Or in other words, "greatest hits CDs".... I don't always use them as a substitute for an artists' complete catalogue, sometimes I do, sometimes I use them as an intro to an artist's work, sometimes I want non-album tracks, sometimes I only have a few CDs from an artist's catalogue then use the greatest hits to cover up the "holes" - so to speak, and then some artists are only as good as their hits.....

What do you have if any? Some of these I really don't even need anymore.....


peter gabriel - hit
prince - the hits/ b sides
placebo - once more with feeling/ singles 1996-2004
the beatles - 1967-1970
tlc - now and forever: the hits
yo la tengo - prisoners of love/ a smattering of outtakes & rarities
sixpence none the richer - the best of
simple minds - the best of
the clash - essential
elvis costello - the very best of
the jesus and mary chain - 21 singles 1984-1998
cowboy junkies - the best of
stevie wonder - the definitive collection
supergrass is 10: the best of 94-04
britney spears - my prerogative: greatest hits
bauhaus - crackle
aerosmith - o yeah, ultimate hits
tori amos - tales of a librarian
the black crowes - greatest hits
blur - the best of
bowie - best of
kate bush - the whole story
nick cave and the bad seeds - the best of
chicago - the best of: only the beginning
phil collins - the hits
cracker - garage d'or
sheryl crow - the very best of
crowded house - recurring dream: the very bets of crowded house
the cure - staring at the sea: the singles
the cure - galore
depeche mode - catching up with
depeche mode - singles 81>85
depeche mode - singles 86>98
duran duran - decade
echo and the bunnymen - songs to learn and sing
everclear - ten years gone: the best of
fleetwood mac - greatest hits
genesis - turn it on again
gin blossoms - the best of
green day - international superhits
guided by voices - human amusements at hourly rates: the best of
helmet - 1991-1997: the best of
inxs - shine like it does anthology
michael jackson - greatest hits
joy division - permanent
love and rockets - sorted: the best of
korn - greatest hits vol 1
lenny kravitz - greatest hits
lamb - best kept secrets
madonna - the immaculate collection
madonna - something to remember
madonna - greatest hits v 2
manic street preachers - forever delayed: the greatest hits
aimee mann - ultimate collection
morrissey - the best of
motley crue - greatest hits
peter murphy - wild birds 1985-1995
new order - the best of
tom petty & the heartbreakers - greatest hits
pink floyd - echoes
the police - every breath you take: the singles
pulp - hits
r.e.m - the singles collected
rolling stones - 40 licks
rush - retrospective II 1981-1987
siouxsie and the banshees - the best of
smashing pumpkins - rotten apples: greatest hits (double CD)
the smiths - best of 1
the smiths - singles
sloan - a sides win singles 1992-2005
starflyer 59 - easy come easy go
sting - the best of
super furry animals - songbook vol 1
talking heads - popular favorites: sand in the vaseline
steve taylor - now the truth can be told
tears for fears - tears roll down greatest hits 82-92
texas - the greatest hits
311 - greatest hits
u2 - the best of 1980-1990/b sides
u2 - the best of 1990-2000/b sides
van halen - best of both worlds
the verve - this is music
xtc - upsy daisy assortment

The only one I have is Greatest Hits by Neil Young. I am still debating where to start in his catalogue or if I should at all.

Britney Spears has a greatest hits????

But some of those remain good choices--I have tried it, and I am pretty sure I don't want to listen to entire Crowded House studio albums. That comp's an old friend, though.


Both of these are also stellar and all most people will ever truly need of each bands output:
Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
Squeeze - 45s And Under

Very Best of Solomon Burke (love this, gets lots of play)
Story of the Clash (ditto)
Very best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions (solid comp but pretty redundant for me now)
Gang of Four - A Brief History of the 20th Century (my only GoF)
Buddy Holly - Greatest Hits
Best of Art Lund (!)
Best of the Mamas and the Papas
Heaven and Hell - The Very Best of the Mekons
Midnight Oil - 20000 Watt RSL
Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something (this is a comp, right? I got it to see if I could feel the love - I can't.)
Best of Van Morrison
best of New Order (redundant, plus bad mixes)
Pet Shop Boys - Discography
PWEI - Wise Up Suckers (hah!)
A Life of Surprises - Best of Prefab Sprout
Nina Simone's Finest Hour (doubt it pretends to be a comprehensive best of...)
Sly and The Family Stone - Greatest Hits (you know you love this)
Blown to Smithereens - Best of
Does Louder Than Bombs count?
Soft Boys - Invisible Hits
Stone Roses - Turns into Stone (does this count or is it just a weird comp?)
Television Personalities - Yes Darling But Is It Art?
Tricky A Ruff Guide (this is pretty terrible)
Neil Young - Decade

Wow, I have a ton of these.

Gots these uns

I have ripped copies of these.

