Who has the best Greatest Hits compilation. Who got it right. NO "They left this song off" or "Why did they use this version instead of that one". Basically; who has the greatest greatest hits? And....name your top 5 greatest hits cds.

not surprisingly the ones that immediately spring to mind are from some of my fave artists:

James Brown - Star Time (4 CD Box)
Stevie Wonder - Original Musiquarium (yes, still tons of great tracks missing, but an overal great album in it's own right)
Earth Wind & Fire - The Eternal Dance (3 CD Box)


anyway, "They left this song off" will ALWAYS be the case, you will always have album tracks you love that never hit it big and never make it on any compilation

Dancelot said:

I'm not sure if box sets count

I think Chico means a single-disc Greatest Hits CD,but I could be wrong...

Here's my fave.



There's a few lesser known singles and album tracks that I would've liked on it (And The Sun Will Shine, Kitty Can, Marley Purt Drive, Lamplight, Melody Fair, I.O.I.O., Morning Of My Life, Alive, South Dakota Morning, Mr. Natural, Baby As You Turn Away, Boogie Child, Spirits (Having Flown), Wildflower, E.S.P., Ordinary Lives, Paying The Price Of Love, How To Fall In Love, Pt.1, Still Waters Run Deep, Deja Vu) but that would've meant releasing a three cd set. As it is, it's still pretty damn good.



I don't much like Best Of albums. I find them kinda boring simply because the songs on them are usually so well known already.

Other Best Of's that I own are:

Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of (US version)
Prince - The Hits/The B Sides
David Bowie - Best Of
Marvin Gaye - The Very Best Of
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Stevie Wonder - At The Close Of A Century
Kate Bush - The Whole Story
The Beatles - 1
George Michael - Ladies & Gentlemen

That's about it.

DavidEye said:

I never ever stick to the rules anyway

One of the most satisfying Greatest Hits CDs is "Earth Wind & Fire Greatest Hits" released in 1998 on Sony/Legacy.There are numerous EW&F compilations on the market,but if you want an excellent single disc of their greatest hits (mostly focused on the 70s),you can't go wrong with this set...


Earth Wind & Fire "Greatest Hits"

"Shining Star"
"That's The Way Of The World"
"September"
"Can't Hide Love"
"Got To Get You Into My Life"
"Singasong"
"Gratitude"
"Serpentine Fire"
"Fantasy"
"Kalimba Story"
"Mighty Mighty"
"Reasons"
"Saturday Night"
"Let's Groove"
"Boogie Wonderland"
"After The Love Has Gone"
"Getaway"


It's not perfect (why include the album track "Gratitude" instead of a legitimate hit like "Keep Your Head To The Sky" or "In The Stone"?),but all of the major 70s hits are included,and each song is featured in it's full-length album version.

Well, more recently ...

New Order's International has every New Order song you need, including the full version of "Blue Monday" and Shep Pettibone's remix of "Bizarre Love Triangle," a vast improvement on the cluttered arrangement of the album version.

Stone Temple Pilot's "Thank You" has the most solid tracklisting I've seen on a Best Of, not that I've bought it. The new track is pretty good, too.

Tom Petty's greatest hits that came out before "Wildflowers" is absolutely essential. Once you get that CD, you can pretty much stop listening to the radio.

My absolute favorite is not actually a greatest hits - R.E.M.'s Eponymous. IT's kind of a best-of from their IRS years, but also has a few rarities and alternate mixes. Definitely on my "deserted island" discs.

George Michael..Ladies and Gentleman
Erasure - POP (Though the last one sucked!!!)
The Cure Standing On the Beach/Galore/Connect the Dots
Depeche Mode - 81 - 95

Honorable Mentions...
Eurythmics - Video only (not sure why the cd had less)
ABBA Gold
New Order - Technique
Pet SHop Boys - Pop Art

STILL WAITING ON THE NITZTER EBB ONE TO COME OUT!!!!!

superspaceboy said:

I'm waiting on an AC/DC best of - live greatest hits so do not count!

My problem with Greatest Hits CDs is that, by definition, they include the songs I'm already sick of - 'cause, well, they were hits.

