Greatest Hits Album: Difference between revisions

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To increase the possible appeal of the album, especially to people who already ''own'' the bulk of the artist's work (and thus likely to both be the biggest fans and already own all the hits), it is common to include remixes, alternate takes, live versions of popular songs, or completely new songs. Of course, this is likely to piss off the completists as they might be forced to pay full album price for a single song. The rise of digital music distribution has mollified this problem to a certain extent. Greatest Hits are good purchases for casual fans of artists that they otherwise have no urge to buy complete albums of.
 
The very concept of the "greatest hits album" is a double-edged sword, as while the album is likely to contain the most ''financially successful'' of the artist's songs, each individual fan has a greater love of certain B-Sides and [[Album Filler]] that won't appear on the disc (and greater bias against the [[Black Sheep Hit]] that ''will'' inevitably be included). In hoping to appeal to the greatest number of fans, the album will end up completely pleasing no one. Also, there's the simple fact that most bands and artists suffering from [[Sophomore Slump|Second Album Syndrome]] don't have enough hits in the can to truly justify an entire album thereof, and it may seem like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel as to what may qualify as a "hit".
 
Artists are of mixed feelings about these albums as well. Many artists resist releasing one for fear that once they do, their regular albums will begin to be ignored. Yet they are viewed as a necessary evil, as these provide an easy starting point for fans who are curious about a particular artist's work. Musicians and bands don't always get to decide when to release a greatest-hits album. If an artist is leaving the label and does not own his own back catalog, and if he is successful at all, the label ''will'' release a greatest-hits album - sometimes explicitly against the artist's wishes.
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Sometimes the "Best of" title is used instead. This often reflects a less concentrated focus on chart hits - sometimes for legitimate reasons (e.g., album-oriented artists, influential artists with less commercial success or simply those whose career may not be best reflected solely by singles). Or it could be a poor excuse to cover up a lack of genuine hits. Sometimes neither title is used (e.g., [[Dire Straits]]' compilation, "Money for Nothing"). To add perceived weight a more scholarly phrase such as "Anthology" is often used. This can be justified where the artist has had a long career but is equally often just a pretentious affectation.
 
As suggested by The Brunching Shuttlecocks, an easy way to determine the actual neccesity of a Greatest Hits Album is to divide the number of songs on the album that actually charted, by the number of songs included on the album. Artists like [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]], [[Billy Joel]], [[Madonna]] and [[The Beach Boys]] will bat nearly 1.000, whereas groups who have released Greatest Hits albums unneccesarilyunnecessarily (i.e., [[One-Hit Wonder|One Hit Wonders]]) will score far lower (e.g,: Kajagoogoo has hit ratio on its greatest hits album of 0.059, Timbuk 3 has 0.071, ''The Best of Tiffany'' scores 0.083, ''The Best of Martika'' 0.067 and so on.) The most egregious example may be ''The Best of Shaquille O'Neal'', which has 12 songs, none of which could legitimately be considered a hit, for a ratio of zero.
 
