Give in depth explanations for your choices, make comments each other’s choices, or simply state:
GH One music artist for whom a greatest hits CD is sufficient.
1A One music artist for whom one particular album is all that’s worth owning.
BX One music artist for whom a boxed set is the way to go.
WC One music artist for whom you want to have the whole catalogue.
Here’s mine:
GHThe Lovin’ Spoonful: Now, in all fairness, the Greatest Hits CD that I have does include 26 tracks. If it were a “16 Greatest” kind of a thing I’d probably be wanting for more- this was a pretty freakin’ good band! But the 26 tracks are all on one CD so it counts in this category, and I’m content with what I got and don’t feel the need for any more.
1AMeatloaf Bat Out of Hell Here’s and album that I feel is a must-have for any Rock/Pop collection by an artist who can otherwise be ignored.
BXLed Zeppelin The Zep nuts tell me I’m a fool and that I’m missing out on so much great material, but I’m happy with my four disc boxed set. Meets all my cravings.
WCElvis CostelloPunch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World aren’t wonderful, but when a guy has over twenty albums it just seems silly to own every one except TWO! All the other albums contain loads of material that would never make it into a compilation but that I would not want to do without.
GH: The Eagles. And even then, there’s some tracks I don’t listen to on that album.
1A: Roger Waters, “Amused To Death”. Got it as a gift. Good album, but not good enough to make me rush out and buy his other solo works. (yes, I’ve got some Floyd as well…)
BX: Led Zeppelin. That one that came out ages ago, with the crop circles on the box.
WC: The Beatles. No Brainer. I’ve even got those BBC discs, and the Anthology things. I bought all the albums on LP, and then again on CD. Now I’ve got them all as MP3s. You can never have enough Beatles.
GH: Jimmy Buffet. You know I love ya, Jim, but I think the GH does you justice. Even “Songs You Know By Heart,” is enough, although a two-cd retrospective is probably in order.
1A: Counting Crows. I absolutely love August and Everything After and think everyone should own it, but their later (non-T-Bone-Burnett-produced) stuff doesn’t really seem to match up with that first one.
BX: R.E.M. And it’s about time to put it out and hang it up, guys.
WC: I don’t regret having all of the “real” Beatles releases (forgoing the interview discs and archeology stuff). Every one is worth owning.
Greatest Hits: Queen. A terrific collection of terrific songs.
One Album: Deja Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Perfect album from start to finish. Other than a handful of songs off other albums (like Ohio for example) the rest of their catalog doesn’t rise to the level of this album. (This was a tossup vote for me – I could also name A Day At The Races by Queen but I already have them as my Greatest Hits choice.)
Box Set: Hmmm. I don’t own a box set. I’ll be interested to read everyone else’s choices.
Whole Catalog: As with others, I have the entire Beatles catalog and have to vote it as the most “must have”. Other artists where I have the entire catalog include Blood, Sweat and Tears and Supertramp.
GH: Rick Springfield. It’s missing a couple songs and has the short version of “Affair of the Heart”, but KaZaa helped fill the gaps. (Honorable mention to the Rolling Stones and Credence Clearwater Revival as well.)
1A: Neurosis. “Souls at Zero” is a masterpiece of hardcore-ish punk, doomdeath metal, and atmospheric industrial rock all mixed together. But samples of their other albums made me go “Ehh…”
BX: Ok, I gotta go on record and say that box sets are the biggest ripoff scheme ever, aside from bonus tracks added to Japanese imports. Anyone who likes every song from a typical “mega-compilation” box might as well buy the band’s whole catalog, it’s only a bit more expensive and you’re probably gonna wind up doing it anyway. Of course, the greedy record companies invariably piss off us completists by tacking on a handful of unreleased tracks, so the TRUE fan must choose to do without, or spend another fifty bucks! (Yes is particularly evil in this regard.) A TRUE box set should augment one’s collection, and contain only demos, rare tracks, and live versions of songs – but only a few bands (Iron Maiden, Jethro Tull, The Cure, Genesis) actually do this. That said…I’d have to pick The Police, because their box set IS their whole catalog!
GH: Sly and the Family Stone, Anthology. Has all the essential stuff and mercifully skips Sly’s bloodless late-70’s/early 80’s output.
