Greatest Hits Albums
“Don’t bother with Greatest Hits Albums…” David Hepworth
I disagree with David. There are a number of bands that were truly great singles acts, but never produced one standout album that I would listen to in it’s entirety (Queen being the most obvious example). There are great singles and albums acts (Beatles, Stones, Bowie, Kinks, the Who) for whom there is a different market for singles than albums. Every song must be a cracker. So here is a list of my favorite greatest hits albums (* means that I prefer the greatest hits album to any of their conventional LPS):
1. Queen’s Greatest Hits – Queen*
2. 1 – The Beatles
3. Rolled Gold – Rolling Stones
4. The Best of Bowie (Ktel) – David Bowie
5. The Man in Black- Johnny Cash
6. Artist of the Century – Elvis Presley*
7. Showbiz Kids – Steely Dan
8. Greatest Hits – Bee Gees*
9. Now That’s What I Call Quite Good – Housemartins
10 . Carry on up the charts – Beautiful South*
11. Singles – Smiths
12. Best of – James*
13. Remasters – Led Zeppelin
14. Echoes – Pink Floyd
15. Decade – Neil Young
16. Greatest Hits – ELO
17 . The Whole Story – Kate Bush*
18. Legend – Bob Marley
19. Countless Greatest Hits Albums all good – Bob Dylan
20. Countless more – the Kinks
21. Best of – Blur*
22. 20 Golden Greats – Beach Boys
23. The very best of – The Hollies*
24. In Time – REM
25. This is the Moody Blues – Moody Blues
26. Very Best of – Elvis Costello*
27. SNAP – The Jam
28. Greatest Hits – Thin Lizzy*
29. Singles going steady – Buzzcocks*
30. The very best – Doors
31. Greatest Hits – Simon & Garfunkle
32. Greatest Hits – Eurythmics*
33. Human Amusements – Guided By Voices*
34. Songs from the North Country – Jayhawks
35. Complete Greatest Hits – Gordon Lightfoot*
36. Premier Hits – Gary Numa*
37 Greatest Hits – the Eagles
38. Story of – the Clash
39. Chronicle 1 & 2 – Credence Clearwater Revival*
40. Greatest Hits – The Byrds*
41. A Man and his music – Sam Cooke
42. The Very Best of – Van Morrison
43. Greatest Hits – Squeeze*
44. Best of – Madness*
45. A & B – The Specials
46. We aint ever satisfied – Steve Earle
47. Greatest Hits Vol 2 – Steve Miller Band
48. Singles – Suede
49. Songbook – Super furry animals*
50. The best of the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed – Velvet Underground
Strangely, there are many greatest hits albums that I did not like by artist who I like and who’s albums I like, perhaps it is the track listing: Teenage Fanclub, Elliot Smith, Patti Smith, Sex Pistols, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Cowboy Junkies, Smashing Pumpkins, Sparks, the Verve, Beastie Boys, Crosby Stills and Nash, U2
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