Most frustrating greatest hits collections

How 'bout those GH collections that lack those one or two essential hits (and provides a reason for CD-Rs!). Here's my choice for frustrating collections.

The RCA Sam Cooke 21 (formerly 22) -track collection (lacks Another Saturday Night on the second pressing and the ABKCO-era tracks. Thank goodness for Keep Movin' On, my fave of 2003!!!!!

The late 1990s one-disc Very Best of Bob Dylan-lacks Positively Fourth Street.

Billy Joel GH Vol 1 and 2 - Why the heck didn't he put Honesty on this collection?! Thank goodness for his Essential collection!!!

Moody Blues 20th Century Millennium Masters Series- Where's Tuesday Afternoon?

Seals and Crofts GH- Couldn't they have added Get Closer as a bonus track?! Vic Anesini added The Air That I Breathe to the original Epic Hollies LP when he remastered it for CD!!

Any others?

 

PETER GABRIEL / SHAKING THE TREE: 16 GREATEST HITS

 

Huey Lewis Time Flies.

You have to buy this and the import Best of to get all the big hits.

 

The Pretenders Singles collection. The single disc leaves quite a number songs off.

Bob Seger's Greatest Hits. Too many "great" songs left off.

 

The Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970. These sets leave DOZENS of great songs off.

 

Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits. Limiting it to a single-disc compilation was a bad idea to begin with, and the unusually high number of new songs (four) take up far too much space that could have been devoted to genuine hits. The upcoming Essential looks like it does a far better job.

 

Well, consider that the GH came out before "Get Closer", "My Fair Share", and "You're The Love" all came out, so they couldn't have been on it unless WB went back and dealt with the duo and expanded it when they did the CD.

Some that frustrate me:

All those latter-day Archies collections that don't really have all of the singles, and include the same tired LP tracks!

most any Carpenters compilation because they all have some of Richard's infamous remixes/embellishments

any Barry Manilow comp because they refuse to add the single version of "Could It Be Magic"

Boz Scaggs: None of his comps use the single edit of "Lowdown"

Earth, Wind & Fire: they never use the single version of "Fall In Love With Me"

Whitney Houston: They keep using remixes

Madonna: The Immaculate Collection uses remixes and overdoes the Q-Sound

Chaka Khan: They never bothered with volume two

Van Halen: They never bothered with volume two

Kiss: They won't give us the single mix of "Calling Dr. Love"

Teena Marie: All Epic Does is give us ballads and not enough fast songs

Four Tops: We have yet to see one comp that uses the single version of "Keeper Of The Castle", or "Are You Man Enough"

Aerosmith: We never get the single version of "Dream On".

 

You know, the UK pressing (of the CD, anyway) had Honesty on it!

 

Re: Re: Most frustrating greatest hits collections

Surprising but true. And has the single remix of "It's a Miracle" appeared on cd?

At least this found a cd issue on one of those Sony "Soundtrack for A Centure" compilations that Sony put out, as did the original single edit of Aerosmith's "Dream On." (I think that when "Dream On" finally became a hit, though, the full length lp version was issued on the 45.)

A "greatest hits" collection that is entirely made up of remixes doesn't make sense to me. That's probably why I haven't played this disc more than once.

To be fair, I'm not sure that Chaka had enough hits to make up a second volume (unless you were to include Rufus stuff), but the record company *did* indicate that "Epiphany" was "volume 1." I wonder what they had in mind for volume 2?

 

...........and of course the excellent Portrait Of A Legend.


(Pity about Soothe Me though!)

 

Joel, I checked out a Todd Rundgren CD at Phantasmagoria a while back and, though it had at least twenty or twenty-five tracks, it did not include It Really Wouldn't Make Any Difference.

 

Re: Re: Re: Most frustrating greatest hits collections

Actually, yes! So has the 45 single/radio mix of "Copacabana (At The Copa)". I've had it for a decade. The "hit" was the A side and the LP version was the B side. They can both be found on the "Greatest Hits" CD, Arista ARCD 8038.

Sadly, this fine collection which pretty much duplicates the original LP double album is probably out of print. But, you may find it used. And guess what? None of that damned noise reduction was used! The thing has tape hiss all over it.

 

U2 - The Best of 1980-1990

1) Annoying tom-tom overdubs on "Pride", not heard anywhere else (as far as I know)

2) The 7" edits - fair enough, they were the hit versions. But were they really the best versions? You can't chop down "Where The streets Have No Name" ...

3) Flat, unexciting remastering

4) Only 14 tracks? Some key cuts missing.

 

"Joel, I checked out a Todd Rundgren CD at Phantasmagoria a while back and, though it had at least twenty or twenty-five tracks, it did not include It Really Wouldn't Make Any Difference."

That's just totally incompetent compiling.

 

The original Simon And Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. The live versions are nice, especially "For Emily", but the applause cross-fades into "The Sounds Of Silence" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" have always been irritating. The bane of disc jockeys for decades! Not to mention, no "A Hazy Shade Of Winter," "At The Zoo" and "Fakin' It."


Pretty much every Who compilation that doesn't include "The Relay."

 

My Generation - The Very Best of the Who. It is missing Relay, The Kids Are Alright, and Legal Matter. What's worse are the remixes of Pinball Wizard, Join Together, and yet another edited Who Are You.

 

jackson browne - so much could have been on there and wasn't. time for a vol II.

 

I was excited when the Smashing Pumpkins put out a comp because I love some of their songs but find others to be tedious. The comp turned out to have lots of stuff from their lesser, later albums and omitted some great early tracks.

 

Hall & Oates Rock And Soul Vol 1.

 

CCR - Chronicles -

 

I always thought that the Stones "Hot Rocks" should have included "The Last Time" "Tell Me" and/or "Little Red Rooster"

 

How come? I always thought the track selection on this pretty much nailed it.

Ryan

 

Except for the shortened Susie Q, what's wrong with this one?? It has ALL the hits, chronologically ordered, has good length, and if you need more, there's always Vol 2. One of the best greatest hits albums ever.

 

Aerosmith doesn't have a definitive hits collection. You have buy all 18 of their best of's to get everything!