Greatest Hit or Albums

Tannin · August 2022

Albums every time. An album is a connected, ordered set of songs with some sort of theme. (If it is just random tracks, well it's probably crap anyway.)

The only exception is where the band themselves put a collection of odds and ends together, such as a few singles and an EP, and made a tasty dish out of the leftovers. Living in the Past is an example.

BlueStrat · August 2022

I have only a few greatest hits albums
queen (doesn’t everyone have this)
bowie
fleetwood mac
the eagles (I have no idea how I came to own this)
Rolling Stones
Bands that I’m only vaguely interested in, except the eagles who I have no interest at all.

I’d doubt I’d ever have a greatest hits album from a band that I was really into.

Just realised I have the Beatles hits cd but that was a Chrimbo prezzie

greatest hits are a great way to be introduced to a band. Years ago I was given a greatest hits of both Hendrix and SRV and that sparked my interest in guitar music.

After typing that I’ve remembered I also have Rory Gallagher greatest hits, but they’re absolute belters

richardhomer · August 2022

Interesting thread - though I might be about to make an uninteresting contribution…

The generally rule for me, is if I like a few singles, I’ll buy a ‘Best Of’. If I ‘really’ like someone, I’ll buy everything they’ve done.

There are some exceptions - notably Pink Floyd; I love Wish You Were Here, quite like Dark Side of the Moon and don’t like much else - especially The Wall (apart from Another Brick in the Wall and Comfortably Numb). A ‘Best Of’ to deal with the rest, would be fine.

Winny_Pooh · August 2022

I really dislike Greatest Hits as a rule. Bob

Dylan's best of actually killed any thought of him for years until I listened to Love & Theft, blood on the tracks and Highway 61 Revisited.

Marley's greatest hits misses out a bunch of good stuff, better to buy Babylon by bus if only trying out one album.

So with that said certain Greatest hits that are ok, maybe because some of these artists make alot of filler on each album

Fleetwood Mac, The Stones, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, The Doors & Enya

Oh yes, re Bowie the best of is decent enough but The Next Day, Ziggy stardust are standalone albums are worth listening to.

darthed1981 · August 2022

Of course, given we are in the 21st century the answer is "playlists"...

Grangousier · August 2022

Well, regarding Steely Dan, I managed to combine the two - in the early days of the iTunes Store someone made the clerical error of classing Citizen Steely Dan (a boxed set of all their 1970s work, including FM and Here At the Western World) as a single album, so I managed to get a compilation of everything they'd done up to 1980 for £7.99. I already had the albums, but mostly on vinyl.

The Wayne Shorter solo is on the title track on Aja, but it is astonishing, as CaseOfAce says - one take and done, too.

Dirty Work is one of the songs that David Palmer sang on the first album, so it has a slightly different feel. I think the perfect version of that song would be Linda Ronstadt circa 1974, but sadly that's something that can only exist in my imagination.

I love Steely Dan unreservedly, even the 2000s albums and Donald's solo albums, but I can see why they might annoy people.

I've always gone for albums over compilations, with the exception of a few times when I really just wanted one song, and thought it was better to get that song and the other hits rather than that song and a bunch of unknown tracks.

Pjon · August 2022

I've bought plenty of 'Best Of' albums by the smaller bands that I like, just to support them in some way. Normally they aren't labelled as 'Best Of' though.

Deadman · August 2022

I had every Jam album and most of the singles when I was a kid. I strived to have everything in picture cover (vinyl) but never quite got there as a skint 12 year old. I had a couple of the old jukebox specials without the middle in them, in paper sleeves too; would never have turned my nose up at anything Jam related. I used to scour record fairs, Boots, WH Smiths, HMV, the local indie record shops (my favourites) for Damned stuff too, but The Jam came ahead of them for me back then.

When SNAP (greatest hits) was released, however I had to have it, even though I had everything on it repeatedly anyway and Santa delivered it to me in the Christmas of 1983. I just had to have everything related to them, if only to look at the artwork and sleeves (of which getting to see things lke lyrics first hand were a massive thing to me.

