“Sing It Again Rod” is the best 1st compilation by any artist in the LP era

IIRC, the first true "greatest hits" collection by anyone.

 

You are right (13). Thanks for the correction.

 

Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits

August 1974

 

Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits

Greatest Hits (Sly and the Family Stone album) - Wikipedia




This is a great collection that any fan of this band should have. It is definitely a fun album.

Scott

 

Yes. One of the best albums from one of Americas best bands. In my opinion.

 

Yes. And it came out years before the (great) Rod album. This one is the best contender so far.

 

How about Elvis' Golden Records Vol 1.

Although it's hard to argue with Sly, Bob D., Alice or Sing It Again.

 

But a compilation is not a Greatest Hits, nor is it a Best of.

I know, I’m nitpicking this, but these threads inevitably turn into a Greatest hits record discussion...ho hum, we’ve been there so often.

Masterpieces, Bob Dylan and Pure Dylan. Fantastic comps!

 

Correct. Compilation albums are not the direct equivalent of Greatest Hits/Best of albums. But these albums are one of the many forms of compilation albums. Compilation albums can take multiple forms: greatest hits/best of, box sets, multiple artist compilations, rarities, etc.

So the term “compilation” is very broad and flexible in its definition. It can take on multiple forms.

Sing It Again, Rod is a great compilation record. I got it last fall when I was digging through a stack of dusty LPs that had been sitting in a friend’s garage for years. It helped lead me to discover Every Picture Tells a Story and some Faces material. I now have the desire to break out Sing It Again Rod!

However, I don’t agree with the claim it’s the best (first) compilation album. My vote would go to The Harder They Come. Yes, it’s a soundtrack to the film, but it is a compilation of multiple artists (Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals, Scotty, Jimmy Cliff, The Slickers, The Melodians). The record is historically important for bringing reggae to the world.

I believe one could argue that this album is a compilation record. Otherwise, my vote goes to The Greatest Hits of Sly & the Family Stone.
Another great compilation record is The Greatest Hits of Steve Miller. The Greatest Hits of Steve Miller is a fairly well known and collected record (even though it’s not his first compilation album—even then Anthology stands pretty strong). I know it’s not really from the LP era (it was released in ‘78), but isn’t it a bit silly to limit it to just the LP era and being a single LP comp.?

 

Good choice. I was surprised neither MFSL, DCC, nor Audio Fidelity ever tackled this one. Does exactly what a comp should do, namely make a great album out of a bunch of fair to very good ones. Terrific artwork to boot.

 

This where you lost me:

I don't recall 8-Track tapes ever being a dominant format. It was common, but not dominant. Cassettes didn't really take hold until well into the '80s.

 

This is a good one but they omitted the other charting single from the this period Caught In A Dream.

 

[

love Harder... but I think that's a different category really, if we open the barn doors we'll have huge box sets, and everything under the sun in here

I humbly submit:



lean and mean p simon with two additional tracks hat are actually essential!

 

I have a UK blue label Mercury that sounds fab. Being a Rod fan I can't argue with your choice but there have been quite a few great contenders listed.

There's something about Buffalo Springfield-Retrospective that really seems like a seamless album and I've always played it over the years probably more than most other comps.

 

This is pretty great. Designed to fit alongside their LPs of the time. I wonder if it is the earliest compilation of exclusively non-LP material.

 

Neil Diamond - His 12 Greatest Hits

 

This!

 

Changesonebowie

Tim

 

The Best of Cream.

 

The first Elvis Presley Golden Records is kind of a standard...