Friday, September 7, 2007

Greatest Hits Albums I own

You will probably be wondering what this entry is about, why did I bother to post it.
Lately I have been thinking about making a list of all the Greatest Hits albums that I own: greatest Hits, Anthologies, Compilations, etc., of a single artist however, not compilation albums in their own right (Soundtracks, tributes, and Simpsons albums, sorry. this means you.)
I figured why not post it, as I haven't been the most dedicated blogger out there.

My train of thought in determining this list was one afternoon I noticed that most of the albums I had in my car were Greatest Hits albums, or Best of albums, and I wondered how many of these I had in my collection, what the percentage breakdown would be. No self-respecting record collector would have a majority of his or her collections, or even a decent percentage be Greatest Hits collections. I figured I would make a list, and this way I could calculate the percentage. 10% would be an acceptable figure. Anything more than that, and I better start raiding my friends' collections and burning discs pretty quickly.

Well, here goes, in alphabetical order, as that is how I catalogue my collection:

Air Supply - Greatest Hits
Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits
Burt Bachrach's Greatest Hits
David Bowie - Changesbowie
Ray Charles - Anthology
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - the very best of...
Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats
Serge Gainsbourg - Initials SG
Mrvin Gaye - Great Songs and Performances that Inspired the Motown 25th Anniversary Television Special
Al Green - Greatest Hits
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
John Lee Hooker - The Best of Friends
Lightnin' Hopkins - The Complete Aladdin Recordings
Howlin' Wolf - More Real Folk Blues
Mississippi John Hurt - Satisfying Blues
Tommy James and the Shondells - Special Editions: the Best of
The John Lennon Collection
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Legend
Sinead O'Connor - So Far... The Best of
Pet Shop Boys - Discography: The complete singles collection
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
Edith Piaf - eternelle
Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
Talking Heads - Sand in the Vaseline (Vol. 1 and 2) (Volume 1 on cassette)
Television Personalities - Yes Darling, but is it Art? (Early Singles and Rarities)
Velvet Underground - The Best of (Words and Music of Lou Reed)
Barry White - All-Time Greatest Hits

Jazz:
Stan Getz - Jazz 'Round Midnight: Bossa Nova
The Genius of Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker - Bird Lives!
The Quintessential Reinhardt and Grappelli
Sonny Rollins - The Standard Sonny Rollins
Nina Simone - the best of - My Baby Just Cares for Me

Cassettes: (not including Talking Heads - Sand in the Vaseline Vol. 1)
Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits
The Cure - Standing on a Beach - The Singles
The Human League - Greatest Hits
Kraftwerk - The Mix
Glenn Miller - Chattanooga Choo-Choo: the #1 Hits
New Order - Substance
The Very Best of The Platters
R.E.M. - Eponymous
Paul Simon - Love Songs and Negotiations
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Twice Upon a Time: Singles
Muddy Waters - Outtakes and Early Cuts

I will not include vinyl.

Now to count them...

45. Since I have over 700 CDs and close to 100 cassettes, I believe I maintain my aging music snob credibility.
Whew! I was worried there for a minute.

2 comments:

You don't know me said...

Hey Darren!
Funny how Air Supply always appears on all my friends' lists XD
The Cure FTW!
-esther

dmc said...

Hey eiji,

How can you not like Air Supply? Okay, so they're kind of cheesy and sappy and sacchrine and Broadway musical, true, but they're just so good.

More are listed above.