The ordering of songs can be either random or chronological (though for double-disk compilations, [[Distinct Double Album|it can get experimental]]).
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* [[Shakira]] got her own Greatest Hits in Spanish after four albums... but only songs from the latter two made it, because the two first were [[Old Shame|commercial failures full of]] [[Executive Meddling]]...
* J-pop group Glay, after ''two'' Best Of albums (one of them double!), released a two-volume, two-disc-each compilation titled ''rare collectives'' compiling all the B-sides of their singles to date (most of which hadn't made into any album), plus some live recordings and a couple of version and cooperations with other artists.
* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] had several: first the Red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) albums (recently re-released), then ''20 Greatest Hits'' (which never made CD), the singles-only ''Past Masters'' (re-released with the 2009 remastered albums as it compiles everything that wasn't released on an album including important stuff like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Hey Jude"), and finally 2000's ''1'', the best selling album of [[Turn of the Millennium/Analysis|The Naughties]], which batted 1.000 because every song on it had hit #1 on either the British or the American charts.
** As early as 1966, their British label (Parlophone) released one of these: ''A Collection of Beatles Oldies''.
** [[John Lennon]] released one greatest hits album while he was alive, ''Shaved Fish''. That one was infamous for having short versions of songs that never charted. A fair percentage of his post-mortem releases are also greatest hits albums. "The John Lennon Collection" was a bit strange because half the songs on it were from ''Double Fantasy,'' and most of John's half of ''Double Fantasy'' was on that album.
** Paul McCartney has several. There is "[[Wings (band)|Wings]] Greatest Hits," released 1978. There is ''All The Best!'' released 1988; there are significant differences between the British and American versions of that album, as Paul has different hits in each country. (The British version also had a few new songs; the American version didn't, but the hit ratio was high.) In 2001, Paul released ''Wingspan,'' which was half a greatest-hits album from 1970 to 1985 and half "history" (some of which also charted decently). It cost no more than a normal single CD, but Capitol Records had flooded the market with ''All Thethe Best!'' CDs immediately prior), so it wasn't fully appreciated.
** Capitol Records released a greatest hits CD for George Harrison when he left for Warner Bros, which interestingly, contained songs from his days with [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]. This annoyed Harrison, since all the other Beatles, Ringo included, had gotten a compilation devoted entirely to their output as solo artists.
** Ringo Starr has released a couple of these. His first, ''Blast from the Past'', is highly valued because it has a much higher hit ratio than the albums it collected from, as well as a few songs that up to then had been singles-only. He released one called ''Photograph'' in 2007, but it didn't get much publicity.
* A cursory look at Amazon.com reveals that [[Bruce Willis]] has released ''four'' greatest hits albums for his less than stellar recording career. One of which uses the same cover art as his actual album.
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* Despite the fact they never actually had a hit song, [[The Velvet Underground]] have two of these. [http://www.amazon.com/Best-Velvet-Underground-Words-Music/dp/B000001FR9/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1231629458&sr=1-27 One] is considered generally inferior due to picking almost all of their most conventional songs; [http://www.amazon.com/20th-Century-Masters-Millennium-Underground/dp/B00004YX3S/ref=pd_sim_m_16 the second] was more well-received.
* Progressive metal band [[Dream Theater]] released a compilation to satisfy a contract with their now former label. Since the band only had one radio hit (the rock radio favorite "Pull Me Under") and have built their career without 'hit singles', the album is jokingly titled ''Dream Theater's Greatest Hit (and 21 other pretty cool songs'').
** They also use some [https://web.archive.org/web/20121113070957/http://www.dreamtheaterarg.com.ar/imagenes/discos/greatesthit.jpg clever red highlighting] to quite literally [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|sneak some crap past the radar]] as to their thoughts on the matter.
* An interesting case: the biggest hits of the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]' EMI years (which were not noted for being much of a success) were collected on an album after the success of ''Blood Sugar Sex Magik''; the result was entitled ''[[Lampshade Hanging|What Hits?]]''
* [[Jefferson Airplane]] called their first best-of release ''The Worst of Jefferson Airplane''.
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* [[Michael Jackson]] had several of these.
** ''HIStory - Past, Present and Future Book I'' (1995) drew criticism for the way it was compiled. It was a [[Distinct Double Album]], disc one consisting of greatest hits and disc two consisting of new material. This irked many people who wanted one but not both; casual fans didn't care about the new material, while hardcore fans already owned all the hits. The hits disc was reissued as a separate album in 2001, but people who want the other tracks (especially the singles from the second disc like "You Are Not Alone" and "Stranger in Moscow") still have to buy the full two-disc set. It's worth noting that Sony and Jackson's original plan was just to bring out a greatest hits set, but after the first round of child molestation allegations against him he came up with a ton of new material.
** ''Number Ones'' (2003) was his answer to [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] and [[Elvis Presley]] all-#1-hits compilations, though the American version had to stretch beyond the U.S. and British charts to include songs from ''Invincible''. It also included a new song in "One More Chance" that flopped in the U.S. as Jackson was formally charged with child molestation just as the album hit shelves; it did make #1 in [[wikipedia:One More Chance (Michael Jackson song)|a few countries]], though. The album didn't make waves until the week after Jackson's death, when it [http://www.billboard.com/#/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billboard-charts-1003989310.story outsold] the album topping the Billboard 200 (at the time, albums over 18 months old only entered the Catalog Charts; MJ's post-death popularity and the success of the Beatles remasterings caused that rule to be dropped).
** ''The Ultimate Collection'' (2004) was a four-disc hits-and-rarities box set, plus a DVD of a 1992 concert.
** ''The Essential [[Michael Jackson]]'' (2005) was a two-disc set that spanned his entire career: the U.S. version featured ten songs from his Jackson 5/Jacksons days (including early solo work), four ''Off the Wall'' songs, seven ''Thriller'' songs (the album has nine songs total), eight ''Bad'' songs (out of eleven), seven ''Dangerous'' songs, and one each from ''HIStory'' and ''Invincible'' (which shows how badly his career eroded). A limited edition had a third disk with seven extra songs, four being from the not-so-shiny phase.
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** ''Cirque du Soleil Collection'' (1996) covered ''Le Cirque Reinvente'' through ''Alegria''.