FunkMistress said:

That would be true concerning artists that I already really like, but I like picking up greatest hits collections by artists I have no clue about. My biggest surprise was the Saint Etienne singles collection, 'Too Young To Die' that I picked up a few years ago. I knew of maybe only two or three of their songs at the time, but that best-of album was amazing from start to finish. Another collection that I find is total bliss is David Bowie's 2CD singles collection 1969-1993.

Madonna- Immacculate Collection
No Doubt- The Singles
Sheryl Crow- The Very Best of
Michael Jackson- Number Ones (Pretty much all the highlights)

In no particular order...

John Lennon - Lennon Legend
Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks
Kim Wilde - Singles 81-93
Sly & the Family Stone - Essential
Prince - The Hits/B-Sides
The Vaselines - Way of the Vaselines
Velvet Underground - any of their various compilations
Beatles - Red/Blue Albums
Bob Dylan - Essential
No Doubt - Singles
Iggy Pop - Nude and Rude
Bob Marley - Very Best Of
Beach Boys - Very Best oF
Neil Young - Decade

Supernova said:

Yeah, I found myself kinda strugglin' with this one, so I said "to heck with it".

Janet Jackson - Design Of A Decade
The Hollies - 20 Golden Greats
The Smiths - Singles
The Pretenders - The Singles

Greatest Single-disc Gratest hits disc:

The Immaculate Collection by Madonna

Greatest Box Set:

James Brown: Star Time

silverchild said:

That's a woulda coulda shoulda for me.

a) They didn't include the original single and/or LP versions (everything gets a subtle - and crappy - remix). What they did to Into The Groove is a crime.

b) Q-Sound processing further ruins it (and also plagues George Michael's Ladies And Gentlemen .
[Edited 9/20/04 14:10pm]

Supernova said:

How about "Greatest Hits Most Fulfilling To Your Needs As A Casual Fan?"

VoicesCarry said:

I don't think a greatest hits package has ever made me angrier. This one only covered two albums! Okay, most of the Virgin material was off limits, but there were two other A&M Janet albums released and if I recall, a few of the singles from them were top 10 R&B hits.



These are close, but I really miss tracks like "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" and "Mystery Achievement" respectively which got lots of airplay where I lived.

I have to say that the Def Leppard and George Michael best-ofs were disappointing - the Def Leppard because they included the lousy remix of "Rocket" and GM because he left out the good part of "I Want Your Sex" and included the remix of "Monkey" instead of the far superior album version.

[quote]

sextonseven said:

We've been through this before.....Anyway, it's an excellent summation of the successful material, and you can get the "hits" from the first two albums on the international bonus disc. Since it's called "Design Of A Decade 1986/1996", it does a perfect job of covering her A&M catalogue from that time period, which is why I nominated it It didn't advertise itself as anything different.

Oh, and I also love Joy Division - Substance.

VoicesCarry said:

You got me there. You're right in that it advertised itself as crap and it was crap.

sextonseven said:

I take it you don't like Control and Rhythm Nation then?

VoicesCarry said:

That's more of a singles collection than a greatest hits, but it does a good job representing the band. I guess if I can vote for Eponymous then this counts.

Thunderbird said:

Their huge box set (which contains basically everything they recorded) is just as essential.

VoicesCarry said:

My problem is I think a best of/greatest hits collection should never cover just two albums--even if it's two excellent albums. What was the real deal with this? Was it a contractual fulfillment? Or did A&M just want some quick cash for the holidays?

sextonseven said:

Contractual fulfillment.

The problem is: Janet had so many hits by that time, that a single disc collection wouldn't have been useful (ie. if they had decided to combine it with the Virgin material).
[Edited 9/20/04 15:15pm]

Thunderbird said:

There are so many songs missing from eponymous that I used to hear on the radio all the time like "Pretty Persuasion", "Superman", etc.

GREATEST HITS ALBUMS JUST MAKE ME SO ANGRY!!! GRRRR!!!

sextonseven said:

I used to buy a lot. That was when I was young and naive. I don't, anymore.