Best Kinks compilation?

The Kinks 25 Years-The Ultimate Collection by Polygram catalog # 842 078 2 is a decent sounding comp.

 

Most people would probably vote for Village Green as the best Kinks non-compilation album, and I'm certainly not one to disagree (I'd vote for it over Arthur).

But you also might want to keep an open mind about a good Kinks comp like the Ultimate Collection. A lot of the classic Kinks tunes from the '60s were either non-LP singles or were released on so-so albums.

 

Thanks, couch.

 

I must keep a look out for that one, I have The Singles Collection, single disc edition and I didn't notice any intros being lopped off. Care to enlighten me, LV?

I was unfamiliar with some of the early singles given that I was in my teens when the Kinks first burst forth in the 60s.

 

I love Arthur but wouldn't pick it up before Village Green or Something Else. You need Ultimate Collection for the singles so would go with Laservampires recommendation.

 

Another vote for Ultimate Collection.

 

I think Arthur would be the best next step.

Gotta work your way back to the best one, Village Green

IIRC, the first notes of both "You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night" are truncated.

The Ultimate Collection is a fantastic set in terms of sound and song selection

 

Ultimate Collection for sure ... great amount of music for the money and decent sound.

 

As everyone is saying, the two-disc Sanctuary The Ultimate Collection is the way to go. It's easy to find, it gives a good overview of the Pye years with a few later tracks too, and if you prefer stereo, there's more here than on most similar compilations. (But keep in mind that a lot of these songs just don't exist in stereo.) The dynamics are a bit compressed but it sounds good otherwise.

Some of the old PRT comps (Greatest Hits, The Kinks Are Well Respected Men, the British edition of Hit Singles, the Victor Japan edition of The Complete Singles Collection 1964-1970) sound even better for most of the tracks, but they're going to be harder to track down and probably pricier too. If you're going for just one of these, I'd get The Complete Singles Collection, but be sure to get the Victor Japan edition (VICP-40128~9) and not the more processed Teichiku edition.

The Kink Kronikles has a great track selection, but it focuses narrowly on the 1967-71 period and the CD was unfortunately mastered from rather worn tapes. The LP has some fake stereo.

The Singles Collection has absurd levels of noise reduction, and there's no reason to get it unless you want the rarities on disc two of the original edition.

Fab Forty was mastered from copy tapes; some of it sounds great and some of it sounds cruddy. For some reason it includes almost every Pye A- or B-side but omits "Dedicated Follower of Fashion."

The needledrops I've heard of the "Black Album" (NPL-18326) sound quite nice.

For completeness, I should mention last year's Kinks Kollekted three-disc set. It's the only collection short of the Picture Book box that shows their entire career from "You Really Got Me" through "To the Bone," and as far as I can tell there's no compression or limiting. That's the good news. The bad news is that the EQ is very smiley and there are noise-reduction artefacts on a few tracks such as "Set Me Free" and "Autumn Almanac." I don't think the set has any connection with the main series of current reissues; it seems to be something the Dutch wing of Universal put out on their own. The mastering is credited to QS Sound Lab.

 

A comp is probably your best bet; a lot of their most important tracks were left off their albums. And by and large, a compilation will give you a good idea anyhow of which albums to investigate. The main caveat is that the Village Green era will be very under-represented on singles collections, so you might want to get that one as well, or at least check it out on YouTube or something.

 

It's not Kinks Kronikles I have, it's the Kinks Files double LP (with a bad cover of a filing cabinet!) and I think it sounds pretty good. Sure beats that 20 (ouch!) track comp I never played.

 

Playing YRGM and it starts ba dada dad dad, however the very first note isn't clean, it's a soft attack, like a very rapid fade in.

Same too with ADAAOTN, soft attack. Is this what you're referring to, Ben? I hadn't noticed this before. My copy is made in the EU, I must say there's a nice booklet that comes with it.

 

Any opinions on the double cd German compilation YOU REALLY GOT ME - The Very Best Of The Kinks that was released in the early-90s?

 

Thanks!

I went to the Amazon UK site and listened to samples from The Ultimate Collection & from The Singles Collection + a couple others. I know that samples are not always the best judge - but in this case, the difference in sound quality was very evident - at least to my ears. I could hear some "air" around the songs on Ultimate.

Considering that all I have is the old Rhino Greatest Hits (which no one has mentioned, so I assume it's not highly regarded) - Ultimate is something I'll pick up.

Question: When did Ultimate come out. Amazon's site lists 2003 - other sites mention 2007. This thing didn't get a another mastering did it??

 

I haven't heard it, so I'll just say this: (a) it's weird to see a compilation that mixes their Pye recordings with decades-later Arista and London/RCA material; (b) it's from a tiny label (Edel) based outside the U.K., and they probably wouldn't have had access to good tapes, though I suppose PRT etc. might have sent them some digital transfers.

