The Greatest Greatest Hits Albums - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

kickerofelves

There are loads of bands I can think of who I really like but would never sit through a studio album by:
10cc, The Small Faces, Oingo Boingo, The Police, Blur. However, I don't know that many best of collections that have the flow and balance of a proper studio album.

My picks would be:

Queen Greatest Hits Volume 1 (obviously)

Simon and Garfunkel Greatest Hits (I love the live versions they included. Missing Hazy Shade of Winter though)

Guided by Voices - Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (Collects the Lo-Fi stuff and the more polished stuff in one place.)

The Style Council Collection (Brownie points for including lots of rare B-Sides)

The Who - Ultimate Collection (An extremely generous collection that contains pretty much everything I need by the Who. I own most of their studio albums but rarely listen to them.)

Space-Dementia

I mostly like greatest hits albums by bands that have lots of great songs but no one great studio album. Blur, for example, with the exception of The Magic Whip which was incredible, all their studio albums have two or three great singles and then a bunch of filler, so having a greatest hits album is great. Same thing goes for Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Foo Fighters, and Led Zeppelin (I know I should love their first six albums, and they are really good, but I sorta lose track of which 12-bar-blues song is which, whereas with Mothership I get a small taste of each album).
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AAL2014

Space-Dementia wrote:

I mostly like greatest hits albums by bands that have lots of great songs but no one great studio album. Blur, for example, with the exception of The Magic Whip which was incredible, all their studio albums have two or three great singles and then a bunch of filler, so having a greatest hits album is great. Same thing goes for Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Foo Fighters, and Led Zeppelin (I know I should love their first six albums, and they are really good, but I sorta lose track of which 12-bar-blues song is which, whereas with Mothership I get a small taste of each album).

Regardless of anyone's thoughts on Led Zeppelin's individual albums, Mothership is a phenomenal compilation. It's what got me into the band.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Space-Dementia wrote:

I mostly like greatest hits albums by bands that have lots of great songs but no one great studio album. Blur, for example, with the exception of The Magic Whip which was incredible, all their studio albums have two or three great singles and then a bunch of filler, so having a greatest hits album is great. Same thing goes for Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Foo Fighters, and Led Zeppelin (I know I should love their first six albums, and they are really good, but I sorta lose track of which 12-bar-blues song is which, whereas with Mothership I get a small taste of each album).

I mostly agree with this... I'm curious as to why certain artists are this way for some people, and for other people it's all about their albums. FF and RHCP for example... my teen years were all about their albums. Most of Elvis though or something like that... totally get what you mean. Queen... totally agree. Interesting... is it exposure, understanding (is it me or is it the band), etc?

davidhuret

Gender: Male
Location: Lille,France

Beatles' red and blue comps, "Pure McCartney" (4cd edition), Dylan's "Biograph", Prince's "Hits/B-sides", The Stones "40 licks", REM's "Part lies...", "The Who hits 50"...

Lots of others.

Patman360
Serenity Now

Gender: Male
Age: 31
Location: Cork, Ireland

Moderator

These obviously.

Substance by Joy Division

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Arkology by Lee "Scratch" Perry

The Best Of Django Reinhardt by Django Reinhardt

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The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 by The Fall

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Complete Discography by Minor Threat

(Not necessarily the best albums by some of these artists but merely some compilations that are pretty damn great).
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

^^^^

Me likey.

CharlieBarley

Gender: Male
Age: 48
Location: Mount Olympus

The Very Best Of The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys

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Legend by Bob Marley And The Wailers

Such a classic collection, imo much better than any individual Marley album with the exception of Exodus.

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The Ultimate Collection by The Who

I love The Who's singles but not so much their albums. I love all the singles off Who's Next but I literally HATE the album tracks like Bargain. Sorry to be controversial but that album, long feted a classic, was the biggest disappointment I have ever experienced by a classic album. I find The Who very hit and miss. I like the Tommy and Live at Leeds albums but I dislike Quadrophenia. It's just different strokes for different folks I s'pose.

Also:

Love by The Beatles

I don't prefer this to individual Beatles albums but I just love the mix of songs in this album. Perhaps some folk regard The Beatles as I do The Who. Who knows?

EarthBoundRules

Gender: Male
Age: 28

Sly & the Family Stone - Greatest Hits

Has all of my favourite songs from the band.

and...

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The Beatles - Past Masters: Volume 2

Has a lot of their best non-album singles. Pair with Volume 1 for a great time.

Jorbaa

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Hits by Pulp

Picked by the artist themself, in chronological order and all by all great picks. the essential aspects of a decent greatest hits album.

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The Very Best Of The Doors by The Doors

Also a good collection of hits and decent album tracks. Give just enough of a taste of the albums.

Motorhead - Icon, is just a good quick overlook of their hits