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Greatest greatest hits - Page 2

post #51 of 64
3/27/09 at 7:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raspberry Leper View Post
A guy that lived down the hall from me at college only bought Greatest Hits CDs. The first (and I think only) time I ventured into his room I took a look at his collection (pretty much the first thing I did when I was in anyone's dorm) I couldn't wrap my drunken head around the sight. He had at least 100. It just looked weird. When I asked him about it, he reacted like I was the insane one.
I've had friends like this once.


Once.
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post #52 of 64
3/28/09 at 1:40am
I always recommend tracking down the out-of-print 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: An Anthology' (along with 'Excitable Boy' and the live 'Learning to Flinch') for those looking for an introduction into Warren Zevon's stuff.

I was a huge fan of 'Ramones Mania,' but I think 'Hey Ho Let's Go' is a better greatest hits series.

Rhino was pretty much the master at these: The above, the John Prine anthology, Steve Goodman...lots of good stuff.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil
Instead of greatest hits albums, I tend to like a nice compilation of cover songs, whether it's one artist covering a bunch of people (Kicking Against the Pricks by Nick Cave, Nineteeneighties by Grant Lee Philips) or various artists covering one artist (Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Fan, Neil Young - The Bridge, etc.)
I also like Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs' Under the Covers, which is the first kind. There were also a couple of Springsteen cover sets ("Light of Day" and "One Step Up/Two Steps Back") that had a lot of gems, including an absolutely blazing Bowie cover of 'It's Hard to Be A Saint In the City.' And as for Zevon, Enjoy Every Sandwich is pretty uneven but Billy Bob Thornton records an unreleased Zevon in such a cool way that makes him my choice for the never-gonna-happen biopic.
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post #53 of 64
3/28/09 at 2:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Devildoubt View Post
Thanks for the advice Ray. I've been looking to explore the Stones, and that seems like a great place to start.
The second disc ain't too shabby either, but if you listened to classic rock radio in any capacity, you've probably heard most of the songs on there (if not all of them). There's a killer live version of 'Midnight Rambler', too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Beldar
Yeah, one of the few exceptions is Tom Petty including "Mary Jane's Last Dance" on the Greatest Hits. It genuinely became a classic after the album was released.
Other than Petty's Full Moon Fever, Greatest Hits is his most essential album. It's a legitimate example of how a greatest hits package can become more than the sum of its parts.
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post #54 of 64
3/28/09 at 2:28pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth
I don't mind when an album is called a 'Greatest Hits' compilation; that's based upon actual statistics (sales, radio airplay, etc).

I take issue when something is called a 'Best of' compilation, however. In many cases, the best material that an artist produces are those non-commercial deep cuts that never make it on the radio. Steely Dan, Rush, Dire Straits, Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead...if all that you've heard are the 'hits', you're really missing out.
Your comment reminded me of another compilation done right--Pearl Jam's rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991-2003). It includes all of their radio hits, plus the singles that were released that really didn't hit the radar (tunes like 'Hail Hail', 'Save You', 'Light Years', 'Off He Goes'). Plus, the record company was smart enough to give the collection room to breathe with 2 discs, and sequence the songs chronologically (with an "up side" disc and "down side" disc), giving you a reasonable snapshot of how the band progressed musically over the years.

Like the Stones' Hot Rocks, I'd recommend the package as the starting point for anyone wanting to explore the world of Pearl Jam.
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post #55 of 64
3/28/09 at 2:31pm
I broke down a couple of years ago and bought the debut album from Boston from iTunes.

I think that would a good example of standard album being an actual greatest hits album as everyone of the songs have been rock radio staples for 30 years.
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post #56 of 64
3/28/09 at 4:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post

I also like Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs' Under the Covers, which is the first kind.
Wasn't that designated "volume 1"? Ever heard anything about a followup? Would love that.

Some other Rhino collections that approach the definitive include their 2-disc sets of Todd Rundgren, NRBQ, and the J. Geils Band.

The Miller's Tale is a Tom Verlaine collection that takes an interesting approach: one disc is a live show; the other disc is his best stuff that's not duplicated on the live set (which means that out of context, it sounds pretty weird).
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post #57 of 64
3/28/09 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
I always recommend tracking down the out-of-print 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: An Anthology' (along with 'Excitable Boy' and the live 'Learning to Flinch') for those looking for an introduction into Warren Zevon's stuff.
As a bit of a Zevonista myself, I think if you're going to get just one Zevon, Learning to Flinch is it.
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post #58 of 64
3/28/09 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chavez View Post
As a bit of a Zevonista myself, I think if you're going to get just one Zevon, Learning to Flinch is it.
Available from Amazon for under six bucks.
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post #59 of 64
3/28/09 at 5:11pm
I love Learning to Flinch, but I think it's too stripped down at times and "experimental" in others to be the introductory Zevon album. You get most of the hits, sure, but one of the great things about Zevon are the arrangements. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for those as he does his lyrics, but he studied with Stravinsky and tooled around with classical music for much of his career. Something like "Desperadoes Under The Eaves" is proof of that.

Anyway, tangent over. If I did have to pick one introductory, non-GH album, I'd go with either Warren Zevon or the aformentioned Excitable Boy.
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post #60 of 64
3/28/09 at 5:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RathBandu View Post
I love Learning to Flinch, but I think it's too stripped down at times and "experimental" in others to be the introductory Zevon album. You get most of the hits, sure, but one of the great things about Zevon are the arrangements. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for those as he does his lyrics, but he studied with Stravinsky and tooled around with classical music for much of his career.
I'm the opposite way - I read somewhere that if you want to see if someone knows their stuff, sit them down with an acoustic guitar.

The fact that his songs hold up BETTER in more than a few cases in stripped-down mode is proof of the craftsmanship on display.
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post #61 of 64
4/4/09 at 4:34pm
The Cure had a fantastic Greatest Hits album. The first cd had the regular album recordings but the second cd contained acoustic re-recordings of all the songs.
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post #62 of 64
4/5/09 at 7:39am
Bob Marley - Legend
Stevie Wonder - Original Musiquarium I
Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits
Funkadelic - Motor City Madness: The Ultimate Funkadelic Westbound Compilation
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post #63 of 64
9/4/09 at 12:30am
I just bought the remastered version of The Buzzcocks' Singles Going Steady and was compelled to post about greatest hits compilations that don't suck. I love the original but the sound quality is definitely lacking. This version is so much better. The guitars have more attack, and there's actual bass guitar and kick drum! I haven't listened to all the bonus tracks (they're good), but that was never the reason why I bought it.

Another greatest hits comp that is fairly comprehensive and is welcome upgrade in SQ is the recent 2 disc Sounds of The Smiths release.
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post #64 of 64
9/4/09 at 11:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pop Zeus View Post
I just bought the remastered version of The Buzzcocks' Singles Going Steady and was compelled to post about greatest hits compilations that don't suck. I love the original but the sound quality is definitely lacking. This version is so much better. The guitars have more attack, and there's actual bass guitar and kick drum! I haven't listened to all the bonus tracks (they're good), but that was never the reason why I bought it.
I never heard the original CD mix of this - by the time I finally decided to replace my old cassette copy, the remaster was out (in the meantime, I'd picked up a used CD copy of Operator's Manual, which has many of the same songs, but doesn't quite have the flow). But like I mentioned on the first page, Singles is practically a better album than the first few official releases.
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