And I do own Modest Mouse - Building Nothing Out of Something on CD. Didn't know it was a comp tho. Haven't listened to it much.

The only artist I can think of whose only representation is a "Hits" comp is Steppenwolf.

I've got lots of singles comps, but as a rule, it's got to contain stuff that's either not available otherwise or available only on single (which is terribly inconvenient for the car).

I am pretty sure it is.

Also, I have a bunch more on vinyl, but my collection is languishing in CA, sigh.

I don't like having to scroll sideways to read every thread you've posted in. Could you add some spaces to your sig or snip it?

The GBV "Best Of" is the only one I have, and that was purchased solely for the very hard to find tracks. If I find that I like an artist, I tend to buy several of their albums, so compilations are usually worthless for me.

No shit. I wish there was a way to wrap the message board text or something.

I own three Best Of comps, off the top of my head.

Tony Joe White
Guided By Voices
Buzzcocks

I just killfiled him. Solves that problem.

Most of mine have either been "free" radio comps or record club selections of the month. Sometimes the greatest hits ones are the only representation for that artist in the club's library. But if I'm getting one of those "but 1, get three free" or "buy three, get free S & H and unlimited $1.99" offers, the greatest hits things are worth getting.

I just can't afford to buy every record by every "important" artist that exists - much less alot the time to listen to every record. I have a hard enough time getting around to everything I buy. But there's so much I want to check out. If I have to dwiddle through the occasional "best of" comp to determine if an artist is worth checking out - so be it.

I find it to be missing far too many great songs (like, it needs pretty much all of Together Alone to be considered a "best of" in my book, and it doesn't, so . . . .) Buy the albums cheap on Half.com or Amazon and just skip the duds. But I also have the comp for the so-so live album that came with the early copies.

Some best-ofs just work great, if they weren't the kind that were compiled with the intention of coercing you into buying each album for that one song that's not on there. The few that I have that I need:

Bowie - Best Of (2 disc)
Eric Clapton - Cream of Clapton
Bruce Cockburn - Anything Anytime Anywhere (with bonus World Cafe acoustic disc)
Peter Gabriel - Hit (not a real solid listen as a whole, but has some alternate takes of more recent songs that are good, plus the very excellent "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" which should have been on Up in place of the embarassing "Barry Williams Show.")
Grant Lee Buffalo - Storm Hymnal (Not just a solid best-of, but a second disc of very good rarities)
James - Best Of (2-disc version with live acoustic stuff)
Michael Hedges - Beyond Boundaries: Guitar Solos (as it says, none of his flaky, cheesy singing)
King's X - Best Of (A great listen even though I own all the albums)
Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror (I don't even own this, but wish I didn't have all the albums so I could buy this instead and save some room because it's a great selection of pretty much everything I need by PJ)
Robert Plant - 66 to Timbuktu
David Sylvian - Everything And Nothing (Truly spectacular career retrospective with some altered versions of his best songs - it's a really solid listen and has completely replaced all but a couple of his albums)
The Who - The Ultimate Collection (I own most of the albums but still find this to be a great set)
Yo La Tengo - Prisoners of Love/A Smattering of Outtakes & Rarities (has all but replaced everything else of theirs I own)

Pretty much every greatest hits compilation i have is "oldies" type stuff. Buddy Holly, Herman's Hermits, DC5, Zombies, Kinks, CSNY etc. They are all gold.

The thing that bugs me about greatest hits comps is that, by definition, they always omit the most interesting album cuts. Like, the Stones have almost as many greatest hits comps as they have albums, but is "Sway" on any of them? Bastids, I tell you.

But as a cheapo CD replacement for a bunch of stuff I've already got on vinyl, a Best-Of will work fine. And in these days of CDRs, a homemade Best-Of usually works even better.

I find Greatest Hits comps incredibly useful, mainly because I honestly do like WAAAAAY to many different styles of artists----I just dont think that a lot of them have the salt to put together a great album.....


Also, I've been known to maybe go apeshit completist on an artist just based on a good Comp or strong mix.

I can't believe this thread has gotten this far, and one of the greatest singles compilations ever has not been mentioned yet:

New Order, Substance

Required ownership.

Even Temple Of The Low Men? That's pretty solid all through. Ones like Woodface have their moments of precious jokey songs, so I see extrapolating the "Fall At Your Feet" and "Four Seasons In One Day" type songs for keepers, but Low Men is very strong.

I was just about to make a list of compilations I've got like this but then I realized I have quite a lot and gave up.

Busted by frosted. Sigh.

Never had TOLM--had two others, gave up. Failed to give those nice kiwi boys a fair chance.

My wife loves the debut, which I find too "pleasant." Woodface is too "precious." Though I can't fault any of the actual songs on those, they're a bit mannered. But Temple Of Low Men and Together Alone are a bit darker and a little more pissy, less cute, very good albums.