tracks elsewhere, but Creedence were a singles band, and this comp has 'em all. It's actually labelled Aerosmith though.

I remember when I was about five or six, I thought the contents of blank tapes were dictated by the name on the tape. Cannily, I took a blank tape, wrote Michael Jackson on it and stuck it on.

No Michael Jackson came from the stereo, but think I don't think I spelled it right.

what absolute twaddle.

will have to respectfully disagree. Even if you're considering PopArt to be their "greatest hits" then you're missing a lot of great album tracks and b-sides

also will echo Tom's FGTH disagreement (is that a word?), as WTTP is a solid album from front to back and that's pretty much all you need from them (though I do like Rage Hard)

My vote, after much consideration, is INXS. Great singles, the albums are a bit crap though.

And probably (to a large extent) Erasure, if anyone would ever put out a good greatest hits record.

My suggestion : Cabaret Voltaire. There's still an opportunity for a killer complete singles 2CD or 3CD comp across all labels, but given that it doesn't exist, the 2 original sound of sheffield comps are all you really need.

Also the Black Sabbath 2CD Best Of is pretty much all I need from them. I know the first four albums are all great, but I am happy with the best of.

Likewise The Bee Gees 2CD 'Hits', although I really should investigate some of the early albums.

The Meters? Their best of is great stuff from beginning to end, but do I need the individual albums? Probably not.

are you trolling here? insanity.

agree with sean gramophone's suggestions; Nirvana s/t is all you need, and a career-spanning 2CD best of comp would do for Marley

but yeah, most artists would qualify
my controversial suggestions: Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z

Farther Along: Flying Burrito Brothers--Covers pretty much everything worth hearing of the Parsons-era Burritos

Whatever the Police greatest hits album is. Again, aside from a few stray album tracks, this has everything.

Talk of Nirvana is just silliness. Everything they did is great.

unfortunately, it's almost true

yes, guess i was wrong with psb.

From first ska single in 1962 to "Uprising" in 1980, on a 2CD set? Total nonstarter.

Bust Rhymes, maybe? I haven't really listened to his albums though.

ultravox, on the other hand....

Totally disagree with The Cure--their goth stuff are mostly brilliant album tracks.

It does on the American Pleasuredome, at least.

As for these Depeche/Siouxsie/Bauhaus claims, madness.

Madness!

The Smiths? No way!

Same with Fatboy Slim.

-- Ned Raggett

Madness is right. You can do without ANY Bauhaus just as easily as Bauhaus decided they could do without Peter Murphy. (Love And Rockets are a different story, fortunately.)

any disco band

You are completely off your fucking rocker if you believe this. Sorry to be so adamant, but I am simply too shocked to respond otherwise.

Hall & Oates is OTM.
and I submit: Sade.

ok good!
xp

and as for kevin: NOBODY LIKES A BREAD TROLL!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/475460412_e04902b3d1.jpg?v=0

well, i mean, i could give you a list of jimmy castor albums that are really good and/or great albums. he had a bunch.

the first FF greatest hits is coming out in a few weeks and the tracklist actually leaves off a good amount of notable singles (I'll Stick Around, DOA, Let It Die, The One, etc.)

Wow, just looked at the tracklist and they did kinda drop the ball on that.

cameo
gap band
jackson 5
sam & dave

xxpost I have only love for you, Scott. But I paid cash money for that It's Just Begun/Phase Two twofer and now wish I went the greatest hits route. When I want an endless Muzak version of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," I'll step into an elevator.

Love,

The Bread Troll (tbh that post was Scott bait only apres la lettre as in "oh shit - now that I posted that, scott will come in here and prove me wrong"

So is the new Madonna best-of comprised of the radio-familiar versions or are there like 12" dance mixes etc on there?

I'm quite tempted to say David Bowie.

It's Just Begun and Phase Two are wonderful! I'd say those two albums and Hey leroy, Your Mama's Callin' You, Butt Of Course, SuperSound, and E-Man Groovin' are all worth owning.

cool, thanks scott

there are 9 - or maybe 10 - david bowie albums worth owning.

x-post

you know what alice cooper album i listen to more than any other alice cooper album? greatest hits. and i really like other alice cooper albums a bunch, but that damn thing, man, it's like the most perfect album ever made in the 70's when i hear it.

It's just that I don't find that Mr. Bowie is really an album-tracks kind of artist. Almost invariably the best tracks on a Bowie album are the hits, and the others are noticeably a step down in quality. But he's a fairly great artist though, so naturally even his second-rate material can be worth owning (and I own a few of his albums - though I don't spin them that often).

xp

The Sonics

Fred Neil

Bert Jansch, perhaps?

Fred Neil 2nded. Still pissed I lost that one somehow.

95% of the artists that I'm familiar with on this thread are bullshit. Devo? Bowie? Buzzcocks? Blondie? Leonard Cohen? Bruce Springsteen? Bnashees? Are you guys even music fans or just my mother's sockpuppets.

Although somebody successfully convinced me that the only thing you need to own by Devo is the double CD from Ryko that compiled most of the first three albums as mid-70s demos.
― Tourtiere (Owen Pallett), Friday, October 9, 2009 8:46 AM (1 hour ago)

There is no such a thing. You talking about Hardcore 1&2? There's only about 6 or the forty or so tracks that appear on their later albums. The rest are unreleased songs. Yes, it is essential but with the exception of about 4 or 5 songs, so are the first 5 devo albums.

Answers from the future..........................................................

The Killers
The Shins
Franz Ferdinand

― kornrulez6969

Please oh please can the Shins one be called Greatest Shits?

I'm not actually sure there is a Jansch best-of. But he's the sort of guy (in my mind) for whom a best of would be all you need. I say that as an owner of a few of his albums.

