Greatest Hit or Albums

guitars4you

Just heard a debate on R2 about Greatest Hit or Album - So thought I'd open it up here

In many ways I think it depends on the artist and how big a fan you are of them - The likes of Bowie, P Floyd, Beatles albums, to their fans are so credible in their own right - But say Madonna then for me it would be Greatest Hits only, with little/no interest in listening to additional material as far as I'm concerned - Probably say the same for Elvis, as he also did a lot of mediocre crap from the movies etc 

As it happens I'm not a Bowie fan - I don't dislike him, but never got into all his material, so apart from Let's Dance (and many Bowie fans say this is his worse material) I don't own any album, other than Greatest Hits 

Queens Greatest Hits has just hit 7 million sales - As far as this album goes then I'm in both camps - I like 2/3 of the early albums like Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera - But as time went on I only followed the singles 

Equally, if you are of a certain age and know little about a certain band, then the Greatest Hit can be the way into finding out more about that artists

If I look at my record/CD collection I have a mix of both - Sometimes I play say the Greatest Hit album as I can just have it on in the back ground ie if working or driving - But if I want to sit down, relax and listen and have time to go through various albums, then I'll do that as well 

Equally I suppose a Greatest Hit means you can get into something straight away - Whilst an album might have to be played a bit to get into it - I had to recently play Eric Gales Crown about 5/6 times to start to like it - Now I love it 

So for me I can go with either option

Sporky

On the Madonna front, I'd say Ray Of Light is the only stuff worth a go. She'd had all her singing lessons, and William Orbit produced. 

Reverend

Everybody knows that Madonna's best material was before she went solo.

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Just heard a debate on R2 about Greatest Hit or Album - So thought I'd open it up here

Funnily enough the same thing was mentioned on 5 Live this morning as well, maybe somebody was doing the rounds of the BBC stations.

It very much depends on the type of artist, I think.  If they're very much a Top 40 singles type of act - Steps or S Club 7 or any boy- or girl-band you care to mention - then there's probably not much reason to own anything other than a Greatest Hits.

If you're into rock music (using the term rock very broadly)  it's much more albums-based.  The hit singles, if there were any, are quite possibly the songs the fans like least.  They might even be songs the band never wanted to record but the record label insisted they "needed a hit".  No point buying a Greatest Hits in that case.

And I don't know if they discussed this, but there's a difference between a Greatest Hits and a Best Of - again depending on the type of artist. but you can have a very well compiled "best of" album which doesn't necessarily contain any "hits" at all. 

Of course the line between "albums" and "singles" has become rather blurred nowadays, with most music being streamed, which maybe makes the whole debate slightly redundant.

Philly_Q

Reverend said:

Everybody knows that Madonna's best material was before she went solo.

I bet you've got some of her band's early demos on acetates. 

scrumhalf

Cheap or second hand greatest hits albums were a decent way of getting into a band who had hits.

Or a sense of humour. 

TTony

Philly_Q said:

 If they're very much a Top 40 singles type of act - Steps or S Club 7 or any boy- or girl-band you care to mention - then there's probably not much reason to own anything

Philly_Q

TTony said:

Philly_Q said:

 If they're very much a Top 40 singles type of act - Steps or S Club 7 or any boy- or girl-band you care to mention - then there's probably not much reason to own anything

Yeah I know.... I spent a few minutes trying to think of a pop act whose greatest hits I would actually buy, but it was too much like hard work.

ICBM

Both, it depends on the band. Some bands I quite like haven't (in my opinion) done much worth listening to other than the greatest hits/best of. There are quite a few where I've owned several albums, but eventually realised I didn't like much other than the singles/signature songs, so got the greatest hits and ditched the albums. There are probably even more where I've bought the greatest hits first and never bothered to go any further.

Then there are other bands where I've got all the albums, or all the 'good ones' - and a few where I've got almost everything they've ever released, including having the greatest hits album as well as all the originals if it contains tracks not on any of the original ones. (eg Beatles Red and Blue albums, since some of their best songs are non-album singles.)

guitars4you said:

As it happens I'm not a Bowie fan - I don't dislike him, but never got into all his material, so apart from Let's Dance (and many Bowie fans say this is his worse material)

No, it's one of his best albums. Tonight was the really crap one. It's worth getting Best Of Bowie though, if you're even slightly interested - there's a good range right across his multiple reinventions.

ArchtopDave

Philly_Q said:

TTony said:

Philly_Q said:

 If they're very much a Top 40 singles type of act - Steps or S Club 7 or any boy- or girl-band you care to mention - then there's probably not much reason to own anything

Yeah I know.... I spent a few minutes trying to think of a pop act whose greatest hits I would actually buy, but it was too much like hard work.

This kind of thinking does not really stand up, if you care to use a decent time span into the past. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and many others first came to the attention of most people through their hit single releases. 

Philly_Q

ArchtopDave said:

Philly_Q said:

TTony said:

Philly_Q said:

 If they're very much a Top 40 singles type of act - Steps or S Club 7 or any boy- or girl-band you care to mention - then there's probably not much reason to own anything

Yeah I know.... I spent a few minutes trying to think of a pop act whose greatest hits I would actually buy, but it was too much like hard work.

This kind of thinking does not really stand up, if you care to use a decent time span into the past. The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and many others first came to the attention of most people through their hit single releases. 

I wasn't saying there's no band that's ever had good hit singles!   

