Where a greatest hits album is enough

[studpuppet]

EDIT - Have never heard Ogden's all the way through

Well, I'm going to call you ShameFUL Custard from now on...

[Smeraldina Rima]

What the fuck dude? SM&TJ are a brilliant band. "Pig Lib" alone is an eclectic and accomplished indie masterpiece.

I like Pig Lib and Sparkle Hard a lorra lorra. Relistened to Mirror Traffic today after reading this thread, that's pretty good too. Stick Fingers in Love and Long Hard Book are two of my faves off that one.

I wonder what would go on Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Best Of? Would it include the Stephen Malkmus solo album with Jo Jo's Jacket?

Loved the solo versions from Sparkle Hard that SM played in nice looking places on a twelve string guitar:
Middle America
Solid Silk
Longer set

Middle America is an amazing song.


This thread also made me spend part of the day trying to find a Sonic Youth compilation someone made me as a way to get into them. It was really good and had a nice drawing on the front. The only other Best Of that I don't find depressing is the second R.E.M one purlieu was talking about, since as purlieu said, their later albums aren't that great but the singles still are.

[DrGreggles]

Small Faces NO - you need all of Ogden's

What about a greatest hits that also contains all of Ogden's?
Like Darlings Of Wapping Wharf Launderette does.

[The Culture Bunker]

A great example of that would be Tears for Fears

Well, I certainly hope so, as the huge success of 'Songs From the Big Chair' must have surely meant Roland and (maybe, given he only got one co-write on the album) Curt never had to worry about money again.

[sutin]

Heh, that could be a fun thread of its own - "Bands who put out compilations every fucking week"

Feels like every time i'm in the supermarket there's a new Madness Greatest Hits CD for sale.

[purlieu]

Well, I certainly hope so, as the huge success of 'Songs From the Big Chair' must have surely meant Roland and (maybe, given he only got one co-write on the album) Curt never had to worry about money again.

As evidenced by the increasing gaps between albums in the years since. Two new songs in the last 17 years? No good songs since 1993[nb]I'm proudly one of six people in the world who love Elemental, despite it containing some of the worst lyrics ever written. Power how? Power now. Power wow![/nb]? C'mon guys.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Is it because my favourite Pavement album is Wowee Zowee!?

Ali G reconsiders catchphrase.

[The Mollusk]

I wonder what would go on Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks Best Of? Would it include the Stephen Malkmus solo album with Jo Jo's Jacket?

The solo SM album was intended to be put out as The Jicks but Matador insisted he credit it as a solo album. Same band members though!

As an aside if you've not heard their 2014 album "Wig Out at Jag Bags", rectify that at your earliest convenience! It's flipping great. "J Smoov" is a standout, with Malk going full Al Green on the vocals, delicious.

[the science eel]

EDIT - Have never heard Ogden's all the way through, science eel. Will give it a go

It'll charm yer socks off. The Stanley Unwin links are a joy.

What about a greatest hits that also contains all of Ogden's?
Like Darlings Of Wapping Wharf Launderette does.

Oh really? well, there you go - proof if you need it that it's solid stuff all the way through

I wonder if there are other 'greatest hits' that contain entire albums. I seem to recall seeing a Love best-of that had all of Forever Changes...

[willbo]

What about best-ofs with peculiar track listings. Like Black Sabbath's "we sold our souls for rock and roll" in the 70s. One of their most big selling records until their later, more sensible best-ofs. But has a lot of random jams and obscure tracks.

[The Culture Bunker]

As evidenced by the increasing gaps between albums in the years since. Two new songs in the last 17 years? No good songs since 1993[nb]I'm proudly one of six people in the world who love Elemental, despite it containing some of the worst lyrics ever written. Power how? Power now. Power wow![/nb]? C'mon guys.

I really liked the 2004 Curt and Roland reunion album 'Everybody Loves a Happy Ending' - had some great stuff on it, but I suspect it's lack of commercial action put them off doing anything new again and stick to the odd 'Hits' tour to top up the pension funds.

[purlieu]

Bit too "we want to be The Beatles" for me, but it does seem to get a lot of love from fans.
The thing is, they've been recording a new album for years. The process just seems to be making the Seeds of Love sessions feel snappy and concise. The two tracks on 2017's Rule the World compilation were from the sessions, and last year Roland said in an interview that they were considering releasing a few singles over the course of the year. And then nothing.

[crankshaft]

Bit too "we want to be The Beatles" for me, but it does seem to get a lot of love from fans.
The thing is, they've been recording a new album for years. The process just seems to be making the Seeds of Love sessions feel snappy and concise. The two tracks on 2017's Rule the World compilation were from the sessions, and last year Roland said in an interview that they were considering releasing a few singles over the course of the year. And then nothing.

They did the classic thing of trying to write by committee with a whole load of young pop writers, the results were horrible, the two songs that weren't 100% awful ended up on the best of (and were poor). They ditched them all and went back to writing it themselves. Or at least that's what Roland said in 2018 and "The Tipping Point" is still no nearer release, so...

[crankshaft]

They did the classic thing of trying to write by committee with a whole load of young pop writers, the results were horrible, the two songs that weren't 100% awful ended up on the best of (and were poor). They ditched them all and went back to writing it themselves. Or at least that's what Roland said a while back and "The Tipping Point" is still no nearer release, so...

