Best of albums

[Greg]

I just picked up The Best of Fuel which is a pretty strong hard rock album. What are some of your favorite "best of" albums?

 

[deadheadskier]

Recently re-acquired Best of Taj Mahal, that's one of my all time favorite 'best of' albums.

 

[MRGisevil]

Billy Idol- Best Of. Rock on.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

I did a quick mental inventory of my music collection and realized how few "Best Of" albums I actually have. I have many anthologies and box sets which I guess are a variation of "Best Of" collections. My favorite of these would probably be either "Hey Ho Let's Go", the Ramones anthology, "An Anthology" of Duane Allman or "The Capitol Years" of Frank Sinatra.

 

[Paul]

I don't usually like "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" preferring live albums which are typically the same thing. however, there are a few which are okay:

Chronicles - Rush
Best of The Doors
Decade - Neil Young
A Decade of Hits - The Allman Bros. Band
Message in a Box - The Police
Return of the Manticore - ELP

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Chronicles - Rush

Yes.

Duran Duran's "Decade" is pretty good, too.

 

[skiNEwhere]

any of the "best of" led zeppelin albums. they seem to have quite a few

 

[Dr Skimeister]

any of the "best of" led zeppelin albums. they seem to have quite a few

Did you see in today's Times that the surviving members are re-uniting for some shows?

Led Zeppelin to Return for a Tribute Concert
By BEN SISARIO
Following weeks of intense speculation by fans and the news media, a concert promoter announced yesterday that the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin would play a concert in London on Nov. 26.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

I just picked up The Best of Fuel which is a pretty strong hard rock album. What are some of your favorite "best of" albums?

Not to pick on you, Greg, of course, but Fuel's "best of" is an example of why such "best of"s usually annoy me to no end.

Fuel's "best of" came out in 2005 after three albums (yes, that's right....one, two, THREE).

What a blatant cash grab.

 

[Greg]

Not to pick on you, Greg, of course, but Fuel's "best of" is an example of why such "best of"s usually annoy me to no end.

Fuel's "best of" came out in 2005 after three albums (yes, that's right....one, two, THREE).

What a blatant cash grab.

Perhaps. But I don't worry much about it. It's still a strong CD and better than buying all three which likely contain some filler songs. Plus they have a new lead singer and drummer now anyway and what I've heard doesn't compare to the original Fuel.

 

[nelsapbm]

Rush, definately. Allman Brothers, Eagles....all classics. Ditto Duran Duran. Also, Britney's My Perogative (just kidding).
With the advent of iTunes, I don't buy full on albums anymore (although they are available).

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

U2 - The best of 1980 - 1990
U2 - The best of 1990 - 2000 (heck, anything by U2 IMO)
Echo and the Bunnymen - Songs to Learn and Sing
The Beatles - 1962 -1966
Oh and I'll concurr with the Duran Duran "Greatest" album

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

U2 - The best of 1980 - 1990
U2 - The best of 1990 - 2000

I've got to disagree. I'm a giant U2 fan (singles, rare collections, bootlegs, all that) and the "best of"s just don't do it for me. I especially don't like the re-worked versions of the songs on the 1990-2000 collection (the new versions of the Pop songs and some others aren't as good as the originals, IMHO). I suppose, though, that the B-Sides from the 1980-1990 collection could be worth getting (if you don't already have the singles). The 1990-2000 B-Sides (gulp) isn't very good.

For U2, I think you've got to get each studio album (including Passengers --- the original Miss Sarejevo is much better). There's just no filler and everything is essential. You lose a lot just listening to the big hits.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

Greatest Hits collections are good for just that, collecting hits that a band have done. Albums should have a flow to them and the segue of songs often makes the album in it's entirety better than the sum of individual songs. I'd much rather find the original albums that get the "best of" issues.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

any of the "best of" led zeppelin albums. they seem to have quite a few

I just read that LZ is going to get back together for one concert, didn't get the details.