The mastering is a tad bright, but otherwise fine. The main reason it doesn't get suggested much is that it only covers 1964 through mid-1966, and even at that manages to leave out "See My Friends."

It came out in 2002, and has been reissued since then but not remastered. (Be aware that there's a very different Kinks compilation from 1989 also called The Ultimate Collection; that one's one disc, not two, so it shouldn't be hard to tell them apart.)

 

A little help please:

There are two "Kinks: Ultimate Collection" listed on Amazon

They are both 2 disc sets that have the same description, but a BIG price difference. What gives?

From Sanctuary (2003)

http://www.amazon.com/Kinks-Ultimat...WVCD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332196856&sr=8-1

From Rajon (2005)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-...1A2W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332197101&sr=8-3

The Sanctuary one sells for over $18.00, while the Rajon one can be bought for just over $4.00. What is the deal with this recommended Kinks compilation?

 

Matthew, you seem to know your stuff. I have the one disc Ultimate Collection from 1989 and really like it, a great collection of tracks. What's your opinion on the sound?



It's exactly the same track listing and order as Castle's "The Complete Collection" from 1991 which I saw in another thread was mentioned as being the same mastering as Ugly Pink. So I think they may all be the same?

 

The Rajon one is pretty much identical, but made in Australia. I had a copy and it was the same mastering as my Sanctuary one. Go for the Rajon!

 

Personally, I really like the 29 song double cd "To the Bone", which was released in 1996. It really provides an intimate feel to it. It's becoming harder to find, but it does surface once in while in the used bins.

 

The poster that mentioned it was the same mastering as the Ugly Pink was wrong. The Ugly Pink doesn't share it's mastering with any other CD I've heard.

The 1989 Ultimate Collection sounds okay, but there is a bit of NR/filtering applied to some of the tracks. Not horrible by any means, but not as good as the Ugly Pink or a UK PYC Hit Singles.

Sonnyrock usually has a couple of copies of the UK Hit Singles CD in the classifieds. He's a great seller so buy with confidence!

 

It's about two-thirds great; as Laservampire says, the main issue is the noise reduction on some of the tracks.

Castle issued the same mastering with three different covers, shown below. The ones called The Ultimate Collection had catalogue number CTVCD 001, while The Complete Collection had catalogue number CCS CD 300. (The current two-disc The Ultimate Collection is a completely different beast.)

It doesn't use the Greatest Hits masterings, but it does re-use masterings from some of the other PRT CDs (in some cases with volume adjustments), especially the UK version of Hit Singles. This is the track list, and the sourcings they used:


01. "You Really Got Me" (mono, single mix) (unique mastering)
02. "All Day And All of the Night" (mono) (unique mastering)
03. "Tired of Waiting for You" (mono) (unique mastering)
04. "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
05. "Set Me Free" (mono) (unique mastering)
06. "See My Friends" (mono) (unique mastering)
07. "Till the End of the Day" (mono) (unique mastering)
08. "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (mono) (unique mastering)
09. "Sunny Afternoon" (mono) (unique mastering)
10. "Dead End Street" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
11. "Waterloo Sunset" (stereo) (Something Else, PRT)
12. "Autumn Almanac" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
13. "Wonderboy" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
14. "Days" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
15. "Plastic Man" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
16. "Victoria" (stereo) (Arthur, PRT)
17. "Lola" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
18. "Apeman" (stereo) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)
19. "David Watts" (stereo) (Something Else, PRT)
20. "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" (mono) (The Kink Kontroversy, PRT)
21. "A Well Respected Man" (mono) (unique mastering)
22. "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" (mono) (The Kinks Are Well Respected Men, PRT)
23. "End of the Season" (stereo) (Something Else, PRT)
24. "Death of a Clown" (stereo) (Something Else, PRT)
25. "Susannah's Still Alive" (mono) (Hit Singles, PRT, PYC 4001)


Of the unique masterings, "A Well Respected Man" uses the The Kinks Are Well Respected Men mastering with some adjustments to the fluctuating volume levels in the middle of the song. The other unique masterings use noise reduction and don't sound terribly natural. The tracks that aren't noise-reduced generally sound very good.

 

Resurrecting this 2-year old thread....

Looking back at my 2012 post, I never did follow-up on my post from 1/26/2012 - never ordered a Kinks comp. And now 2 years later, I find myself confused. Which "Ultimate" comp is recommended?

This one from Sanctuary: http://www.amazon.com/Kinks-Ultimat...qid=1399755315&sr=1-1&keywords=kinks+ultimate

...or this one from Castle: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Coll...qid=1399755398&sr=1-3&keywords=kinks+ultimate

Thanks!

 

Sanctuary

 

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