NNoteworthy "Best of"/Compilation albums

[blondebear]

[NOTE: I'm not talking about boxed sets here, but collections available on 1 or 2 LPs/CDs]

I just finished listening to The Kinks Kronikles; what a nice collection of (mostly) sub-three-minute pop gems. Ray Davies in his storytelling prime, and a couple of tunes by his bro thrown in for good measure. Short little musical tales about Queens, movie monsters, urban poverty, suicide, Hawaiian vacations, life in London, afternoons,people who have everything, and more.

The 2CD Very Best of The Doors is another favorite of mine. One of the quintessential soundtracks for driving through Los Angeles. Assuming you don't get stuck in traffic, that is.

[silenus]

ABBA - The Definitive Collection

The Definitive Monkees

Both have everything you ever need to hear by either group. Pop masterpieces, dross, and strange shit, all in one place. Anyone who tells you they don't like anything by either group is a liar, even if it's just to themselves.

[ultrafilter]

The Buzzcock's Singles Going Steady is at least as well-known as any of their actual albums, and probably superior to a few.

[Southern Yankee]

Legend, Bob Marley and the Wailers

[ZipperJJ]

The Violent Femmes' Add It Up (1981-1993) is pretty awesome.

[Myglaren]

Les Mots (http://www.amazon.com/Mots-Best-Mylene-Farmer/dp/B00005RD56), a collection of most of Myléne Farmer's earlier works is pretty damned good and if you get the right one is very interestingly presented, if somewhat pricey.

[Exapno Mapcase]

I know this is heresy to rock purists, but for almost all groups you're better off with the best of... compilation.

It's not universally true. A group like Steely Dan that wrote at a uniformly high level and didn't create hits needs to be listened to start to finish (and there is a Steely Dan boxed set that does exactly that). You're can't really abstract Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here into individual songs either.

But when major groups like the Rolling Stones could put out albums like Beggar's Banquet, with the utterly brilliant "Sympathy for the Devil," the pretty good "Street Fighting Man" and eight uninspired indistinguishable country blues songs as filler, you have to be nuts not to grab one of their million compilation disks.

Sometimes the best of... does reach art. Donovan's Greatest Hits is one of the finest albums of the 60s.

[WordMan]

The Violent Femmes' Add It Up (1981-1993) is pretty awesome.


I really gotta get that. As a matter of fact, I am ordering it right now.

So many, but a few come to mind:

- Essential Bob Dylan - a good way for a newbie like me to Dylan to dip his toe in, get past the Times are a Changin' and Like a Rolling Stone and hear a few more amazing songs.

- The Replacements best of, Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? - a great collection. By the time you move from the hard punk of Takin' a Ride to the mandolin break in the middle of I Will Dare, you realize how big a trip this band took.

- Prince, the Hits and the B-Sides - too much to contain a mere best of, Prince includes his B-sides, many of which are hits to Prince-aficionados. She's Always in My Hair, Pop Life, Erotic City, the list goes on. But nothing compares to How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore - a slow-burn torch song I would match up against all comers. And Alicia Keys' version is a decent homage, but doesn't hold a candle to the Purple One...

- UFO, Strangers in the Night - a live album that is in effect a Best of, this CD is similar to Cheap Trick Live at Budokan (another recommendation) in that it injects some energy into the tracks and just makes 'em jump. Songs like Only You Can Rock Me and Too Hot to Handle are huge, and Rock Bottom flat out smokes. Michael Schenker's step-on-a-wah-pedal-and-leave-it-partially-depressed tone was super influential, as was his nice, tight, tasty lead work. Part of me wants to justify this as a guilty pleasure, but dammit, the songs are good and they deserve more respect than that. Call it a great example of a pulp-quality genre...

- Best of Al Green - the Good Reverend Al, a bottle of wine and your SO? Please.

[Myglaren]

- Essential Bob Dylan - a good way for a newbie like me to Dylan to dip his toe in, get past the Times are a Changin' and Like a Rolling Stone and hear a few more amazing songs.
First thing I bought when I bought my first CD player in preparation for replacing all the vinyl (which I still haven't completed, there is just so much other music to acquire besides replacing the vinyl)

Sometimes the best of... does reach art. Donovan's Greatest Hits is one of the finest albums of the 60s.
That too, for the "Hurdy Gurdy Man" track. Except that there are several of the same name and I now seem to have all of them.

[Thudlow Boink]

I just finished listening to The Kinks Kronikles; what a nice collection of (mostly) sub-three-minute pop gems. Ray Davies in his storytelling prime, and a couple of tunes by his bro thrown in for good measure. Short little musical tales about Queens, movie monsters, urban poverty, suicide, Hawaiian vacations, life in London, afternoons,people who have everything, and more. My own personal introduction to the 60s Kinks (after the 80s Kinks caught my attention around the time of "Come Dancing") was a cassette compilation whose track list was almost identical to this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Collection-Kinks/dp/tracks/B000024P39/ref=dp_tracks_all_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1202060730&sr=1-3#disc_1), and I was hooked for life. The Kinks Kronikles, unlike my compilation, leaves out some of the major hits in favor of some quirkier and more obscure songs (some of which were essentially unavailable elsewhere).

I know this is heresy to rock purists, but for almost all groups you're better off with the best of... compilation.For the most part, the greatest hits albums I own spend relatively little time in my CD player, even if I like most of the songs on them. They so often just don't flow as well as a regular album, so that listening to the from beginning to end (which is what I generally do with CDs) is an unsatisfying experience.