Section III: COMPILATION ALBUMS
Introduction
This is a minefield! Do greatest hits albums constitute compilations? Or are they collections by various artists? I’ve chosen both! Unfortunately, most of the artists chosen have many compilation albums and CDs issued over time. In many cases, I have numerous samples of single album vinyl greatest hits followed by a single CD and latterly a double CD. I have tried to exclude those artists who appear in sections I and II.
1. Ultimate Collection – Kinks (2002)
A perfect collection! This is the culmination of a great singles band of the sixties together with equally good b-sides and album tracks. A brilliantly put together selection this 2-CD set comes in at a total running time of over two and a half hours of classy pop and rock music. I had three Kinks’ compilations on vinyl, namely “Well Respected Kinks” and “Sunny Afternoon” on the mid-priced Marble Arch label (both of which I played the grooves off!) and the early 70s “Golden Hour of the Kinks” which included a number of excellent album tracks. Much of the material in these wonderful, childhood albums is contained in this set. This set contains some of my favourite songs of all time. The first CD is a non-stop set of classic singles from the sixties. The standard is particularly high for those ranging for 1964’s “You Really Got Me” through to 1967’s “Death Of A Clown” (tracks 1 to 12). Each one evokes a part of my growing years from singing “Sunny Afternoon” as I walked along Winifred Lane to Town Green station on my way to school in Ormskirk to “Dead End Street” being sung on holiday in the highlands of Scotland. The second CD is as equally as good with EP tracks, B-sides and album tracks. Here my favourites are the superb b-sides of “I Need You” & “I’m Not Like Anybody Else” and the two exquisite album tracks of “Shangri la” and “Celluloid Heroes”.
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2. Decade Neil Young (1977)
December 25th 1977. 10am in the morning. It was at this time I un-wrapped this superb 3 album set and played it for the first time. The set had been issued some 5-6 weeks earlier and immediately became my Christmas number one request. A triple set with NY’s notes written onto the sleeves. This is superb selection of tracks from Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y and his solo material. Apart from a couple of singles and the recently acquired solo material on tape, I wasn’t familiar with most of the music contained herein. This was an opportunity to listen to Neil’s personal choice of his favourite songs. I played “Hurricane” on constant repeat for about an hour before exploring the other material. (This track had been shown on the OGWT as an in concert version and I immediately fell in love with its aggression and superb playing). Amongst so many gems, I was delighted at hearing something as beautiful as “Expecting to Fly”.
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3. Rolled Gold Plus - Rolling Stones (2007)
The Stones will be remembered as the “enfants terrible” of the sixties as opposed to the Beatles “good boys”: scruffy, long haired, overtly sexual, rebellion personified and always the drugs (maaaan!) Guaranteed to make headlines for the wrong reasons and frighten the establishment and the older generation. A concept that has kept groups in the limelight ever since. This is another compilation for which I had the original version on vinyl and had the excellent predecessors, “High Tide and Green Grass” and the later “Through The Past Darkly” both of which received heavy repeated playing from me! The transfer of this collection to a double CD resulted in additional tracks being included from the 1964 to 1971 classic era of the Rolling Stones. It still remains a superb collection for a starting point for the Stones best material.
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4. Best Of The Beach Boys – Beach Boys (1966)
This is the first, but no longer the best, of many Beach Boys’ compilation albums. It has been superseded by many times over the years. The most recent is the faultless 30 track CD entitled, “The Very Best of The Beach Boys” The original UK version of the “Best” is in this chart as it was the first full priced album I bought (from Beaver Radio in Whitechapel, Liverpool. The shop was located originally in the old NEMS premises (the owner was a certain Brian Epstein) before moving up to Dale Street). At the time I was worried that, as a stereo version, if I played in on my father’s mono Dansette player I would ruin the album. Ah! such innocence!
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5. Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal – Island (1970)
An eclectic collection of all that’s good and great about the early material found on the wonderful Island label. This set includes hit singles, well known album tracks and plenty of obscure album tracks from the late 60s and early 70s. It reminds me of listening to Pete Drummond’s early evening radio show, “Sounds of The Seventies” and John Peel’s “Top Gear“ programme from 1970 and 1971. It also reminds me of how much good material was being laid down and I’m grateful for the opportunity to relive those heady times. See also similar, excellent, triple CD sets from Vertigo – “Time Machine”,Decca’s “Legend Of A Mind” and Liberty’s “All Good Clean Fun”.
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6. Chronicle – Creedence Clearwater Revival (1976)
This contains all the singles and more from the prolific Creedence Clearwater Revival. Creedence were probably my favourite singles band of the late 60’s I used to listen to the AFN (American Forces Network) chart show from Germany to listen to the new CCR single a few months before it was released in the UK. I won a copy of their third album, “Willy and The Poor Boys” by entering a simple quiz in a school friends “Record Mirror” (not a magazine I purchased: too poppy!) They burned brightly for only a few years but left a collection of memorable material.
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7. Retrospective 1974 -1980 – Rush (1997)
This collection is the best of Rush’s early years on a single CD. The beauty and sheer ecstasy of “Xanadu” made it one of my most played tracks of the late 70s. Other highlights are the studio version of “By-Tor”, the first two sections of the meisterwerk, “2112” and “La Villa Strangiato”. In my view Rush never bettered the material contained herein.
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8. Greatest Hits - Eagles (1975)
When I began college in autumn of ’73, I was looking to expand my musical knowledge and for a time The Eagles together with the Southern rock of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd were my favourite bands. This massively selling collection of singles and album tracks was the nearest I came acquiring to country rock.
