Not sure if it’s the artist fault or the record label trying to make a buck but to release these after a artist only has four albums under their belt is a bit much. Usually it took an artist about ten plus years before these things started to come out but things are changing.

Placebo Once More With Feeling This illustrates my point well. After only four albums they put this out but with 19 songs. They added three songs that weren’t out on albums before so that hard-core fans have to buy this to own everything. The track listing is piss poor with no creative thought behind it at all. They just put it out the way they released the singles over time. Placebo has not had that good of songs to put out a compilation yet. 3/10

Verve This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 Now if you are going to do it than do it right. With them including “All In The Mind”, “Gravity Grave”, and “She’s A Superstar” (hope it not edited) they covered their brief career very well. They didn’t just throw the songs together they made it so the album flows together and did a great job. I still will need to listen to the last two songs but this needed to come out and I hope some people will see the brilliance that was a band called Verve. 10/10

Slowdive Catch The Breeze Another great compilation this time with two discs and only available as an import. The guys who use to run Creation Records put it together and put some serious thought behind it. You get some rare B-sides along with a great overview of their career. Needed to be put out because I think most Slowdive stuff is OOP. 9/10

Travis Singles This band lost me after the brilliant The Man Who. So this compilation works, in a way, because they lean heavy on those first two great albums. Five songs are taken from the debut and another four from TMW. I haven’t totally thrown in the towel yet but they should have waited until after at least one more album. They did manage to include 17 songs with one new one and at least, unlike Placebo, big fans can buy that single and won’t need to purchase this. 5/10

Supergrass Supergrass Is 10: Best Of 94-04 Now after I bitched about bands releasing these comps after only four albums I won’t here. Why? Because I love this band and have never understood why they are not better known. All four albums were really good to great with only the last one not quite up to their standard but good nonetheless. This collections adds songs that were not singles so you hear a bit more of what they were about. 8/10

Super Furry Animals Songbook The Singles My favorite band of the last 10 years and counting. In this short time they put out six proper albums and 24 singles with some of the best B-sides of any band, see Out Spaced for an example, and equals about 135 original songs. The lead singer first solo album due in January with a new SFA album by June. This comp is brilliant, sequenced well, and gives a great oversight of what this band has done over the years. It truly doesn’t even scratch the surface but is a great introduction to the band or for people who only know of their later stuff. 10/10

I did not mean for this to be about UK bands only but could not find/remember anything put out lately by an American band besides John Mellencamp.

Any thoughts?

np: I'd Rather Dance Than Talk With You - Kings Of Convenience

Greatest hits are for housewives and little girls, but I agree with you about Supergrass. They should be huge.

For any SFA newbies, this is a remarkable collection. I agree.

I'm downloading Slowdive's Catch the Breeze right now and it does look like a great compilation.

I'm also downloading Neil Young's "Greatest Hits" (who's technically Canadian) which looks like a single disc version of Decade with Rockin' the in the Free World, Hey Hey My My, Comes a Time and Harvest Moon included. Why he didn't update Decade and call it Nearly Three Decades later or something is beyond me. Given what he's released between now and 1977 I think that would be an incredible set. Pretty weird and choppy, but incredible nonetheless.

I would actually like to hear the John Mellancamp compilation as well. I always liked a few of his songs. Whenever We Wanted was a pretty good album.

SFA's on my shortlist for hits-type packages

can't believe all these hits packages after such short timespans. just seems like a big CACHING cash-in

Wait a sec, Bee, wasn't that supposed to be a rant against premature Greatest Hits collections? Four out of the six you mentioned have a BeeOK average rating of 9.25/10 - seems to me then that you think Greatest Hits collections are a pretty damn good idea.

Sometimes I should re-read and edit my post because I sometimes come off like an idiot. Too many mistakes, that are easy to correct, but I was finished with this.

Yes, I hate greatest hits compilations and own very few of them. As I started to research each one I got into the sequencing, songs picked, and overall feel of how it would sound if I played these songs back to back. My rating all has to do with the quality of those songs.

I see pitchfork reviewed Verve today. “In sum, This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 features 12 classics.” I might have to take away points if those two bonus songs, unheard to these ears, are really just fillers.

This is such a great cover

We need to distinguish "Hits" compilations from singles/outtakes/rarities comps. I'm all for the latter--stuff I can't get otherwise, or stuff that I would need to transfer from 7" to CD so I can play it in the car.

"Hits" are for K-Tel.

This is incredible, what a strange day. Neil Halstead (of Slowdive) was just on slsk, at first I didn’t think it was he, but it was. “I’m working on a new solo, in the studio…should be out by April”

Slsk can’t last much longer…It’s just too good.

I get in my car and Indie 103.1 is playing Verve “Lucky Man”. Hence the reason I say it was strange with a pitchfork review posting a few hours after I finished this thread.

what was in his shared folder?

Neil is back on line, if on slsk go to the shoegaze room. Message me, I'm BeeOK

Sooooooooooo fucking cool

[…] Hello Neil
[Neil] hey man
[…] I require a Mojave 3 tshirt
[Neil] We don’t have any merch. yet
[..2] I need one two
[Neil] Haha jk guys, what’s up? it’s mr. sadcore
…..
[Neil] Weird
[Neil] wow holy shit
[Neil] ahhhh, computer
[Neil] Are you seeing this?
…
[BeeOK] Hi Neil, big fan out in L.A.
at the same time gone
….
[BeeOK] I think I scared him away

Damn, I wasn’t able to talk tonight but have his name and will be watching this room. A couple of Obners saw this thread and joined me but it was too late.

Slsk rules!

yeah i really should check the rooms more often for this sorta shit