Inadvertent Masterpieces: Compilations that are brilliant in their own right.

Since a lot of folks feel these are comps:

Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles Second Album

Love these two releases to death!!

 

Agreed 100%.

 

i love this one

 

Kiss - Double Platinum

 

Boys Don't Cry turns a good album into a brilliant album and fits the criteria of this thread really well.

i would also add the US version of the debut Clash album, which I bought at the time as I was a kid with no money and it had all those singles on, and it's an almost perfect summary of the first couple of years. Although sonically it does vary it worked for me at the time as a real 'album'.

 

The Jam - Compact Snap
The Smiths - Singles
Squeeze - Singles: 45s and Under

 

Tim Buckley's "Works in Progress" was a revelation, it wasn't easy having to wait for it to arrive from America

 

Sure but a greatest hits is by definition not going to be an inadvertent masterpiece - it’s planned to be the best.

 

This is true.

 

The Undertones: All Wrapped Up is a brilliant double album of all the singles A and B sides. Perfect effervescent pop.
Hank Williams: 40 Greatest Hits always gives me a buzz.
The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations CD box is pretty damned perfect balance of hits and rarities, including an early attempt at assembling Smile.
Phil Spector: Back to Mono (1958-1969) CD box is glorious and even came with a badge.
Pink Floyd: Relics has always held a special spot in my vinyl collection.

 

Complete Madness was one of the first CDs I ever bought. It was a U.K. import at the time and it cost a pretty penny. I still listen to it though and it was a worthwhile purchase.

It’s a keeper, makes a great album in its own right.

 

Although this is true, some greatest hits albums are just collections of songs, while others take on a coherency of their own as albums.

 

Your Mom 's awesome ( you already knew that ).
I came home from school one day in 1973 and ' Quadrophenia ' was on my bed. My Mom said she bought it for me because she thought it looked like something I might like !

 

For some groups, like for instance, The Jam, a lot of their singles were never collected on albums, that is what makes Snap! so good, it not only collects the singles, but also bolsters them up with some key album tracks, and B sides, making a cohesive story from their first single to their last.
Hatfull of Hollow, by The Smiths does a similar, if slightly different job of making an almost alternate debut, with key singles, B sides and radio sessions, some of which are as good, if not better than the studio versions.
The Red and Blue albums by The Beatles, give in four LPs a concise history of The Beatles again, from first to last, very much like Snap! Everyone can complain about the odd omission, but they have carried the flag for 36 years. Hot Rocks/Rolled Gold does a similar thing for The Stones.

Others give a snapshot of a particular era, it is interesting that a lot of the albums mentioned in this thread so far, are not career spanning, but are instead, like CHANGESONEBOWIE, Queen Greatest Hits V1, Bob Dylan GH1. They give a concentrated "hit" (no pun intended) of quite often key tracks from an artists career at a certain point in time, almost like a snapshot, often before things change too much. For example I have Squeeze's 45s and Under on LP and a CD from about 15 years ago that covers all that plus a lot of later tracks. Even though there are some amazing songs missing from the former, it is the one I play the most, because it is all killer no filler, as the saying goes. Sometimes you just want 35-40 minutes of an artists singles to just blow you away time after time.

A greatest hits album is sometimes the first album a person gets from a certain group and allows them to discern safely what they like about them and if they want to explore on. Led Zeppelin's Remasters CD (a collection hitherto not mentioned on this thread, but needs to be), is I think an excellent introduction to their music, there has been two other similar collections since, with slightly different track listings, but for me, this is the one that counts. It was the first time LZ had been collected in this way (apart from the sibling box set), and chronologically ploughed through their catalogue with barely a misfire. I still find it a great track list today, even though I have all their albums both in the collected studio boxset and the vinyl reissues with the bonus discs. If I want a quick overview of LZ, Remasters is what I usually go to.

 

Wow, in 1973, my mother might have picked up a comic for me.

 

In general, I don’t enjoy compilations, but my favorite of all time and the one that feels most like an actual album to me is New Order’s Substance.

Now if only the original double cassette box track list would get re-issued on cd!

 

Kinks Kronikles was the the first one that came to my mind, before I opened this thread. And The Autumn Stone by The Small Faces.

 

Oh my gosh! I am shocked that no one has mentioned this yet! It ticks all the boxes, not only does it collect every single up to the point of release, but then also collects all the B Sides too. (Some of the 12" mixes are slightly edited, but we can give them a pass on that).
I agree, that the whole cassette tracklisting should be the default. I would love a reissue of the vinyl as well (I would be ok with just the A sides for that, maybe the B sides for the non instrumental versions).

 

Bruce Cockburn | Waiting For A Miracle

I was just looking for a song I had heard on the radio , Lovers In A Dangerous Time, and was blown away by the whole compilation!

 

Brown Sugar wasn't on my original vinyl copy, because it wasn't on Decca.

 

Not a greatest hits comp, more of a B sides comp from the Stupid Dream/Lightbulb Sun sessions, but I'd vote Porcupine Tree - Recordings. One of my favorite album's by these guys, and sequenced awesomely.

 

No, I messed up. To be honest I haven't owned Rolled Gold for years. I only had it on tape. I thought it ended with Brown Sugar, but obviously not! Still a fine compilation. Gimme Shelter is a fine closer and opener on Let It Bleed.

I think I got mixed up because Brown Sugar is on the London Singles Collection that I thought covered the same time period.

 

Jethro Tull/Living In The Past. A great compilation of early singles, album tracks, EP tracks, and a live side.
Pink Floyd/Relics. Early LP tracks, singles, and previously unreleased tracks
Elvis Presley/ Worldwide Golden Hits and Worldwide Vol 2. 8 LP's of great tracks all in original mono and great sound as well. Vol 2 is mostly single tracks and EP's.

 

A lot better choice to have a view of their 60 era than the first album

 

Yeah, I see it.

I appreciate Super Black Market Clash as it gathers so much interesting material. But the original does make for a more cohesive listen.