I just meant exactly what I said - I was trying to think of a (relatively) recent "singles band" to use as an example, and I couldn't be arsed to try to think of a really good one (...some of the Steps singles are alright, to be honest).

CaseOfAce

Mr. Brown : 'Like a Virgin' is not about this sensitive girl who meets a nice fella. That's what "True Blue" is about, now, granted, no argument about that.

Mr. Orange : Which one is 'True Blue'?

Nice Guy Eddie : 'True Blue' was a big ass hit for Madonna. I don't even follow this Tops In Pops shit, and I've at least heard of "True Blue".

Mr. Orange : Look, a*sshole, I didn't say I ain't heard of it. All I asked was how does it go? Excuse me for not being the world's biggest Madonna fan.

Mr. Blonde : Personally, I can do without her.

Mr. Blue : I like her early stuff. You know, 'Lucky Star', 'Borderline' - but once she got into her 'Papa Don't Preach' phase, I don't know, I tuned out.

Philly_Q

From a personal perspective, in my teens and 20s I would never have bought a Greatest Hits or Best Of.  I thought it was extremely uncool and quite possibly should've been an arrestable offence.  If you like a band, buy their albums, end of...

I have relaxed that stance a little in subsequent decades.  But compilations don't loom large in my collection.  I've got a few best-ofs by "my album bands", because they have previously-unreleased bonus tracks.  A couple of compilations of late-70s pop/disco hits because those were my Top 40 years.  Slade's greatest hits.  The Beatles Red and Blue albums.

There are some really good Rhino Records compilations, well put together with nice little liner notes booklets.  I've got a Ramones one, Albert King, Link Wray... probably some others I've forgotten.  That's about it.

munckee

Depends if u got into them in real time or retrospectively. Also some bands had a hot streak in terms of what I like, U2 up to and including Achtung Baby. REM Out if Time, Green and Automatic for the People are all better than their best of.  

A lot of older bands Kinks for example I’ve listened to the best off and subsequently bought other albums or just stuck with best of. 

Others like Steeley Dan I bought the best of and ended up binning it and resolving never to listen to them again. 

Philly_Q

munckee said:

Others like Steeley Dan I bought the best of and ended up binning it and resolving never to listen to them again. 

Oh, that's another one I've got!  I like it, but it wasn't enough to make me buy their albums.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

munckee said:

Others like Steeley Dan I bought the best of and ended up binning it and resolving never to listen to them again. 

Oh, that's another one I've got!  I like it, but it wasn't enough to make me buy their albums.

I've got most SD albums and 2 greatest hit albums of theirs - I had to buy the 2nd version as it is the only SD album with the track FM on it - Otherwise I think the only other album it could be found on was a compilation from a movie soundtrack called FM - Never seen the movie

Again, in the car, whilst working, I might play the greatest hits as easy to listen to - But if I get in that serious sit down, relax and listen mode, then I'll pick one of their albums 

I think that sometimes, with an album, you need a mediocre/poor track, in order to further emphasis how good another classic track is 

PhilKing

I used to buy the compilation albums that the record labels put out, as you got to hear bands you wouldn't have otherwise.  Things like El Pea, You Can All Join In, Nice Enough To Eat.  Also live albums like the Greasy Truckers Party or Glastonbury Fayre.   This was before any way of hearing new music other than asking the record shop to play an album.

CaseOfAce

Years ago I bought Steely Dan's greatest hits - HATED it... but for some inexplicable reason bought each of the individual albums subsequently - it took me a long time to get to like them - partly due to Fagen's voice.

I was never sure whether I admired them or liked the music...
and then one day - (much like suddenly getting a taste for coffee or alcohol) - it all made sense.

That Wayne Shorter sax solo on Dr. Wu - is for me one of the greatest solos in popular music of the 20th Century.
Period. 

No bullsh*it. It's just freaking astonishing.

I even love the much despised Gaucho album - the title track is brilliant.

Special mention to The Pointer Sisters cover of Dirty Work - which does the unusual feat of taking a Steely Dan track and improving upon it. Superb.

"Light the candle, put the lock upon the door, you have sent the maid home early, like a thousand times before..."

blobb

The Smiths were never an album band. They wrote 3 minute singles (because Morrisey was obsessed with 60's girl groups).

 However, their best output for many fans was Queen is Dead. To me, I can' t get all that excited about it, Rank, the live touring version is much better and captures the energy much better than the studio production.

I'm a big fan of Meat is Murder as an album. It does everything an album should do, but hey, they're not an album band remember.

Hatful of Hollow is a collection of singles and B sides assembled because they were a singles band, it's not technically one of their albums but it's a great album.

When they had finished up and the license holders wanted to make some money we got the 'official' Greatest Hits (Best...I, Best...II, The Very Best of).

 I don't own any of these Greatest Hits collections, being a Smiths purist, but I love Hatful. For me Meat is Murder is the best thing they did, and that's an album.

Confused? (I haven't even mentioned Louder than Bombs or The World Won't Listen - both collections of singles, not albums and deffo not Best Of)

I think I would probably say I don't like Best of or Greatest Hits type things. Either get into the band you like or move on. Saying that though, I got into Camel via a Best of compilation. Contrary, Moi...?

lesyeuxnoirs

https://youtu.be/AbMSUQE36us

LPManic

I’ll put it this way - I’ve never listened to a greatest hits of any band that I’m seriously into. 

Love all the Greatest Hits of big pop acts. And we all know that the Wham! Greatest Hits is the best one of them all.