Greatest Hits packages

Re: I like burning my own...

Hey, I do that too! Many times I don't want to wade through bloated box sets to get to what I want to hear, so I make my own CD-Rs. I did this with Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkel, and Alice Cooper. My Alice Cooper comp from the box set is more complete than the two recent single disc comps from Rhino.

Many times a company will issue a greatest hits track with the wrong edit or version. If I have to, i'll master the song from another CD, vinyl, or recreate the single with Cool Edit.

Many times it is the artist, not the record company or comp producer who mandates what will be used.

 

Greatest Hits albums often don't have my favorite recordings by the artist; that's my big gripe with them.

 

Me too!

 

Sometimes I like hits collections, like in the case of bands that were more singles oriented like Bread.

I don't like it when songs are taken out of the context of an album where there was a continuity, like Pink Floyd.

 

The Masters albums have been expensive collectors items for years.Their old albums were pirated for years and are now available officially on CD on Ascension records.I just bought the CD of Jim Keays' concept album "The Boy From The Stars" the other day and liked it a lot more than I thought I would considering the words"concept" and "album" are not words I like to see together.

 

I think Best Of/Greatest Hits and artist compilation albums have their place in the market. The cynical among us will say that they are nothing more than record company cash-ins or exploitation issues and, whilst there may be an element of truth in that, I don't think that is always the case.

I've always believed that these collections are not generally aimed at the hardcore fan or collector but more the general consumer who may not want to buy all of an artists' albums but instead may wish to buy a "sampler" of that artists' better known work. Additions like outtakes or unreleased material is better served by box sets or other anthology-style packages. A recent trend I've noticed is the inclusion of a bonus disc with additional material. I recently bought the Squeeze best of CD and was delighted with the B-sides disc thrown is a limited edition extra.

They also serve as a good introduction to an artist whose material you may not be overly familiar with. I've got into quite a lot of music this way - for example, Bob Marley. I bought the Legend LP on vinyl many years back and liked it so much that it led me to investigate - and subsequently purchase - his whole Tuff Gong catalogue. I know many people who began their Beatles collections with the Red and Blue "best of" albums on vinyl in the 70s and 80s. If these Best Of/GH albums lead to people exploring new artists that they might not otherwise have done (and in many cases I believe this DOES happen), I think it's only a good thing.

As for the track selection on some of these packages, they are normally (though not always) compiled by the marketing people so their idea of what should be on there may not be the choice that serious fans of the artist would pick. Of course, if you have a CD burner, you can always create your own compilations with the tracks of your choice!

Oh..nearly forgot to cast my vote: in general they get a "yes" from me.

 

Another reason to like hits cd's is in cases where the sonics of the hits package is far and away better than the original cd's. Case in point, the latest America Greatest Hits.

 

Greatest Hits and/or Best Of packages are O. K.!

They are good to get an overview of an artist, cover an artist you don't or want too have much of. (Village People!) It can help you to get into an artist that your just getting to know. Yes! there are always "hits" that don't end up on the Greatest Hits/ Best Of complations, that record companies thinking ("You put on all the hits nobody will buy the old records"). But then again, you can buy that complation and then you only need three albums to cover what you want from a artist.

 

All you really need of the Village People are the 3 tracks that are on the "Casablanca Records Greatest Hits" various artists CD: YMCA, Macho Man and In The Navy as those are all 3 of their major hits.

 

But having the lastest Greastest Hits I can still impress people when I play San Francisco and Ready for the 80's, and keep it to one CD.

 

That's the reason to have a Village People hits collection if you want more than what the Casablanca Records sampler offers from them.

 

Thanks for the info cousin. Will keep my keyboard ready for TBFTS.