1A: Much as I like several of his earlier albums, I’m going to say Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Elton John. Has more color and depth than any of his GH packages.
BX: Simon and Garfunkel, Old Friends. Covers it about as well as you could, I think.
WC: Tom Waits. The old boy can be an acquired taste. But once you get that taste, you become ravenous for every note he’s ever croaked.
Concur with the OP’s Lovin’ Spoonful pick, but vehemently oppose Algernon’s reduction of the mighty Queen to a GH! Theirs is much too rich a canon to make a Whitman’s sampler out of.
Greatest Hits - “Retrospective,” by Buffalo Springfield. This band influenced (and served as the training ground) for so many other great bands that it almost boggles the mind. Too bad that they couldn’t quite keep it together.
1A “Europe '72,” by the Grateful Dead. Catches them at the top of their game, IMHO. Pigpen gets the short end of the stick, but he’s still with them. Contains old favorites (“Truckin’,” “Sugar Magnolia”) plus new tunes that never turned up on a studio set. When I die and go to heaven my reward is going to be the ability to travel through time and visit any place I want. First stop, I’m going to be about 10 rows back at the final London show of the tour.
Box Set “Biograph,” by Bob Dylan. Not everyone who gets a box set deserves a box set. Dylan does, and this one proves it.
Whole Catalog I think the Beatles may be the only group who’s entire catalog would be worth having. It is relatively small, really shows the progression of the music (as opposed to the whole catalog of a band like, say, Yes, who are a bit of a one trick pony), and even their weaker albums contain enough nuggets to make the purchase worthwhile.
GH: Al Green. If you can get all his best records in one place, it’s better than having all of his lesser works spread out over several records.
1A: Tower Of Power: Back To Oakland. This is such a great album! They were at the top of their game when they had this lineup and recorded these songs. None of their other albums were as cohesive or catchy or get-down-funky. David Garibaldi on drums is just flabbergasting!
Sings: “Don’t change horses in the middle of a stream! Giddyap, giddyap, hi ho silver…”
Honorable Mention: The Tubes (first album). Wow!..just…wow!
Other Honorable Mention: Ten Years After: A Space In Time.
Yet Another Honorable Mention: Styx: Crystal Ball. The album where Tommy Shaw joined, and they were all jazzed up to have him. Everything following it…feh.
BX: Kate Bush: This Woman’s Work. Contains everything she’s released on EMI, plus two discs of rarities. Honorable Mention: Little Richard: The Specialty Sessions (the 5CD UK set, not the 3CD US set).
WC: Steely Dan, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Guess Who
Honorable Mention: The Rolling Stones (up to Emotional Rescue only)
1A: BushSixteen Stone. Great album, IMO. Everything that followed went downhill.
GH: Motley Crue- Their “Best of” songs could be compiled onto a one or two-CD set.
BX: Gotta go with Led Zeppelin on this one. The boxed set contains most of the tracks I enjoy listening to the most.
WC: Up until Presto was released I would have nominated Rush for this. I haven’t bought any of their CDs since this one was released. I’d also include Black Sabbath in this one, at least up to Born Again. Anything after that can be excluded.
Good choices, cichlidiot.
GH Steve Miller. A lot of people say he has a lot of great stuff, but I don’t feel very motivated to check it out. I could have chosen the Monkees, I suppose.
1A Surrealistic Pillow Jefferson Airplane.
BX I don’t know if there is a box set of the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. If there was, I would buy it. For box sets that actually exist: I think Nuggets is a crucial box set for all to have. It isn’t one artist though. It’s a collection of 60s garage bands. Great stuff.
WC Byrds. I almost put this in the Box set section. That box set that came out about 10 years ago was great. Over the last few years, though, I’ve started trying to get the whole catalogue.
GH:Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicles is definitely all you need to get the best CCR had to offer (maybe 1 or 2 exceptions that ended up on Chronicles 2, but hardly essential.
1A: Hard to pick one, but my vote would probably go to Live’s Throwing Copper, an incredible album while the rest of their stuff leaves a bit to be desired. (If I could vote for two, I’d add Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View as well.)