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9. 1967-1970 - Beatles (1973)
This is the ultimate collection of Beatles' singles interspersed with a few of the more familiar album tracks. It's here because it’s so good! ...as is the complimentary Beatles album, “1962 – 1966”. The albums reminds me of Christmases in the mid sixties when The Beatles had superb singles as the Christmas number one for the 5 years from 63 to 67 (except for December '66!).
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10. Ultimate Yardbirds (1998)
This is the best of a multitude of Yardbirds compilations. Most of the previous collections were able only to select material from either of their two labels. This meant you got the early Clapton stuff but not the latter day material featuring Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page or vice versa. This set corrects that and contains all their wonderful hits from “Heart Full Of Soul” through to “Over Under, Sideways Down”. My brother had a mid price compilation called “Remembering the Yardbirds” all of whose material is contained on these CDs.
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11. My Generation - The Who (1996)
Another band honoured by a surfeit of compilation albums. This contains all the sixties hits, album tracks and tracks from throughout their career. “Substitute” and “I Can See For Miles“ are two of my all time favourite tracks. The infrequently played (on the radio) songs of “5.15”, “Join Together” and “The Seeker” are included – much to my delight. The final three (much) weaker tracks spoil an otherwise sublime collection.
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12. Greatest Hits – Simon & Garfunkel (1972)
Another exemplary set! Everything you’ll need from the superb Simon & Garfunkel. This has been superseded by a better 17-track CD collection in 1982 but this is the one I remember from college days. The songs, the melodies, the harmonies! “America”, “Mrs Robinson” The last days of the pirates! Ah bliss!
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13. The Air That I Breathe – Hollies (1993)
Classic sixties pop songs from the days of pirate radio station, Radio Caroline especially “Look Through Any Window”, “I’m Alive” and “Carrie Anne”. It is a permanent reminder of travelling to my junior school on a coach each day and the Hollies were one of the bands who had regular chart hits and heavy duty rotation on the illegal Radio Caroline.
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14. The Very Best of The Byrds – Byrds (2006)
15. Greatest Hits – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (1993)
This is a superb collection of catchy, American-based rock songs from Tom Petty and his band. All the tracks are highlights. My favourites are, “American Girl”, “Refugee”, “Running Down A Dream” and the otherwise unavailable, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. No filler! Great for driving in the great wide open!
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16. Gold & Platinum – Lynyrd Skynyrd (1980)
17. Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix (2003)
An excellent 2-CD set. The first CD contains the singles (with some alternate versions) and album tracks. The second CD comprises live material. In my view the compiler made the best selections for the many live versions available to him. The set contains the superb versions of “Hear My Train A Comin” originally from the Rainbow Bridge album (recorded at the Berkeley 1970 gig) and a six-minute version of “Hey Joe” (with its superb introduction) from the Winterland gig in 1968. Stonkin’!
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18. Workshops Of The Telescopes – Blue Oyster Cult (1996)
19. Super 70’s Rock - Various (2004)
This is an absolute superb compilation and top marks must go to the compilers of this 3-CD set who got their selections spot-on. An excellent, intelligent selection of rock oriented tracks from all periods of the seventies and all genres. It contains all my favourites and some of my favourite but more obscure tracks such as John Kongos’ “He’s Gonna Step On You Again”, Family’s “In My Own time” and Nazareth’s “This Flight Tonight”, Not a duff track in sight!
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20. Essential Collection – Ten Years After (1991)
TYA were one of my favourite British blues band famous (or infamous) for the guitar pyrotechnics of Alvin Lee. I stuck a “ban the bomb” logo on my acoustic guitar back in 1970 in awe of Mr Lee!! This compilation of blues-rock was played on non-stop rotation in my car when I first purchased this CD. My favourites are the album version of “Love Like A Man”, “I’m Coming On”, “Woke Up This Mornin’” and the great live version of “Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl”.
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21. Motown Chartbusters Vol 3 – Various (1970)
At the end of the sixties, the Motown catalogue was being re-issued in the UK as singles such that there were always at least two chart entries at any given time in 1968 and 1969. Many of the hits were re-issues from a few years previously - where they’d been hits in the USA. Here they all are, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, “Road Runner”, “Dancin’ In The Street” and “Behind A Painted Smile”
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22. Best Air Guitar In The World – Various Artists (2004)
Good selection! This was the first of a number of similar collections with material drawn from a variety of sources: blues, metal and pop selected by Queen’s Brian May. Highlights include, Joe Satriani’s, “Surfin’ with the Alien” and Metallica’s “For Whom The Bells Tolls” (neither are usually seen in compilation albums!).
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23. The Rock Machine Turns You On (1968)
The first collection I listened to back in 1969/70. I borrowed this from a friend at school along with Colosseum’s “Valentyne Suite” and played them both very quietly on bringing them home: I wasn’t sure what my parents would make of them! This was the start of a series of labels' collections when each label trawled the clubs to find underground acts knowing they’d sell to the burgeoning student market (that included me!)
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24. Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits (1971)
25. Summer In The Sixties - Various Artists (2004)
The problem with compilation CDs is they rely on some repetition of popular and thus familiar songs whereupon similarly compiled collections are issued within a couple of years. This is well thought out selection of songs from the summer of love and the years that surrounded it. The double CD contains more rock oriented songs than the usual compilation: Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play”, The Yardbirds, “Over Under Sideways Down”, the superb, “I Don’t Want Our Lovin’ to Die” by the Herd as well as the usual suspects such as Scott MacKenzie’s “San Francisco” and the Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon”. The only band missing is the Mamas and The Papas otherwise it’s a great selection!
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