Greatest Hits V. Albums

What are the artists you tend to listen to in Greatest Hits sets as opposed to actual albums? Or artists you listen to some of their career as albums, and another part as a larger Greatest Hits collection to fill it in?

i overwhelmingly prefer albums over greatest hits. greatest-hit type artists, for me, are some 70s and 80s pop acts, e.g., air supply; little river band; juice newton; firefall.

Albums mostly.

For me, Greatest Hits albums are for pop artists with 3+ good singles spread out over LPs of very mixed quality or mood. Altered Images, Cars, Gap Band, Motels, Romeo Void... I really don't have many of these...

I can't wait for Ludacris' singles collection, then I'll finally pay for a full length and will listen to it all the time.

^^^ (xpost to Sanpaku)

I gravitate to Singles Going Steady and Decade usually before I listen to any particular Buzzcocks or Neil Young album. But the big one for me is the Smiths.

really? i consider the smiths a prototype "albums band," where even the filler is crucial to the context and vibe.

e.g., frankly mr. shankley, the perfect change-of-pace after the furious title track to the queen is dead; or i won't share you as the devestating, sad goodbye at the end of the strangeways album, and the end of the band's career together.

Greatest hits are nice when you want a constant stream of singles, e.g., 25-30 killer Depeche Mode singles in a row. There are days I'm in the mood to sit through Black Celebration or Ultra or something, but there are others when I'm just aching to hear the well-known stuff.

Pretty much applies to any artist with a long career and a solid string of singles, btw.

The first Smiths record I ever heard was Singles, and it was so perfect that I've kind of resisted digging any farther, not wanting to be let down. Pretty stupid I know, but Singles is that awesome to me.

Obv this works well with pre-50-60s artists who only really released singles.

The first Smiths record I ever heard was Singles, and it was so perfect that I've kind of resisted digging any farther, not wanting to be let down. Pretty stupid I know, but Singles is that awesome to me.

it is that awesome, it's true. fwiw, i highly recommend the full-lengths of the queen is dead and strangeways. really great all the way through.

Similar experiences, but not to that degree: the Cure, XTC (Waxworks/Beeswax)

four seasons anthology is one of my favorite albums

blink-182 wins this for me with their greatest hits album which immediately rendered the rest of their catalog irrelevant, and is probably one of my favorite mainstream rock albums of the last 10 years

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

I've always used A Collection of Songs Representing an Enthusiasm for Recording as my fill-in for pre-Transmissions Flaming Lips. Nice to see where they came from, but jesus some of those early albums are tough to sit through

Like the later albums amirite

Don't forget about Hit to Death in the Future Head -- it's their "forgotten" album in between the non-major label stuff and Transmissions.

xp

I'm not much on Greatest Hits rekkids, perhaps because it pulls the tunes away from their original artistic context. This is especially true of songs recorded since the advent of the album-oriented era, not so much back in the day when albums were assembled from tracks on assorted singles. Another point to keep in mind is that there can be a difference between 'Greatest Hits' and 'Best of...' Best of's can include interesting LP tracks & rarities, often making them much more interesting. In fact, I find the in many cases 'Greatest Hits' don't belong on 'Best of' sets, but I'm a little cranky like that.

I love Greatest Hits albums, so much! DO I really need to sit through all of Heart's '80s albums when I just want to hear "These Dreams" and "Alone"? I don't even listen to the other songs on that best of, so I don't think I'd have the patience for the albums, either.

Greatest Hits are a great place to start w/a band you don't know, too. Then whatever songs you like best = you buy the album with those songs. So many of my very very favorite bands, I started out with their greatest hits & worked backwards from there in this manner.

^^^ did this with Hendrix and Bowie

I listen to a lot of early '70s thud-rock (Humble Pie, Black Oak Arkansas, Free, Savoy Brown, etc., etc.) and most of those bands have well put together two-CD best-ofs, even while their actual albums may be out of print. So that's the way to go, for me.

there are plenty of Greatest Hits albums I grew up loving, but I decided as an adult to generally stick to albums, since if all I want from an act is the hits I can just pull them up on YouTube or whatever, and if I have a real interest in them it'd be more fun to hear all the deep cuts on the albums too. I still get best-ofs now and then if their back catalog is really huge and daunting or they did a lot of singles and stuff outside or albums or before LPs became the standard way of releasing music...really love having a George Jones 2CD comp, for instance.