BX: Can’t think of any that hasn’t been mentioned above (though any one of Yes’ boxed sets should satisfy the non-completist, though as KGS pointed out, infuriating if you are a completist). I’ll give seconds to The Police and Led Zeppelin here.
WC: Plenty of worthy candidates here, but for now I’ll add In Flames to those not mentioned above. From beginning to end, it plays like The History of the Gothenberg Sound.
D
1 Album: ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ by Rockpile (Is that cheating?)
Box Set: Tangents 1973-83 by Tangerine Dream
Whole Catalog: Too difficult to limit to 1…How about a trifecta? Gold - Frank Zappa / Mothers of Invention Silver - Black Sabbath (First 8 studio albums @ a minimum) Bronze - Blue Öyster Cult (You have my permission to eliminate Club Ninja, Bad Channels & Heaven Forbid)
It’s got some obscure stuff I’d never heard before. Though O O P, it’s not that rare or hard-to-find - well worth a little poking around on half.com for.
Tracklist: Disc One - The Pre-CBS Years
Across The Board - Hubert Sumlin
Sumlin Boogie - Hubert Sumlin
Baby You Just Don’t Know - Woodrow Adams with Boogie Blues Blasters
Winehead Woman - Woodrow Adams with Boogie Blues Blasters
Christmas Time (Part 1) - Jimmy McCracklin
Mojo Boogie - J.B. Lenore
I Don’t Care What Nobody Say - J.B. Lenore
Mean Old World - Doctor Isaiah Ross
Someone To Love Me - T.S. McPhee
I Feel So Good - Jo Ann Kelly
Good Morning Baby - Drifting Slim
My Sweet Woman - Drifting Slim
Lonely Years - John Mayall & Eric Clapton
Bernard Jenkins - John Mayall & Eric Clapton
Superintendent Blues - Houston Boines
Monkey Motion - Houston Boines
Can’t Quit You Baby - Savoy Brown’s Blues Band
Get Your Head Happy - Champion Jack Dupree with T.S. McPhee
Talk All In My Sleep - Champion Jack Dupree with T.S. McPhee
Hot Rock - Stone’s Masonry
Christine - Hound Dog Taylor
Come Back - ‘Little’ Mack Simmons & His Boys
My Walking Blues - ‘Little’ Mack Simmon And His Boys
It’s So Miserable To Be Alone - Eddie Boyd (with Peter Green and John McVie)
Empty Arms - Eddie Boyd (with Peter Green and John McVie)
Disc Two - The CBS Years - Part One
I Believe My Time Ain’t Long - Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
Warning - Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
When My Left Eye Jumps - The Chicken Shack Featuring Stan Webb (with Christine Perfect)
She Drives Me Out Of My Mind - Arthur K. Adams
The Big Boat - Eddie Boyd (with Peter Green and John McVie)
Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac
Prison Bound Blues - Roosevelt Holts
Need Your Love So Bad - Fleetwood Mac
How Am I Doing - Champion Jack Dupree with Stan Webb
Can’t Do Me No Good - Otis Spann
The Woman I Love - B.B. King
You Don’t Have To Go - Curtis Jones
Albatross [instrumental] - Fleetwood Mac
Since My Baby Hit The Numbers - Guitar Crusher Jimmy Spruill O
Next Time You See Me - Garfield Love Jimmy Spruill Orchestra
Solid Gold - Johnny Shines
Layin’ In My Cell, Sleepin’ - Sunnyland Slim
It’s Hard But It’s Fair - Bobby Parker
I Couldn’t Quit My Baby - Bobby Parker
Stumbling Block - Champion Jack Dupree
I’d Rather Go Blind - Chicken Shack (with Christine Perfect)
Temperature Is Rising (98.8) - Otis Spann With Fleetwood Mac
All Your Love (I Miss Loving) - Otis Rush And His Band
Disc Three - The CBS Years - Part Two
Everything Gonna Be Alright - Magic Sam
Hideaway - Chicken Shack
My Baby’s Gone - David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards (with Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood)
Mandy Lee - Coyne Clague
Too Long - Gordon Smith
You Don’t Know My Mind - Mississippi Joe Callicott
Judge Harsh Blues - Furry Lewis
Drifting Blues - Bukka White
Southern Train - Larry Johnson
Tears In The Wind - Chicken Shack
I’m Gonna Wind Up Ending Up Or I’m Gonna End Up Winding Up With You - Duster Bennett
She Wants To Rock ‘N’ Roll - Harmonica Slim
Moaning And Groaning - Johnny Young
Someday Your Gonna Learn (To Treat Me Right) - George Smith
Ridin’ The Blinds - Top Topham
Boom Boom (Out Goes The Lights) - Bacon Fat
Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu - Jellybread
Crazy 'Bout You Baby - Christine Perfect
Voodoo Rhythym - Key Largo
I Want You To Love Me - Duster Bennett
I’m Gonna Leave You - Martha Velez
Blues Feeling - Bacon Fat
Whole collection 1: the Kinks – rumour has it Ray Davies has got a lot of unreleased stuff in the vaults; Dave Davies once expressed scorn for the myriad repackaging and compilations with ‘How many copies of “You Really Got Me” does anyone need?’
