From billboard.com...


Although the track list has yet to be announced, Geffen has set a Dec. 20 release date for the double-disc set "Welcome to the Jungle -- The Very Best of Guns N' Roses." It will be the second such GNR package since the spring of 2004 and follows "Greatest Hits," which has sold 2.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Guns N' Roses, which now features lone original member Axl Rose, has been at work for years on a new studio album, "Chinese Democracy." It is unknown when the album will see the light of day.

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

"Chinese Democracy" get's more ironic with every passing year.

EDIT: I guess that's not so much irony as it is apt analogy.

It's Axl's greatest statement

Chinese Democracy that is, not the greatest hits

I think its interesting that the people who buy these GNR greatest hits packages were probably not born when the albums were first released.

so, i own plenty of albums from before i was born

I meant that in the sense that you probably didn't just buy those albums on name alone, and probably has listened or knew what you were getting. The kids I see who buy GNR greatest hits albums tend to just buy them based on a name value. Perhaps I should have articulated that better than I did.

I kind of agree, in that who would actually buy a Guns greatest hits? They only have 3.5 proper albums. Anyone's who is a fan owns them. Geez, mix your own or just shuffle your Guns folder on your ipod. Instant greatest hits.

I guess Geffen's got to make some money off after the ridiculous advances they've given Axl. I can't wait to see the tracklist.

Hilary Duff's Greatest Hits (oh, god that's funny) is platinum already. She's only had two albums and a bunch of soundtrack songs and is barely growed up yet. Marketing's not ashamed to market, that's for sure. Just look at Jeff Buckley and Tupac.

So true. I wasn't thinking about the marketing of it, just the feasibility, concepts which are definitely mutually exclusive.

Anyone hear the collection of early live tracks Geffen put out around the time of the first greatest hits collection?

I have not, but will have to look into this.

Belly has a greatest hits, for some reasoni find that funnier than HIllary Duff.

Hendrix would be a lot more fitting here than Jeff Buckley. The Buckley catalog of post-humously released material just isn't dense enough to equate him with Tupac.

This sounds like it actually might be worth listening to. However, I can't find anything about it on allmusic or Amazon. Do you know what it was called?

I'm guessing the next step will be replacing "Appetite" with a deluxe, 20th Anniversary Edition.

They stopped making records though, and the "best of" had about 8 or so tracks that didn't appear on any of their proper full lengths from what I understand.

its under the name 'hollywood rose'

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... l67uy030jf

Oh, that makes sense. I bought this a while ago at Tower. I've only listened to it like once though. I should pull it out again.

I think Cleopatra put out the Hollywood Rose stuff, and if i remember, its 10 tracks... 5 songs, two different versions of each....most of the stuff has circulated among GnR collectors for years. i had the stuff on cassette in the early 90's..... its alright.. not a neccesity.

i think universal is only puttin out this 2nd greatest hits to ocntinue trying to recoup on the $13 million they have shelled out to axl for chinese democracy so far... with no release date in sight, they are collecting by other ways.....definitnely isnt band approved though.

Oh, that's absolutely the reason.

As far as some of these other groups go, a lot of the time a label will put out the "greatest hits" CD so they can delete the individual albums in their catalog. 10 years down the line, the casual fan is only gonna want the "hits" anyway.