Artist Comp Sequencing: Search and Destroy

It seems that until the CD era, greatest hits albums were rarely chronological. They usually led with either the artist's biggest hit or their tacked on new single.

The Steps Gold album, which I bought on Saturday, is non- chronological (it front-loads the biggest hits), but bravely it puts the band's first and least characteristic hit, "5,6,7,8", slap bang in the middle of the CD. This doesn't actually work, aurally, but they couldn't very well start the record with it.

Similarly, ABBA Gold (non-chron) works better than the ABBA singles collection (chron) because you don't get all the glam in a big lump at the beginning and the icy bleak non-hits in a big lump at the end.

Anyone putting out a compilation on CD should put a chronological list in though, so fans can try that ordering out.

Oh no! The Curse of H has struck and my talking about Steps has killed the thread dead!

Okay, just to restore equilibrium, I'll add that neither Motorhead's No Remorse nor Best of are strictly chronological, both starting with "Ace of Spades", but who's gonna quibble over Motorhead sequencing? However, the Cure's Staring At the Beach, or whatever the CD's called, I couldn't imagine being any other way, even though the flow is erratic. My awareness of their path of releases is so ingrained a non-chron. sequencing would be highly disturbing.

Smiths' Singles tacks the re-issue campaign single There Is A Light... on at the end,after all their other singles featuring in chronological order.It almost sounds like an attempt to give the story a happy ending,especially after Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits is an interesting one - non-chronological,and it ends with a single (Thank You...) that manages to mention most of the other tracks on the album,which is either smart advertising or savage irony.The most recent Roxy Music compilation is in reverse chronological order,the only example of its kind that I can think of.

The Lush compilation also goes in reverse...

...as goes Pulp's Countdown, doesn't it?

Wire's A List was determined by a poll.

The recent Pink Floyd comp is entirely non-chronological and flows together pretty well - even with the jarring segues with the Syd-stuff and Waters' psychodramas.