[slight hijack] Doug Hinman put together a book in which he hoped to list every, single Kinks’ release, re release, compilation, alternative version, deleted-from-the-catalog, bootleg, everything – he goes up only to 1993 and the book is a whopping 558 pages of tiny print: The Kinks Part One: You Really Got Me, An Illustrated World Discography of the Kinks, 1964-1993 (the supplement continues to 1997)…
I know a couple of people who are actually making it a lifetime work to collect each and every record mentioned in the book (Part of me goes :eek: and part of me goes at the prospect, actually…)
GH: The Buzzcocks, Singles Going Steady. It’s technically a singles compilation rather than a true “greatest hits” collection, but their best songs are here. Make sure to get the import version with 24 tracks. Runner up: Syd Barrett, Wouldn’t You Miss Me?. Again, not really a “greatest hits” as none of these songs were hits. It’s a good best-of collection that doesn’t miss many, if any, of his best songs.
1A: Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes. This is the album that every high school student needs (I’m giving it to my brother for his 17th birthday). The rest of their catalogue is pretty patchy, but this album is a must-have. Runner up: The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers. In a similar vein as Violent Femmes but released a decade earlier. This was the lone album recorded with the original members and before the group became “Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.”
BX: I’d recommend Beat Happening’s Crashing Through and Nick Drake’s Fruit Tree but that would be cheating because both sets contain virtually everything recorded/released by both artists. I’d have to go with a hypothetical Magnetic Fields boxed set, then. The closet thing the Magnetic Fields has to a boxed set would be 69 Love Songs, but I’d consider that one album because it’s all new material, even though it’s three discs long and comes in a box.
WC: The Velvet Underground. Yes, even Loaded. I like the previously suggested ideas of Elvis Costello and The Beatles also and I’ll add R.E.M. to the mix.
Ack! I’d need to build a new room onto my house just to display them all… not saying that that would deter me from trying to achieve the goal… GH: I’ve managed to get by on David Bowie’s changesbowie for many moons now, and don’t feel that I’m missing anything life changing from his catalog.
1A: Deftones, Adrenaline. Freakin’ loved that album, the followups were derivative crappo. BX: Bob Marley’s box set…4 discs…damn, I have it and I can’t remember the box set title. Anyone who enjoys Marley will know the one I’m speaking of.
WC: Tool, Phish (if you want to get obsessive, count recordings from every show - a lot of them are available online now via Phish themselves), Clutch, Radiohead. I’m sure there are more that would come to my mind if I wasn’t 5 minutes away from the end of the workday.
Good choices, everyone!
GH Weezer moderately good band with lots of hits, but no one album is really worth buying. Of course, these guys may have a greatest hits compilation, but my local MediaPlay isn’t stocking it.
**1A Never Mind the Bollocks… ** Good album, completely captures the spirit of the band. Nothing else really worth owning.
BX The Replacements Lots of goods songs, decent albums, but could make a great box set. I’ve their greatest hits/b-sides compilation. A box set would be even better.
WC The Police Easy enough to buy this whole catalogue. Interesting evolution. (As KGS pointed out.)
(Honorable mention to the Rolling Stones and Credence Clearwater Revival as well.)
Theirs is much too rich a canon to make a Whitman’s sampler out of.