Anyway, I'm rambling. What was the question again?

RandallFlagg · August 2022

OK then than so what's your favourite Greatest Hits album?

Fleetwood Mac's 1971 Greatest Hits takes some beating IMO Greatest Hits (1971 Fleetwood Mac album) - Wikipedia

The Damned's 1981 Another Great Record From The Damned The Best Of The Damned is good too

The Damned - Another Great Record From The Damned: The Best Of The Damned | Releases | Discogs

Philly_Q · August 2022

RandallFlagg said:

OK then than so what's your favourite Greatest Hits album?

Can I count the Beatles Red and Blue albums? I'm not a massive Beatles fan, but those two albums are brilliantly put together.

Status Quo's 12 Gold Bars - I don't even own it (my brother had a copy), but that's a great compilation of hits by a band whose albums I'm never likely to buy.

munckee · August 2022

RandallFlagg said:

OK then than so what's your favourite Greatest Hits album?

Fleetwood Mac's 1971 Greatest Hits takes some beating IMO Greatest Hits (1971 Fleetwood Mac album) - Wikipedia

The Damned's 1981 Another Great Record From The Damned The Best Of The Damned is good too

The Damned - Another Great Record From The Damned: The Best Of The Damned | Releases | Discogs

The first greatest hits album I ever remember was the Jam, my brother got it on vinyl when he was 16 and I was 14 and we listened to that pretty relentlessly thats probably my favourite.

These days the byrds, beach boys and eagles are probably the greatest hits I listen to the most.

equalsql · August 2022

The late 70s release of Steely Dan's Greatest Hits was/is a superb compilation of their material. Whoever chose the track list was a genius as it beautifully presented the growth of their music over that decade.
Over 40 years later it's still my favourite greatest-hits album.

Philly_Q · August 2022

Here's a really bad greatest hits album. The Best of Free: All Right Now (1991). Remixed by Bob Clearmountain.
I don't normally notice much difference with remasters and remixes, but this one sounds really shit.

FREE - All Right Now Best of - Amazoncom Music

FREE - All Right Now Best of - Amazoncom Music

horse · August 2022

On one end of the spectrum I'd have a greatest hits / best of when I'm not bothered about owning the rest - Donovan for example (not Jason!). On the other end of the spectrum I'll sometimes buy the best of when I've already got the individual albums, sometimes from a collecting / completist angle, sometimes because it can be nice to hear some of the tracks in a different order.

I got the Nick Drake Way to Blue compilation before the individual albums, and in some ways it is still my favourite.

ICBM · August 2022

Philly_Q said:

Can I count the Beatles Red and Blue albums? I'm not a massive Beatles fan, but those two albums are brilliantly put together.

Status Quo's 12 Gold Bars - I don't even own it (my brother had a copy), but that's a great compilation of hits by a band whose albums I'm never likely to buy.

I think there's a pretty strong argument that the Red and Blue albums together are the best Best Of album ever made. If it's too much of a cheat to have two, I'd pick the Blue one.

12 Gold Bars is a great one too - and unlike many that are released relatively early in a band's career, it does cover all the great stuff - they really didn't do much that was very good after Whatever You Want, sadly.

I would also pick Elton John's Greatest Hits - the one with him in the white suit and hat in front of the piano (I know, that probably describes several of them!) - that covers pretty much all his really great songs.

I had all of these as a teenager and wore them out...

digitalkettle · August 2022

Prefer albums as that's how the artist intended it to be heard...and I'm old and nostalgic.

I mostly thought 'best of's were something that people with no idea bought at Christmas...used to depress me when you'd walk into HMV as December approached and all the 'new release' space was replaced by Meatloaf and Maria.

I've got this really odd CD with the best of Chic sharing a single disc with the best of Rose Royce...proper mid 90s bargain bin find!

However, there are 'guilty pleasure' exceptions: I love 'The Collection' by Ultravox

digitalkettle · August 2022

horse said:

I got the Nick Drake Way to Blue compilation before the individual albums, and in some ways it is still my favourite.

