The period of time when I was most actively buying music was, approximately, ‘95-’05, the latter half of the CD era when there were more opportunities to find bargain prices on CDs but labels were still investing money in re-releasing music as collections or expanded re-issues.
recently made a comment that hits are often, “not the best of the artist in question.” While that’s true, I have much fondness for a well selected greatest hits collection.Greatest hits can be a point of entry for a new artist and in many cases I have gone on to buy individual albums. But there are some bands which I genuinely enjoy and am still perfectly happy to stick with a good collection. Here are 7 of my favorites, all of which I have on CD and think of as album that I’m quite fond of, all of which are a good way to spend an hour (more or less) immersed in the musical universe of the artist.
Prince — The Hits / The B-Sides. A solid 3-disc collection. I’m sure there are more Prince songs worth hearing, but this feel like enough to appreciate Prince (also, I only noticed now that the version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” is a live version. It’s the version I know, and I’ve always felt like it stands up to the comparison with Sinead O’Connor cover).
Jimmy Buffett — Songs You Know By Heart. Some of the songs are great, some are cheesy, some are both, but they’re almost all catchy. I prefer the slower ballads to the novelty songs, but it’s an easy listen.
Squeeze — Singles 45's and under. What a collection of hits. Every track is great. Squeeze are so witty and there’s something magical about hearing just their best songs; it feels like you’re in an alternate world where everything can be gorgeous and clever and feel effortless.
Nina Simone — Ultimate Nina Simone. This collection, sequenced by Dianne Reeves was my introduction to Nina Simone. Unlike some of the others I couldn’t say that this is a sufficient representation of her career but it’s really well done. In particular the opening 6 songs (“Images”, “Four Women”, “See-Line Woman”, “Be My Husband”, “Come Ye”, “Take Me To The Water”) are almost overpowering.
Nick Lowe — Basher. Wikipedia quotes one reviewer as calling the collection “flawless.” It’s designed for the CD format, with 25 songs at 1hr 16min. Looking at the track list at least half the songs make me think, “I should be listening to that right now.”
Johnathan Richman & The Modern Lovers — The Beserkley Years. Every track is good. Similar to Nick Lowe above, I look at the song list and I want to start listening to them. Perhaps it’s no surprise that someone who would title their blog “earnestness is underrated” would like Johnathan Richman who is absurdly earnest, funny, charming and vulnerable.
Peter Tosh — Scrolls Of The Prophet. I’m not a big reggae fan, but I’ve ended up with a few different Peter Tosh collections and this is, by far, the one that have listened to most. Peter Tosh has a force of personality clearly present in his music, and this is good representation.
Tagging
& who both occasionally have theme music posts; do you have any favorites?
You had me at Prince of course. While his "Hits" collection is an excellent place to start, I do hope that you branched out a little into his catalog. You won't be disappointed. There's four decades worth of material and most of it is good if not superb. Love the rest of your list as well (Although I often get in trouble because I could never get into Squeeze.)
The Squeeze, the Richman, and the Lowe are perfect "Greatest Hits," because unlike most, if not the rest of your set (and, yes, you have to like their music in the first place, as with all of these!), you're not already sick of these songs that radio hasn't yet played 48,694,958,508 times this week alone. Plus, one could argue those three write interestingly simple, yet complex songs that stand up to the heavy rotation you may give them at home....and, we don't need radio's help to force us into submission with overplay/overkill.
The Simone would be perfect because hit radio has steered clear, and one like hers is perfect for one's first really deep dive into her recorded material!
And, then there's "The Raspberries Best" (miss you, Eric!).....I have no idea how it's been formatted and released over the decades, but on first vinyl release in 1976, Capitol actually street-released it specially-banded to where there was, literally, no time spent between songs! The label (engineer, producer, compilist.....thank you, Capitol!--- formatted the record as if a radio station were playing hits back-to-back! Which now makes it much more than just a greatest hits.....it's their hits programmed in such a way as to make THAT VERY ALBUM collectible, just because......WHO DOES THAT???!
And, of course, what a perfect band to do that with.....one whose hits were so radio-ready! Again, that same album now? Who knows how it streams or was lasered in the CD era. But, the original vinyl? Worth having for that once-in-a-lifetime quirk of a label going out of their way!
This is a great idea for an article, Nick! And, it's repeatable (with co-authors, guest writers, etc): A periodic look at various Greatest Hits albums.....are you ready for "GREATEST HITS' Greatest Hits"? Title's yours if you want it!