[Art Bear]

I wonder if there are other 'greatest hits' that contain entire albums. I seem to recall seeing a Love best-of that had all of Forever Changes...

That's Love Story (1966-72), which was the first Love I owned. Side One of Forever Changes ends CD1, Side Two starts CD2, so it keeps the "get up and change the record over" vibe of the vinyl, which I like. Too many CDs of pre-digital albums leave much too short a gap between what were sides 1 and 2. Sometime you need that breath before diving back in.

Love Story (1966-72) also has all the tracks from Side One of Da Capo and a good selection from their post-Nicols/Maclean albums, so I think you could argue that this comp is all the Love you need.

[The Culture Bunker]

They did the classic thing of trying to write by committee with a whole load of young pop writers, the results were horrible, the two songs that weren't 100% awful ended up on the best of (and were poor). They ditched them all and went back to writing it themselves. Or at least that's what Roland said in 2018 and "The Tipping Point" is still no nearer release, so...

His wife (who financially supported him before Tears for Fears had any success) died in 2017 and his health took a real battering afterwards. It may be that his motivation to write new material just isn't there as much anymore, which is understandable.

[sutin]

I wonder if there are other 'greatest hits' that contain entire albums. I seem to recall seeing a Love best-of that had all of Forever Changes...

I'm no fan but I believe the Sex Pistols' '90s 'greatest hits' album Kiss This contains the entirety of Never Mind The Bollocks.

[The Culture Bunker]

I have a Martha and the Muffins compilation that is all of their first album (the one with 'Echo Beach') and a handful of songs from the other two albums they put out on Virgin.

[purlieu]

The Idle Race's entire career is available on a 2CD set, complete with Cheap Greatest Hits Bargain CD style art, which doesn't really count but is worth mentioning.

They did the classic thing of trying to write by committee with a whole load of young pop writers, the results were horrible, the two songs that weren't 100% awful ended up on the best of (and were poor). They ditched them all and went back to writing it themselves. Or at least that's what Roland said in 2018 and "The Tipping Point" is still no nearer release, so...

Ah, I hadn't heard about that! Crikey. Yes, those two songs were pretty bad and not remotely TFF-ish either. I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising maybe, given how little material there actually is on Songs From the Big Chair, eight songs with Broken and Head Over Heels basically being a two-part song, Mothers Talk predating most of the album by a long way, Listen practically being an Ian Stanley track, and there being no proper songs as b-sides. With The Seeds of Love taking four years to come out and being another eight track album, the Roland & Curt version of the band definitely seems to work at a snail's pace.

[Brundle-Fly]

Just realised that Beck has never released a best of.  That would be a cracking greatest hits.

[Pauline Walnuts]

Well, I certainly hope so, as the huge success of 'Songs From the Big Chair' must have surely meant Roland and (maybe, given he only got one co-write on the album) Curt never had to worry about money again.

They apparently wanted to get rich so they could afford therapy to get over their personal issues.

Well, it was the 80s.

[willbo]

How do you know you only need a best-of until you've heard more though? I can't imagine now going through life not having heard Sabbath's "Spiral Architect" or Nick Cave's Grinderman albums. Heck even some of the album tracks on MJ's Thriller and Off the Wall.

[Dusty Substance]

Hot Chocolate. Bunch of decent funk, soul, disco singles but no great albums. This 1979 Greatest Hits is all you'd need: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/hot-chocolate/20-hottest-hits/

[The Culture Bunker]

Hot Chocolate. Bunch of decent funk, soul, disco singles but no great albums. This 1979 Greatest Hits is all you'd need: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/hot-chocolate/20-hottest-hits/

I'd go with a later compilation as it would then include 'It Started With a Kiss' from 1982.

[Dr Rock]

Hot Chocolate. Bunch of decent funk, soul, disco singles but no great albums. This 1979 Greatest Hits is all you'd need: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/hot-chocolate/20-hottest-hits/

It hasn't got 'It Started With A Kiss' on it!

(Or 'No Doubt About It')

[Famous Mortimer]

How do you know you only need a best-of until you've heard more though? I can't imagine now going through life not having heard Sabbath's "Spiral Architect" or Nick Cave's Grinderman albums. Heck even some of the album tracks on MJ's Thriller and Off the Wall.

From the first post in the thread:

For those bands and musicians that have a solid greatest hits, but you have no desire to dig into the rest of their catalogue to find other potential bangers, or you already have and know there's not much there.

Liquid Liquid, ESG, Bush Tetras and all those other weird proto-dance New York no wave-adjacent bands

A double album should give you everything you need - I have a comp called "Down By Law" (which I presume is some blog's creation, as I can't find much about it online) which is packed with bangers, and Soul Jazz did a 3-volume set called "New York Noise" which is pretty damn fantastic. Oh, and there's "Disco Not Disco" too.

[Jockice]

It hasn't got 'It Started With A Kiss' on it!

(Or 'No Doubt About It')

Or Girl Crazy, their best ever single.

[sutin]

Just realised that Beck has never released a best of.  That would be a cracking greatest hits.

If it was 1994-1999 only!

[Satchmo Distel]

Sometimes singles aren't really the artist's key tracks. Morrissey's solo greatest hits tends to include some shit singles rather than his best album work. The Smiths also have this issue to a lesser extent: I could compile 20 immense Smiths tracks but 10 or fewer would be singles.

[Butchers Blind]

Bob Marley.