I heard 'River Man' in the early 90s and I was straight out to buy the box set!

ICBM · August 2022

OK, it took a while to go through my iTunes library, but here are all the artists which I *only* have best of/greatest hits/singles albums...

Air Supply
Al Green
Anastacia
Andy Williams
The Animals
Aretha Franklin
B-52s
B.B. King
Bananarama
The Bangles
Basement Jaxx
The Beautiful South
Bill Haley
Billy Joel
Billy Ocean
Blancmange
Blink-182
The Bluebells
Blur
Bo Diddley
Bread
Brenda Lee
Britney Spears
Buddy Holly
Canned Heat
Carl Perkins
Carly Simon
Cher
Chic
Chuck Berry
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Culture Club
The Cure
Curtis Mayfield
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Dead Can Dance
Delerium
Depeche Mode
Diana Ross & The Supremes
Dolly Parton
Donna Summer
The Drifters
Dusty Springfield
Earth Wind & Fire
Eddy Grant
Ella Fitzgerald
Elmore James
Elvis Costello
Emerson Lake & Palmer
En Vogue
Etta James
The Everly Brothers
Feeder
Freemasons
Fun Boy Three
Gerry Rafferty
Glen Campbell
Glen Miller
Grace Jones
Grandmaster Flash
Hank Williams
Heart
Heaven 17
House Of Love
The Housemartins
Howlin' Wolf
The Human League
Ian Dury & The Blockheads
The Ink Spots
INXS
The Jam
Japan
Joan Armatrading
Joe Jackson
John Denver
John Lee Hooker
Kim Wilde
The Kinks
Leadbelly
Leftfield
Lightning Seeds
Lionel Richie
Little Richard
Louis Armstrong
Louis Jordan
The Lovin' Spoonful
Madness
The Mamas & The Papas
Marilyn Monroe
The Monkees
Mott The Hoople
Neil Diamond
Nik Kershaw
Nina Simone
The Only Ones
Otis Redding
Pat Benatar
Paul Young
Pete Seeger
Pixies
The Police
The Rezillos
Ricky Martin
Robert Johnson
Robert Palmer
Sam Cooke
Sash!
Scott Walker/The Walker Brothers
Siouxsie & The Banshees
The Shadows
The Shangri-Las
Slade
Smashing Pumpkins
Sparks
The Specials
Steeleye Span
The Stranglers
The Style Council
Suzanne Vega
T. Rex
Talulah Gosh
The Temptations
Thin Lizzy
Tina Turner
Tom Petty
Visage
Wet Wet Wet
Whitney Houston
Woody Guthrie

That's a vast amount of great (and some not quite so great!) music I would be missing out on by not having them.

... and OK, there's also undoubtedly some great music I'm missing by *not* having any original albums by them, but I'm not sure I have the time, space or money to fix that even for the artists whose album output is actually worth listening to.

(Update: bought a couple more albums at the weekend which changed the list slightly!)

Philly_Q · August 2022

Holy shit @ICBM that's quite a list! It reminded me that I have a Pixies best-of and a Chic one. It also popped into my head that I have the Best of Atlanta Rhythm Section, I'm not sure what inspired me to buy that.

ICBM · August 2022

I've also got tons of other ones where the artist has one or two great albums which I've got, but only a scattering of other good songs, so I have the best-of to cover those without buying the whole catalogue - and a few where I have almost everything they've ever released, so if the best-of has a track or two that aren't on any original album I have to have it as well

.

There are a few on that big list where I've owned some of the original albums, but in the end found I only liked the well-known tracks enough to keep, so ditched the albums and kept the best-of. And there are certainly some where I really should get the original albums - in some cases did have, on vinyl years ago - The Jam being the first one that jumps out at me from reading my list... so doing that was actually a worthwhile exercise!

I forgot to say too - I've always thought Bob Clearmountain was a mixing genius, but that Free album really is abysmal. I had it years ago, but thankfully I've now replaced everything on it with the full set of original albums (apart from Tons Of Sobs, which I seem to be missing) - and even then, you still need The Free Story for My Brother Jake and a couple of others.

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