Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films:
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Opening Medley (“I’m Getting Wet and I Don’t Care at All”) a) “Hi Diddle Dee Dee (An Actor’s Life For Me)” from Pinocchio - Ken Nordine, with Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz
b) “Little April Shower” from Bamb - Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe, with Mark Bingham and The Roches
c) “I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)” from The Jungle Book - Los Lobos
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“Baby Mine” from Dumbo - Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was)
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“Heigh Ho (The Dwarf’s Marching Song)” from Snow White and The Seven Dwarves - Tom Waits
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Medley Two (“The Darkness Sheds Its Veil”)
a) “Stay Awake” from Mary Poppins - Suzanne Vega
b) “Little Wooden Head” from Pinocchio - Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz
c) “Blue Shadows On the Trail” from Melody Time - Syd Straw
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Medley Three (“Three Inches Is Such A Wretched Height”)
a) “Castle in Spain” from Babes in Toyland - Buster Poindexter and The Banshees of Blue
b) “I Wonder” from Sleeping Beauty - Yma Sumac
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“Mickey Mouse March” from The Mickey Mouse Club - Aaron Neville
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Medley Four (“All Innocent Children Had Better Beware”)
a) “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins - Garth Hudson
b) “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White and The Seven Dwarves - NRBQ
c) “I’m Wishing” from Snow White and The Seven Dwarves - Betty Carter
d) “Cruella De Ville” from 101 Dalmatians - The Replacements
e) “Dumbo And Timothy” from Dumbo - Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz
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“Some Day My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and The Seven Dwarves - Sinéad O’Connor
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Medley Five (“Techicolor Pachyderms”)
a) “Pink Elephants On Parade” from Dumbo - Sun Ra & His Arkestra
b) “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from Song of the South - Harry Nilsson
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"Second Star To The Right" from Peter Pan - James Taylor
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Pinocchio Medley ("Do You See The Noses Growing")
a) “Desolation Theme” from Pinocchio - Ken Nordine, with Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz
b) “When You Wish upon a Star” from Pinocchio - Ringo Starr, with Herb Alpert
Excellent choice! After hearing Tom Waits sing “Heigh Ho” like he’s in the last stages of black lung, you’ll never hear that song the same way again.
And “Baby Mine” has appeared on more than one of my own mix CDs.
I came in here to mention that song. Also, Step Right Up is excellent. Especially the “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You” by 10,000 Maniacs.
The Tom Waits reference reminds me of another great album done around that same time (though I think a year or two earlier): Lost in the Stars, which is all Kurt Weill songs. Tom Waits is on it, but the best song on it is (IMHO) Lou Reed doing “September Song” (“Well it’s a long, long way from May to September…”).
A big favorite of mine is the Mona Lisa Smile soundtrack, with contemporary artists doing late 40s-early 50s standards. Tori Amos dominates with “Murder He Said” and “You Belong to Me.” The Trevor Horn Orchestra, which I’d never heard of before or since, did “Sh-Boom Sh-Boom” as the control freak anthem it was always meant to be, and also “Istanbul Was Constantinople.” Lots off other goodies, and some out-of-place entries by Elton John and Barbra Streisand.
Frat Rock. Great party music.
Would Stay Awake and Lost in the Stars be considered compilation albums the way the OP means? They’re compilations of various songs, but all the songs were recorded specifically for those albums. I bought both when they were first released and love them. My favorites on Stay Awake are the already-mentioned “Heigh Ho” and “Someday My Prince Will Come” by Sinéad O’Connor.
It’s hard to pick from LitS, but “Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife” by Marianne Faithfull and Chris Spedding, “Ballad of Mac the Knife” by Dominic Muldowney and Sting, “Cannon Song” by Fowler Brothers and Stan Ridgway, “Alabama Song” by Richard Butler and Ralph Schuckett, and “Surabaya Johnny” by Dagmar Krause are my favorites. They’re all great though.
Holy moly! I just clicked on the Lost in the Stars Amazon page and saw this!
!!! Damn. I’m not about to sell mine, but it’s nice to know that I could get some bucks if I needed.
Another great Weill cover compilation is September Songs:
- Mack the Knife - Nick Cave
- Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife - PJ Harvey
- Alabama Song - Bob Dorough, David Johansen, Ralph Schuckett, Ellen Shipley
- Youkali Tango - Teresa Stratas
- Lost in the Stars - Elvis Costello
- Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
- Speak Low - Charlie Haden
- Oh, Heavenly Salvation - The Persuasions
- Lonely House - Betty Carter
- Surabaya Johnny - Gerard Schwarz, Teresa Stratas
- Fürchte Dich Nicht - Mary Margaret O’Hara (my favorite, because I’m biased)
- September Song - Lou Reed
- Mack the Knife - Bertolt Brecht
- What Keeps Mankind Alive? - William S. Burroughs
As far as single artist compilations, I’m partial to this one, and this one. Plus The Whole Story by Kate.
Good point – maybe we should start a separate thread for tribute albums (which is what I call them, don’t know if that’s the correct term or not). I’ll save another good one that I just thought of for that thread. 
If we’re not counting “tribute” albums, then I think I would have to go with the Repo Man soundtrack as my favorite compilation.
Rhino’s Hot Rods & Custom Classics. I can do without Ronnie Dee (kid doesn’t sound old enough to drive a car let alone get any action in one) and the sound effect tracks but otherwise this is a good box. It has the standards like Chuck Berry, Jan & Dean, even Hank Williams, but also others I never would have heard otherwise. The Delicates sure sound like they’re having fun with their Thunderbird!
Rockstar should have licensed Green Hornet’s “Stolen Car” for their GTA series. The first words on that track are “grant theft auto”!