** ''Le Best of...'' (2004), a tie-in to the company's 20th anniversary, was an update of the previous album that dropped all the songs from shows that had closed and added ones from those that had since opened, up through ''Varekai''.
** ''25'' (2009) tied into the company's ''25th'' anniversary and featured a fresh tracklist over two CDs. With the exceptions of ''Pomp Duck and Circumstance'' (which Cirque only co-produced, rather than created in-house) and the [[The Beatles (band)|unique case]] of ''LOVE'', every live show through ''OVO'' was represented, even those that didn't yet have soundtrack albums (''[[Criss Angel Believe]]'', ''ZED'', and ''OVO''). The earliest shows' songs hadn't appeared on CD until this album. Even the mostly-forgotten dramatic film based on ''[[Alegria]]'' was represented with the remake of the title song that only appeared on its soundtrack album, making it the only song that appeared on all three compilations in some way -- butway—but it ''is'' Cirque's [[Signature Song]].
* Subverted by ex-Beatle Pete Best, who named a nondescript solo album "Best of the Beatles" to confuse record buyers.
* [[Jean Michel Jarre]] had a whole number of these: ''The Essential'' (7" versions from 1976 to 1985), ''Musik aus Zeit und Raum'' (pretty much ditto), ''Images - The Best Of Jean Michel Jarre'' (partly edited, partly re-recorded, partly remixed live versions from 1976 to 1990 + a few unreleased tracks), ''The Essential Jean Michel Jarre'' (1976 to 2000 including some not really Greatest Hits, not released by Jarre himself but by Francis Dreyfus), ''Aero'' (mostly re-recorded material from 1976 to 1997 + a few new tracks).
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* [[The Corrs]] have ''three'' ''and'' a complete collection [[Boxed Set]] of all 5 albums which released in 2011. Although once you start adding the high quality live albums and unplugged albums which have their own specific songs it looks far more reasonable. A buyer also gets more value for money from each subsequent release. The first was made after their 3rd album was released and has 18 songs. The second ''Dreams'' contained 21 songs and was released after their 4th and 5th albums were released as well as several unplugged and live albums. ''The Works'' was released as a three CD set with 56 tracks.
* [[Faith No More]] had a few after the band split, with the most recent, done to promote their reunion, mixing all names used for such compilations for parody's sake: ''The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection''.
* [[Elvis Costello]] has ''The Best Of Elvis Costello And The Attractions'' from 1985, the double ''Girls Girls Girls'' in 1987, Rykodisc's ''The Very Best Of Elvis Costello And The Attractions'' double-disc from 1994, ''Extreme Honey'' in 1997 (which compiles his Warner Brothers years (1989-941989–94)), ''The Very Best Of Elvis Costello'' (double-disc, 2001), ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Rock & Roll Music]]'' (2007), ''The Best Of Elvis Costello: The First Ten Years'' (2007), and ''Pomp And Pout'' (chronicling his stint on Universal Records ((1998-2008))). Not to mention the rarities compilations ''Taking Liberties'' (aka ''10 Bloody Marys And Ten How's Yer Fathers'' in the UK) and ''Out Of Our Idiot'', the boxed set ''2 1/2 Years'', featuring his first three studio albums and a rare live 1979 recording, and three recent boxed sets of his singles.
* [[Starflyer 59]]'s greatest-hits album ''Easy Come, Easy Go'' almost seemed lazy in its track choices. It featured exactly three songs from each of the band's five prior albums--specificallyalbums—specifically, the first two tracks plus either track 3 or track 4. Fortunately, it also came with a second disc, filled with b-sides and live tracks, and the liner notes had an impressively thorough history of the band.
* [[Jars of Clay]]'s ''Furthermore'' was practically a greatest-hits collection, but it was completely new recordings. Disc one featured stripped-down acoustic versions of the songs, and disc two featured live versions. Five years later, they ended up releasing a more conventional ''Greatest Hits''.
* [[David Bowie]] has had ''many'' compilations assembled over the course of his career.
** For years, the best-known compilations were ''Changesonebowie'' (1976) and ''Changestwobowie'' (1981). When a rerelease program of Bowie's 1969-80 catalog was initiated in 1990, ''Changesbowie'' -- the—the cover of which incorporated the ''Changesonebowie'' cover photo -- arrivedphoto—arrived; it also included songs from 1983's ''Let's Dance'' and 1984's ''Tonight'' and instead of "Fame" (his first U.S. Number One) included the then-new rearrangement "Fame '90".
** 1989's ''Sound + Vision'' box set covered his career from 1969-1980 and originally included a Video CD (later CD-Rom) of three live numbers and the "Ashes to Ashes" video on top of its three audio CDs. A 2003 reissue turned it into a four-CD set with material from 1982-931982–93 and a 1997 live B-side added.
** 1993's ''The Singles Collection'' [[wikipedia:The Singles Collection (David Bowie album)|wasn't exactly truth in advertising]] -- a—a bunch of the included songs weren't singles or, if they were, the actual single edits.
** Three best-ofs available separately or as ''The Platinum Collection'' specifically focus on 1969-74 (mostly his [[Glam Rock]] period), 1975-79 (blue-eyed [[Soul]] and [[Kraut Rock]] periods), and 1980-87 ([[New Wave]] and pop rock periods plus soundtrack work). The last one is notable for bringing together single versions of his movie theme songs from this period, which at five manage to total more than the number of tracks from his studio albums ''Tonight'' and ''Never Let Me Down'' (four) that are included.
** 2002's ''Best of Bowie'' had [[wikipedia:Best of Bowie|20 different versions prepared]] for 21 different countries, plus a two-disc DVD set released alongside it.