I'd tentatively second the Townes Van Zandt proposal above. I really like his studio albums, but when I listen to Live Old Quarter, I just think it's a perfect encapsulation.

Madonna

― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius)

Don't agree with this. The first 4-5 albums are all great and worth owning, and are pretty uniformly excellent.

95% of the artists that I'm familiar with on this thread are bullshit

You might want to rephrase that. Only joking -- I know what you mean. I think this is such a subjective thing as to make agreement almost impossible. We all have different levels of fandom for different artists.

Glen Campbell is another one, IMO.

This thread should be renamed "list artists that you don't know much about".

http://rangerland.net/forum/uploads/photo-245.png

This thread should be renamed "list artists that you don't know much about".
― everything, Friday, 9 October 2009 19:55 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

Perhaps. But there is so much music out there, that you have to make choices. And sometimes a greatest hits (or whatever) is all the time you can afford to give to a certain artist before you die. I can't explore the darkest depths of everybody's back catalogue. There are entire genres I don't know much about. What's new.

This thread - the short version:

Poster A (who only likes a few songs by Band X): Band X
Poster B (who loves Band X): Are you crazy?

repeat ad infinitum

annie lennox

Madonna, seconded. And you don't even need ALL the hits, the new the 1CD version will do.

Poster B (who loves Band X): Are you crazy?

Now that I ponder the spirit of the original post, maybe it's best to think of it as "Artists with whom the Greatest Hits is sufficient for 90% of those who'd be interested"

Greatest Hits of Blondie or the Cars is pretty flawless, but I think listeners would be better off just owning Parallel Lines or the Cars S/T.

It's interesting. I hold Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen in very high esteem, but I do think they can be summed up with their Best Ofs. If you need more, you probably want it all. Tom Waits, a notch down for me, can't be summed up that way. As I think about artrock groups, from Jethro Tull to Brian Eno to Sonic Youth, I can't imagine any way to compile highlights that do them justice. What makes their best songs work varies so much that's kinda grotesque when they're cherry picked.

I am an albums guy and I say no band whose creative heyday was in the mid 60s or later I would want to own only singles by. Not even archetypical singles bands like Jackson 5 or Sweet.

Pre-Beatles, now there's another story.

Greatest Hits of Blondie or the Cars is pretty flawless, but I think listeners would be better off just owning Parallel Lines or the Cars S/T.

In fact, listeners should own the first four Blondie albums and "The Cars", "Candy-O", "Shake It Up" and "Heartbeat City". All eight are GREAT albums more or less all the way throughout!

The Birthday Party - Hits

Fibonaccis- Repressed (The Best Of)

Geir Hongro OTM.

Emperor's double album best-of managed to collect only good tracks and left out everything else, so that.

― dog latin, Friday, October 9, 2009 9:20 AM (6 months ago)

o_O. and give up listening to In the Nightside Eclipse and anthems to the Welkin at Dusk?

Stone Roses, as it has more content that all of their albums combined it almost seems.

I've been thinking about this idea - not just in terms of official best-of compilations but also playlists one makes to boil down a large back catalog to something under 2 hours. I mean, while I adore XTC, sometimes I just want a slice of this and that instead of entire albums. In that case, 2cd anthologies almost always satisfy that itch (because single discs usually leave me wanting more). A great live set (Johnny Cash's prison albums) or a Peel session comp (The Smiths) is often what I reach for.

XTC have that Coat of Many Cupboards boxset which is very very good.
I do see what you mean. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer have the 2 disc Altantic Years comp and it's really everything anyone needs from the group. But they have good albums anyway, so you can just nab one of those.

Here's my pick - The Jackson 5: They really are just hits + covers + filler. The only real exception I guess is Destiny which was released as "The Jackson". For that matter most of Michael's solo material really is not very good outside of the hits.

Squeeze!

Tom Petty, Duran Duran, Focus, The Skids, Sweet, House of pain , Al green

Bobby Fuller Four

Al Green so fucking rong it hurts

The obvious answer is The Beautiful South. Was playing Carry On Up The Charts yesterday and thinking how great it still sounded. And it's really all you need by them.

oh wait we have a new rong contender

the name of this board is "I Love Music"

Disagree about Duran and Petty. I want to disagree about Squeeze, but that's probably right.

Although the 2000 "Anthology" from Pety is pretty close to complete, but it still leaves off "Make It Better" and "It Ain't Nothin' To Me" from Rebels, which are essential in my book.

Interesting to see Eurythmics on the list above. Left wondering what the crossover between the music I love by them and the music by them that was popular enough to be on a Best of is.
The great stuff by them is on In The Garden the first lp with the Conny Plank production & guest appearances by 1/2 of Can & Blondie.
I didn't think they became popular until at least an lp further down he road. & I'm not sure how well known that first lp is.

most normal people don't know that album. there were people who bought sweet dreams who went back and bought the first album and then they never played it (see also: the people who loved cupid & psyche and then went back and bought songs to remember and then never played that or even college rock fans who loved the song "talking to a stranger" by hunters & collectors and bought the album with that on it and then tempted fate and went back and bought the album that H&C made with conny plank and never played that or the people who loved "power and the passion" by midnight oil and dug the 10 to 1 album and then went back and bought one of their earlier albums and never played them oh i could go on and on). and then there is everyone else who never heard it at all.

A lot of country acts would fit the bill. The catch is that you'd need several hits/singles collections.

i think in the garden, sweet dreams, touch, 1984, and savage are all well worth owning. savage might actually be my favorite album.

with squeeze i just never feel like putting on one of their regular albums when i can hear wall to wall squeeze-y goodness on that one little old 45's and under comp.

Savage is easily the best Eurythmics album