Artists you're happy with just having a compilation of

This is exactly what he said

 

All I can say is you can't miss what you've never heard. In the case of EW&F, I do miss the live "Reasons," though.

 

The Smiths - Great singles band, LPs patchy
Echo and the Bunnymen - ditto
The Carpenters -ditto
Motown acts also a good call and my favourite is Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

 

I hav emany Motown comps. The only single albums I have are the Marvin Gaye expanded editions and a CD set of Tempations albums I found at FYE cheap. While I grew up listening to Motown in Northern VA, the comps are satifactory to me for the most part.

 

The Guess Who
Tommy James & The Shondells
1960s era Neil Diamond
George Jones
Townes Van Zant
The Cure
Gordon Lightfoot
Henry Mancini
John Barry (alright, it's a boxed set...)
The Smiths
The Four Tops
Temptations
Lovin' Spoonful
Supremes
KC & The Sunshine Band

 

The Babys - Anthology is a great compilation.

 

The Crystals.

 

Alice Cooper - his greatest hits was a pretty good album, but on the other hand, BDB was pretty much the whole ball of wax

 

Def Leppard, Motley Crue, and pretty much all the other 80s hair bands. Just give me the hits, thanks!

 

Most of them!

 

I'll give it a try. I ahve been lobbying for people to check out some of the bands listed. Particularly the Byrds.

 

Wow! I urge you to at least check them out one day.

 

Steve Miller
Squeeze

 

I agree with you up until the 70s. Most 60s Motown albums are mostly filler, although, once in a while they did put out solid albums by Jr. Walker & The All-Stars. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, or The Temptations.

But, once you get into the 70s, there are classic albums that are indispensable (IMO). The reason is that by the 70s, most Motown albums were independently produced, and their only connection with Motown were maybe some musicians or engineers. There are indispensable albums by Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Rick James and Commodores.

 

I found another compilation I own, The Best of Tito Puente, Vol. 1. This really doesn't fit in this thread because it's just until I get more of his discography. I own 9 other albums but his discography is big.

 

The Ramones.

 

Little Richard
Faron Young
Hawkshaw Hawkins
Buddy Holly

 

CCR used to be in this category for me. Then one day I realized Chronicle was missing "Born on the Bayou" so I picked up Bayou Country. And I heard "Bootleg," "Penthouse Pauper" and the rest.

Long story short, I now have several of their albums.

 

Chris & Cosey

 

I own all of their albums and I tend to gravitate more towards their non-single tracks like When I Kissed The Teacher, The King Has Lost His Crown, One Man One Woman, If It Wasn't For The Nights, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, Eagle (full length version not single edit, thank you) and even B-Sides like Cassandra or Lovelight so a compilation wouldn't do it for me (unless it's a box set containing all of their albums... is that considered a compilation? If so, I'll take that one!)

 

So many wonderful B-sides and album cuts that a greatest hit comp just doesn't do it for ABBA. I too am a fan of many album cuts. Like I've Been Waiting for You on ABBA. It's such a beautiful song and only released as a single in Australia and New Zealand.

One Man, One Woman is also really great...I don't see how it was never released as a single

 

Oh, absolutely! I guess when I hear Motown I think 60's, but they put a ton of stuff out in the 70's and generally speaking I think their albums really bumped up in quality. Stevie Wonder is a perfect example of this.

 

The Guess Who. Vanilla Fudge. The Coasters.

 

Get the new stereo mix.

 

Actually, I was fortunate enough to get one of those crazy expensive vinyl box sets from three or four years ago. I wouldn't call it a compilation box though technically speaking that is exactly what it is. Anyway, the sound is stunning. And I agree with your album cut choices. Love When I Kissed the Teacher and others you cited, and also Under Attack. They just didn't write or produce many filler songs at all, amd none are so bad I feel the need to skip over. That is pretty remarkable over seven or so albums. Even their debut album is decent as a whole. Brilliant songwriters coupled with two outstanding female vocalists plus very proficient studio skills. They covered all the basis and clearly they didn't stop until they felt the albums were as good as they could be. I only wish Arrival was recorded after they went to 24 track. You can really tell its a 16 track recording and they really hit a technical wall with that one. When I Kissed the Teacher just doesn't quite have the dynamics a song like that could have, and I think it was simply the limitations of their recording equipment or too much track bouncing. Dancing Queen from the same album sounds pretty amazing.