[RoundTheBend]

What'all think about best of collections? The purest in me says that best of collections shouldn't be counted as best of albums, and part of me thinks, for some artists, that's the only album of theirs that is great, cover to cover.

Should they be listed on BEA? Which artists do you feel aren't worthy album makers, but good artists nonetheless, and are better with their best of collections?

[videoheadcleaner]

I exclude them from my charts, even though I had a phase that I wanted to use them.

I count them in my collection but not in overall or decade. Some may creep into year charts.

[Guest]

Best ofs rarely are...

Exception is for artists who primarily release singles rather than albums (e.g.Motown, Northern Soul), so various artists comps rather than for a single artist

[RoundTheBend]

Ya, when I first started on this site, I realized I listened to a a few best of albums and it limited me from wanting to explore the artist further.

Upon exploring the artist further I either found out there is a good reason why I should only listen to best of and for some, I was downed by the fact that the best of limited me from exploring.

[pearljammer13]

Best of's are a great way to introduce yourself to an artist, but in no way should they be used in best album charts. 99.9% of the time a best of is simply the greatest hits or what the artist/label considers the best songs on all their studio albums. Original studio albums are all that should be considered for greatest album charts imo.

[Guest]

I don't see them as albums. It doesn't mean they don't have merit (Going Steady comes to mind as being better than any Buzzcocks album, whilst Magenta already alluded to soul acts who were indeed more focused on releasing 45s than albums), but they weren't intended to be taken as a whole upon creation and thus I don't see them that way. There are some here who think that's snobbery, but each to their own.

[RoundTheBend]

Rolling Stones was an artist that I used to think that their best "album" was the Hot Rocks 1964–1971 collection. It is an amazing collection. Probably one of the best "best ofs" out there. I then listened to some Stones albums, and in the beginning I thought the Stones were a best of only band. They just don't have solid albums, but then I REALLY listened to Exile. I wasn't impressed with the holistic feel of the album, but then it grew on me... good music always grows.

I am still not a believer that the Stones are quality album makers (fan of holistic album feel, and they just don't do that, they are great song writers, just not album writers if that makes sense). So for me the Stones are somewhere in between the artist that makes really good songs, but not good albums, and therefore their best "albums" really are their best ofs.

I guess what I am saying is that when you look at a band like the Beatles, most of their albums, every song matters to the album, especially after, what, help - rubber soul era. Before there was maybe a song or two that wasn't that great, but even in their debut album that was the case... that can't be said of the Stones. Even out of their top 10 albums on this site, I think Exile is the only one that all songs feel like they fit.... imo.

[Happymeal]

Lol. Only one that voted yes.

Reasoning: If something's released as an album, in my opinion, it's an album.

[RoundTheBend]

[Romanelli]

I'm with the Happy Meal here.

If there's one thing I've learned from this website, it's that closing my mind to certain things musically keeps me from a lot of things that I didn't even know I would enjoy. I've opened my mind a lot in the last two years to more newer music, hip hop, and the knowledge that just because I'm older than someone, that doesn't mean my taste in music is any better than theirs.

I believe that closing our minds to certain kinds of albums is a bad thing. I know that considering compilation albums relevant is not what the cool kids are doing these days...but I think the cool kids are wrong on this one. Why would you want to limit what you listen to? I agree that studio albums are the top of the heap, but why disregard other albums...live albums, best of's, compilations?

If people want to make limiting rules on their charts (no more than x albums/artist, no compilations, etc.), that's fine...just don't look down on people who think otherwise. I think it's putting limits on things...and imho, music should be a world without limits.
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Of dying history