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

I've got to disagree. I'm a giant U2 fan (singles, rare collections, bootlegs, all that) and the "best of"s just don't do it for me. I especially don't like the re-worked versions of the songs on the 1990-2000 collection (the new versions of the Pop songs and some others aren't as good as the originals, IMHO). I suppose, though, that the B-Sides from the 1980-1990 collection could be worth getting (if you don't already have the singles). The 1990-2000 B-Sides (gulp) isn't very good.

For U2, I think you've got to get each studio album (including Passengers --- the original Miss Sarejevo is much better). There's just no filler and everything is essential. You lose a lot just listening to the big hits.

Good to see there's another U2 nut on AZ! :beer:

Agreed, U2's best stuff are not on the greatest hits. Songs like Zoo Station, One Tree Hill, The Electric Co. etc (I could go on and on) are not on the Best of's and are what make U2 great (along with their live shows). Yes, the Best of's are collecting dust on my CD rack and the B Sides, especially on the 80's disk, are what make them somewhat worthwhile. The 90's B's are mostly dance tunes and remixes which I'm not a fan of although some of the remixes (especially Gone) are pretty good. If the thread was best album (any album) then my answer would have been different. Achtung Baby, Joshua Tree, and yes How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb come to mind. I would even throw Zoo TV live from Sydney - the fan club release, in there for best live album.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Good to see there's another U2 nut on AZ! :beer:

Agreed, U2's best stuff are not on the greatest hits. Songs like Zoo Station, One Tree Hill, The Electric Co. etc (I could go on and on) are not on the Best of's and are what make U2 great (along with their live shows). Yes, the Best of's are collecting dust on my CD rack and the B Sides, especially on the 80's disk, are what make them somewhat worthwhile. The 90's B's are mostly dance tunes and remixes which I'm not a fan of although some of the remixes (especially Gone) are pretty good. If the thread was best album (any album) then my answer would have been different. Achtung Baby, Joshua Tree, and yes How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb come to mind. I would even throw Zoo TV live from Sydney - the fan club release, in there for best live album.

OK. You have redeemed yourself in my eyes. ;-)

Though I think ATYCLB is a better effort than HTDAAB....

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

OK. You have redeemed yourself in my eyes. ;-)

Though I think ATYCLB is a better effort than HTDAAB....

lol...I give HTDAAB the slight edge there but maybe we can debate that on a lift when I head up to Whiteface this year :-D

 

[Rushski]

Agree w/many of you in that a "hits" CD is for someone you're totally devoted to. If I consider myself a big fan I would only get the hits to supplement the rest of the catalog.

Here are some of my fave "Hits":
Sand in the Vaseline - Talking Heads
Decade - Steely dan
Classics - Supertramp
Best of the Beast - Iron Maiden
Flashback - J Geils Band

I look at Rush like others here look at U2's Hits CDs. So much more material that you don't hear every day on the radio on the studio albums. Though Rush doesn't release songs not on studio albums, unlike U2 B-Sides (which I enjoy).

Also, saw something recently about bands that don't like to put out hits packages, like Radiohead. Though it would be nice if they put some songs on iTunes...

 

[Paul]

I look at Rush like others here look at U2's Hits CDs. So much more material that you don't hear every day on the radio on the studio albums. Though Rush doesn't release songs not on studio albums, unlike U2 B-Sides (which I enjoy).

Agreed. I'm a HUGE fan of Rush. this is the first tour I missed in CT since Power Windows. I added Chronicles to the list because its format is different from most. there are 2 songs from every album (except Presto, would've been nice if they had left off Passage to Bangkok in favor of Superconductor) most "Best-of's" contain 5-6 "signature"songs, then a few radio-friendly tracks, and finally, some throw-ins. Chronicles is the perfect album for the Non-fan to be introduced to the band. After their appetite is whetted, then its easy to move-on to the more "popular" albums. My favorites are almost always the less-known. Kid Gloves, Natural Science, In the End, Countdown, etc...