Poniedziałek 14 Kwi 2008, 0:06

I took a count today of all the retrospectives that i own, which totaled to about 12 (i didn't include some either because i am True Fan anyways or am planning on replacing that retrospective with an actual album). They were -

1. Best of Free (Free)
2. Best of Kansas (Kansas)
3. Best of the Doobies (The Doobie Brothers)
4. A Decade of Hits (The Allman Brothers Band)
*5. A Decade of Steely Dan (Steely Dan)
6. Greatest Hits (Grand Funk Railroad)
7. Greatest Hits (Journey)
8. Greatest Hits (Styx)
9. Nothing But the Best (White Heart)
10. Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits (The Smashing Pumpkins)
11. The Very Best and Beyond (Foreigner)
12. Young Hearts: Complete Greatest Hits (Steve Miller Band)

Now i'm going to explain my problem with GH's and the like. A GH is (obviously) a great way to introduce a listener to a particular artist's strongest songs and/or musical career. They are provided with the hope that maybe the listener will be interested in the albums that have been released previously and thusly go ahead and purchase them. Also, Best Of's save the listener from having to buy the "bad" or "weak" songs as well as the good ones from any given album. Or lastly, as in my case, the listener chooses to buy the Best Of simply because the retrospective has all of the band's biggest singles, and the listener has no desire to delve into the band's genre or history.

Those are legitimate reasons, but go ask any die-hard fan (or True Fan, as i like to call them) about their favorite band and if you should buy that band's GH. "Heck no!" comes the reply, as well as an answer as to which album you should buy instead. Their reasoning is because so many great underrated songs lie hidden on that particular record, and to go out and buy the one cd with all the hits on it seems like an injustice to not only the band, but yourself - just take a listen to all the stuff you're missing out on!

Thusly, i have decided that i am going to stay away from such collections. They may tempt me with an overall "best value" money wise, they may sway me with all of their shiny "guarenteed to be good" tracks, and they may come with a slick new booklet + photos, but i WON'T BUY IT!! I would only make the exception in the case that i've sampled the album and the songs don't stick to me like they should (which is a problem musically and/or lyrically). Its a great shame to buy a GH and then realize later that an actual album would have been a smarter buy. That's what happened to me with the band Free - after a couple of listens with the meager 11 track millenium masters Best Of, it became apparent to me that this was a poor excuse of a Free album (albeit not a real release), and so i am in search of Freeimports so that i can enjoy all of that bluesy rock and roll.

So there's my rant. Hope you enjoyed it.

-DL