Biggest rip-off album you've seen?

I recently noticed a CD in my mother's collection, which she had bought but never played - "The Very Best of James Taylor", which was adorned with a recent photo of him, but had a truly odd tracklist.... three songs that aren't him whatsoever, and six songs from the cash-in album of Flying Machine demos.

This has to be the biggest ripoff I've ever seen.... especially since the cover was designed to look just like a REAL 'best of' collection he put out around the same time.

What albums have you seen that just made your blood boil because they were a complete waste of money? (I imagine a lot of those "teenage Bee Gees songs, modern Bee Gees photos" CD's will pop up here!)

 

Tie between either Joey Molland's Best of Badfinger or Rykodisc's Day after Day: Live.

 

Neil Young - 'The Lost Tapes' (1992)

 

Neil Young - Storytone on vinyl. US $ 70

Go flogg yourself you tight old bastard.

 

This fake AC/DC album.

 

Currently £55 at Amazon UK. That's roughly $84 ! Think I'll pass.

 

It has to be a Hendrix one, my vote goes to 'The Eternal Fire of Jimi Hendrix'

 

As far as similar clueless repackages, one that sticks in my mind is a Steely Dan CD released when they started touring again in the 90's. It had a photo of Becker and Fagen superimposed on a photo of a crowd who looked more like Lollapalooza kids than a Steely Dan audience, while the music was their endlessly rereleased pre-first album demos.

 

These:



Because they contain the same material. There are even more versions of this pre-Love It To Death material out there.......

 

Oh, God - you just reminded me of this classic:


Big hint - Jimi Hendrix is NOWHERE to be found on this album.

 

I can't find a cover pic, but I know for a fact that a Beatles compilation called "20 Greatest Hits" (as well as a second volume "20 Great Hits") came out at the same time as the REAL "20 Greatest Hits" - except this one was just Sheridan and Star Club material.

 

Currently $42 on Amazon.

I'll bite at $35.

 

Elvis Costello's 'Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook' boxed set was actually disowned by Elvis himself. He said something about the list price either being "a misprint or satire." LOL!

The single disc version is actually great though.

 

Just saw the DR on the new Sticky Fingers re-release. Seems like a total ripoff money grab for something that will sound like dogs**t.

VP

 

Too many to list for Bob Marley. All 60's, early 70's stuff very early recordings. Good for the collector or hardcore Marley fan, not good for someone looking for Island label hits.

 

The Rykodisc was one of those I saw every time I went to the record store for a few years and thought about buying. From what I learned later I'm glad I didn't.

 

Yes. I bought this and took it back for a refund and said " It's not Neil Young" - they coughed up too...

 

Not 1 note of Jimi playing indeed!

On the other hand, the odds are that it is Atlanta soul legend Lee Moses who is doing the playing, so for rare soul collectors it has interest.

 

Big piles of crap. Not "alternative takes" as advertised, but loads of cheesy keyboard overdubs. Buy under no circumstances.

 

Any of the SACDs on Amazon UK. Especially the Japanese ones.

 

Call me a skeptic, but I still find it hard to believe that someone in the business for that long, who has licensed his masters that many times, and obviously had approval was unaware of what that bohemoth would retail for. Slipcase (didn't the spinner work?), hardcover book, vinyl, poster, CD & DVD...

Perhaps it was the quality (which, granted, I haven't heard, but the reviews weren't kind) figured into the "dismissal"?

 

Similarly you have the Van Morrison Bang material compilations, about 2000 of them. I think the material is very good, but the comps are not representative of Van's solo career.

 

I don't recall the entire interview but thought that particular line was funny. I actually find most reissues to be enormous ripoffs. It blows my mind that - in 2015- the Led Zeppelin catalog is getting reissued again! Meanwhile, hours of usuable concert recordings (by any band - not just Zep) sit rotting in the vaults.

 

There are so many ripoffs out there. Go to your local WalMart in the $5 bin, and there will be so many "best ofs" of washed-up bands that are re-recording (possibly live) by the current lineup that may include one or two original members. Here is one example: http://www.amazon.com/Extended-Versions-Foreigner/dp/B000F6II1W

 

Not an album, but I always thought this mid 00s cash in DVD was a trashy product. Promoting a MDC interview as a selling point???? Plus the classy punctuation error in the title, and the clumsy mention of the 'female view'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lennon-Harrison-Guitars-Gently-Weep/dp/B000JCE87A