Greatest Hits/ Box Sets

If I enjoy a band, I usually try to complete the studio discography with most or all live albums. But, there are a few instances where the aforementioned greatest hits comp or box set works well enough. Currently, those guys would be Blue Oyster Cult, Queen, Rolling Stones and the Beatles. It's not the music of these legends that keeps me from diving headlong into their back catalogs, but rather the sheer amount of music they have all created. It's unfortunate, but, I just don't have the time to study each fiber in these bands musical tapestrys.

What do you all think?

I don't buy best of's anymore. I used to, but then just figured out it's a waste. They are redundant once you get into the band more and buy their albums. If I don't like the band enough, I can probably live without a comp either.

If I'm getting into a band, I'll just pick up a single studio album.

I have a bunch though. Last one I bought was that Savatage remasters comp a couple of years back. I got it because of the bonus live DVD.

I generally stay away from best of's and purchase when songs are only available on GH packages or compilations. Box sets are usually filled with tracks/versions not available anywhere else.

Beatles (i know there are lots of great album tracks, but lots of stuff that doesnt do anything for me as well)
Steve Miller
Billy Idol (great singles, but with the exception of Rebel Yell his full albums are kind of bland)
Elton John (and then, only his 70s hits, have no interest in his 80s or beyond stuff)

I like box sets if they have full studio albums. You get them cheaper per disc and usually bonus stuff. Like that Saxon set The EMI Years.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-EMI-Years-1985-1988-Saxon/dp/B007PKDWBM/ref=pd_bxgy_15_img_y

But that's certainly no Best Of. Far from it.

I still purchase best of's or greatest hits comps from time to time (although certainly not as much as I used to) if it's a band I'm unfamiliar with and want to get a sampling of their best work. Then, based on the strength of that, I'll decide whether or not to invest in their studio albums.

As for box sets, I only get those if I'm really, really into a band and want everything. Box sets tend to have allot of material that would only appeal to hard-core fans, which is fine. If you'e a hard-core fan of course.

Anymore, those two things are pretty far from one another in the ground they cover. Most box sets coming out now are either selections of albums from one era of a band's work OR complete discographies.

And, from that perspective, if the choice is between spending $10 or more on a best of and spending $30-40 on a box set that covers most if not all of a band's work, I'd rather hit up the latter. As mentioned earlier in the thread, if I end up liking them, I'm going to want to pick everything up. If not, I'll want to get the stuff out the door and even modern box sets have more resell value than best ofs.

I do know some people who swear by comps though. It's sometimes cool to get a different running order, but even that can be a mixed blessing. I still hear most Led Zeppelin in the sequencing used on that crop circles box set back in the 90s rather than the album order (I heard the box first). Good? Bad? Hard to say.

Runicen wrote:

Anymore, those two things are pretty far from one another in the ground they cover.  Most box sets coming out now are either selections of albums from one era of a band's work OR complete discographies.

Yea, when I talk about box sets, I'm talking about the one from the 90's that had rare tracks, demos, unreleased, live, etc. in long boxes with giant books with liner notes, stories and pics. Like this one from Aerosmith...

Those were the bee's knees, kitty cat.

Not these cheapy "all the bare-bones studio albums in cardboard sleeves" boxes that are all the rage now. They have their charm, but it ain't the same thing.

If there is an artist I like a few songs by but I'm not interested in buying full albums...I just listen to them on Spotify. Streaming has made greatest hits collections even more irrelevant to me than they previously were. If I like a band well enough to own something I want to own the original albums. I'm not really a singles guy and never have been.

S.D. wrote:

If there is an artist I like a few songs by but I'm not interested in buying full albums...I just listen to them on Spotify.  Streaming has made greatest hits collections even more irrelevant to me than they previously were.  If I like a band well enough to own something I want to own the original albums.  I'm not really a singles guy and never have been.  

I'm not a Spotify user, but in a similiar fashion, listening to stuff on YouTube has greatly curtailed my comp purchases. If a few "hits" aren't enough to interest me, the rest of their output probably isn't either.

As for me take an old classic rock warhorse like the debut Boston album or Foreigner's Double Vision for example. Every once in a blue moon I'll suddenly get in the mood to hear some of those songs, it may only be once every 5 years or so that the mood strikes...why should I bother owning and storing something that's only going to get used 2 or 3 times a decade? Now I just open Spotify or Apple Music, search and play. Craving satisfied.

I usually avoid best ofs. But when there is nothing else to pick up at my local record shop, I'd go for one of those. I usually buy best ofs if I want to get into a band, before eventually going for the studio albums.

there are however some bands for which a best of is sufficient, in my case classic bands such as doors, queen, uriah heep, foreigner, reo speedwagon, journey...

S.D. wrote:

As for me take an old classic rock warhorse like the debut Boston album or Foreigner's Double Vision for example.  Every once in a blue moon I'll suddenly get in the mood to hear some of those songs, it may only be once every 5 years or so that the mood strikes...why should I bother owning and storing something that's only going to get used 2 or 3 times a decade?  Now I just open Spotify or Apple Music, search and play.  Craving satisfied.  