Listening right now to:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4132V44YATL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

ha, and i'm listening to this:

http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu92/damien_stone/endless.jpg

That album cover was so scary to me when I was a kid.

Greatest hits collections have become a lot less important to me since vendors like iTunes and amazon began selling individual tracks.

Another best-of that I really loved when I got it, but which never inspired me to search out albums*:

http://img.noiset.com/images/album/elton-john-greatest-hits-97-album-cover-40713.jpeg

(*except for Rock of the Westies)

i've got a waterboys best-of, and i'm not sure if i should check out their other albums because like half of it is pretty meh

Greatest hits albums as good as or better than studio albums:

P-Furs - All Of This And Nothing
Sly Stone - Greatest Hits
CCR - Chronicles
LL Cool J - All World
New Order - Substance
Go-Betweens - 1978-1990
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - Fit To Be Tied

Sly Stone - Greatest Hits

this is a good example cuz it has some key stuff that's not available anywhere else

This thread has been fascinating reading, by the way. Has YouTube really obviated the need to put on a CD/vinyl version of your favorite hit? A solid GH has a consistency as solid as any album, by the way.

love the who's meaty beaty big n bouncy or whatever; choice early cuts w/non-lp action

also i just don't feel like i need another perry-era journey album besides "Greatest hits".

substance is kind of in that 12" exclusive netherzone, eh?

"love the who's meaty beaty big n bouncy or whatever; choice early cuts w/non-lp action"

ANyone mentions The Who, and the first thing my dad will say is that this is their best album.

My dad loves best ofs, though. My mom's even more extreme – she says the only albums anyone should buy is the album they do every year that has all the Grammy-award-winning songs for that year.

i say it's fun listening to best-ofs for the first time when you're just familiar with an artist's albums.

This thread has been fascinating reading, by the way. Has YouTube really obviated the need to put on a CD/vinyl version of your favorite hit? A solid GH has a consistency as solid as any album, by the way.

― cool and remote like dancing girls (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:25 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i like to sit down and listen to an album that was recorded and sequenced as a piece of work unto itself by the artist. i don't feel the need to do that so much with a hodge podge collection of songs cobbled together by the artist's label for the holiday season, even if song for song it may be just as enjoyable. there's no bigger picture to honor by patiently sitting through the whole thing, so i feel like i might as well just jump around YouTune or iTunes and grab just the song i want to hear at the moment.

I've been listening to Billie Holiday's Lady Day Greatest Hits album. I have Lady in Satin besides that, but no other albums.

Here's something interesting: When you want a Greatest Hits album but it's missing a really important song to you, so you kinda doctor the mp3 album to add an extra track to represent. Like Lady Day doesn't have "Crazy He Calls Me" on it, which I love. So I had to add it. Also, "I'm a Fool to Love You." On an Elton John Greatest Hits album I once added "Mona Lisas + Madhatters"

Mordy - I do that all the time! It just makes too much sense not to. I've added tracks to comps from The Birthday Party, Nick Lowe, Ultravox, Go-Betweens, and more just to round them up to perfection.

I am an album oriented chap, but for many pop artists I like to buy greatest hits. Often it is my introduction to their music, and if it is worthwhile I usually eventually get the albums.

Some greatest hits I own:

Madonna's Immaculate Collection (really wish they hadn't remixed them all)
Bob Marley's Legend
Gladys Knight
Marvin Gaye
Al Green

The Smiths, mostly.

This is the case with most pre-Beatles rock acts, and maybe the occasional 60s Motown act. Otherwise, I prefer full albums.

When they eventually release a best-of, Spoon.

Never listened to it, but can only this applies to Ash with their sole good album (1977)

never listened to their singles album, I meant

When they eventually release a best-of, Spoon.

― kornrulez6969, Sunday, May 9, 2010 11:51 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

^^
this