When that happens, I put on the classic rock station in my town for 10 minutes and I'm reminded why I don't need to buy those albums either.

I don't make a habit out of buying best-of's but I have been known to occasionally pick up one of those cheapie "Super Hits" or similar comps for bands/artists I'm a casual fan of. Sometimes they end up inspiring me to dig deeper into the rest of their catalog(s), but even if they don't, at least I've got a collection of their most familiar tracks.

Now that I think about it, I've actually picked up several over the past couple of weekends - I snagged best-of's by ZZ Top ("Greatest Hits") and 38 Special ("Flashback") at a Goodwill and a nice 2-CD set of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' Greatest Hits at a different thrift store. Total spent: three bucks. Can't argue with that price.

I could take or leave most 38 Special to be honest, but the Flashback disc has the two songs of theirs I always liked, which coincidentally were both from movie soundtracks: "Teacher, Teacher" (from 1984's Teachers with Nick Nolte and JoBeth Williams) and "Back to Paradise" (from 1987's Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise). I would imagine that the soundtrack albums to those movies would be a little hard to come by nowadays, so it was cool to find them on this comp.

I don't do box sets - too rich for my blood. The only one I own is Judas Priest's Metalogy, and the only reason I have that is cuz the label sent two copies to my reporter friend by accident, so he gave me the extra

I bought a ton of box sets back when I was a member of BMG Music because they'd periodically put them on sale.  I picked up box sets by Led Zeppelin, Santana, The Clash, Elton John, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, Cheap Trick, Styx, and on and on.  Most of those are compilations (although the Styx set consists of Crystal Ball, Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight).

For most of those bands I probably have a few other single CDs but generally speaking the box sets are enough. 

Best Ofs/Greatest Hits are a little different IMO.  Usually such a comp comes from an artist with a long and storied career which means somebody somewhere is picking and choosing what tracks to include.  Inevitably some good tracks are omitted because a Best Of/Greatest Hits collection is only a 1 or 2 disc set (otherwise it becomes a box set.  ).

My other problem with Best of compilations is I never...and I mean NEVER...agree with the track selection and orderings. The only compilation producer I trust is myself.

S.D. wrote:

My other problem with Best of compilations is I never...and I mean NEVER...agree with the track selection and orderings.  The only compilation producer I trust is myself.  

Yeah I'd agree with that. Of course, if I'm that familiar with an artist's material I don't really need a box set or best of.

BTW, I thought of another of my pet peeves with both box sets AND best of compilations.  I absolutely HATE when the track list contains "live" versions of some songs.  Dammit, if I wanted to hear songs live I'd have bought a live album.

Depends on the band and the song we're talking about. I can think of many examples of songs where the live version absolutely kills the studio version, so when I'm choosing the tracks I pick the version I like best.

I just find a live track out of nowhere to be disruptive to the flow of the album.  I especially hate it on "Greatest Hits" collections.  Unless the band's "hit" happened to be the live version (like maybe Seger with "Turn the Page"), I want to hear the version that was a "hit".

Fat Freddy wrote:

I could take or leave most 38 Special to be honest, but the Flashback disc has the two songs of theirs I always liked, which coincidentally were both from movie soundtracks: "Teacher, Teacher" (from 1984's Teachers with Nick Nolte and JoBeth Williams) and "Back to Paradise" (from 1987's Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise). I would imagine that the soundtrack albums to those movies would be a little hard to come by nowadays, so it was cool to find them on this comp.

So, the fact that you like both of these songs, means you must like Bryan Adams, since he co-wrote both with Jim Vallance (writing duo for Bryan through '87).

Thanks for all the responses guys. Some good thoughts as always. I don't do Spotify, but like MG said, Youtube seems to satiate the urge for hearing something I don't own or is too rich for this poor man's blood. I knew this day would come when I didn't have the time or money for everything I wanted. I look at my collection and realize I am missing so much and when I keep adding to the want list I have to be strict with myself. I have to ask the question if, after buying a particular album, will I listen to it over and over again? Or do I rip it to my desktop the day I get it and then on the shelf it goes?

It just hit me.  You know what Best Of/ Greatest Hits album is perfectly enough for me? 

The live version of The Waiting on Pack Up The Plantation is much better than the single version.

S.D. wrote:

The live version of The Waiting on Pack Up The Plantation is much better than the single version.  

tohostudios wrote:

It just hit me.  You know what Best Of/ Greatest Hits album is perfectly enough for me? 

I have the 2 disc anthology and then the last 2 studio albums. I can't tell you the last time I sat down and listened to any of them; so every time I pick up the newest TP and Hb's , "Hypnotic Eye" in either Walmart or Newburys I put it back down b/c I know I am never going to spin it again after the initial spin.

As for a live version of a song that's better than the studio version I have to go with Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" and the aforementioned Seger classic.