Bands with WAY too many greatest hits albums

[Steve w]

Lynard Skynard

Jefferson Airplane

Allman Brothers

Jethro Tull

Rod Stewart

[John Oteri]

Anything on Motown!

[Uncle Al]

The Doors
Elvis

I beleive both of these artists have more compilation albums than "all new" original release titles.

[Pinknik]

Well, they only had one greatest hits album, but SUBLIME only had maybe 1.5 - 2 albums in the first place, so I'd say it was one too many. After all the re-issues, re-packages, etc. of Elvis' catalog, I'm not sure how his fans can keep track of it all.

[BradOlson]

Glen Campbell is another artist with many GH packages.

[Jimbo]

The Beach Boys (they and Elvis are at the top of the list)

Moody Blues

Neil Diamond

The Who

[BradOlson]

Gordon Lightfoot's UA era has a ton of best of comps and only 5 original albums (4 studio, 1 live) were released originally.

[Grant]

Originally posted by John Oteri
Anything on Motown!

AMEN!
Let's add Eric Clapton to this list!

[CM Wolff]

After all the re-issues, re-packages, etc. of Elvis' catalog, I'm not sure how his fans can keep track of it all.

I agree that there is way too much packaging and repacking of Elvis' output. However, as a fan, honestly it is pretty easy to keep track of - E.M. Jorgensen's handling of the catalog has resulted in a pretty organized and comprehensive "core": the 50's, 60's, and 70's masters boxes, the spirtuals 3 CD set, the movies 2 CD set, the Vegas years box, the 2 CD comeback special, and the 3 CD That's The Way It Is. Beyond these core releases, most reissues are just repackaging of hits aimed at the more casual buyer; fans that have the core don't even have to worry about all the new repackagings (I know I don't try to keep up with them, and I am a HUGE Presley fanatic). I am oversimplifying, but the King's catalog is not in the shambles that some might think. Too many hits packages, yes, but still digestible, considering the sheer amount of his output.

[Craig]

Van Morrison's Bang Records era material (including Brown Eyed Girl) has been released and licensed out by Sony more times than can be counted. Frequently it's packaged with the these tracks that Van presented to Bang to get out of his contract after Bert Burns died:

Twist and Shake (1:11)
Shake and Roll (0:53)
Stomp and Scream (1:05)
Scream and Holler (1:13)
Jump and Thump (1:04)
Drivin' Wheel (1:09)
Just Ball (0:57)
Shake It Mable (1:09)
Hold On George (1:26)
The Big Royalty Check (1:32)
Ring Worm (1:28)
Savoy Hollywood (0:56)
Freaky If You Got This Far (1:01)
Up Your Mind (1:08)
Thirty Two (0:54)
All The Bits (0:53)
You Say France And I Whistle (0:50)
Blow In Your Nose (1:21)
Nose In Your Blow (0:59)
La Mambo (0:48)
Go For Yourself (1:16)
Want A Danish (1:02)
Here Comes Dumb George (0:51)
Chickee Coo (1:07)
Do It (0:58)
Hang On Groovy (0:53)
Goodbye George (1:14)
Dum Dum George (1:23)
Walk and Talk (1:03)
The Wobble (1:00)
Wobble and Ball (1:04)

[Oatsdad]

The Kinks!

[MagicAlex]

The Hollies & most Chess atrists.

[Casemeister]

If I had a dollar for every bootleg version of Waylon Jennings' first album ("Waylon at JD's") released (often packaged with his two recordings, produced by Buddy Holly -- "When Sin Stops" and "Jole Blon"), I would be SO rich. Right now there are about 5 about to be released (!), in addition to the many already out. Common titles are "Burning Memories," "White Lightin'," and "Abliene." The sound quality is usually so bad it's FUNNY. The only offical releases of that album are by Bear Family and Universal (and maybe one or two more). Most are bootlegs..... and they seem to be everywhere. I've even seen them called "Greatest Hits" and "The Best Of." Not Greatest Hits albums, I know, but there are WAY too many of them.


Although I am a big Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, I must agree. Plenty of Skynyrd "Greatest Hits" packages out there. The best thing to do with Skynyrd is to buy all the albums :-) Some of their lesser known album cuts are real gems ("Railroad Song," "Poison Whiskey," "Things Goin' On," "I Get The Same Old Blues," etc. etc.).

Also, I personally have at least 10 Buddy Holly "Greatest Hits" and "Best Of" collections. Funny.... when it comes to Buddy, there is almost as much material that has only been released on bootlegs as officially. MCA have screwed Buddy's fans for years and years. It was going well when Steve was "in the saddle," but we only got two albums from that. Ah well --- I have a bunch of Buddy CDs with rare stuff. Still, though, it would be good if people could get that stuff without having to buy bootlegs, as they can be kinda hard to find ;-)

[mazort]

Especially since he's never gotten a dime for any of it.

Of course, having too many greatest hits albums is a nice problem to have.

[Dave]

How about Billie Holiday and Steppenwolf. These 2 actually have more Greatest hit releases than albums and oh yeah, Louis Armstrong.

[HeavyDistortion]

The Byrds
The Small Faces
Sweet
The Guess Who




HeavyDistortion

[HeavyDistortion]

I forgot one:


The Bee Gees







HeavyDistortion

[aceman400]

Frank Sinatra

[Dan]

Just about anyone on Sony/CBS/EPIC!

With all of those "Super Hits" and "16 Biggest Hits" collections.

[Matt]

The Beach Boys. When it came to single CD collections (and double Lp collections, for that matter), they should've just stopped with Endless Summer.

Roy Orbison. The Rhino collections, Sony's collections...the only two that are worth getting is DCC and the Rhino double Lp, the latter solely for track selection, not sound quality.

Johnny Cash. Sony just released a SECOND collection called "The Essential...." to go with their other Essential CD collections. What the heck was wrong with the first one (besides omitting "If I Were A Carpenter")?

[BradOlson]

Originally posted by Dan
Just about anyone on Sony/CBS/EPIC!

With all of those "Super Hits" and "16 Biggest Hits" collections.

Most of the "16 Biggest Hits" CD's are for country artists although they have done some easy listening artists and one on Roy Orbison. They have "Super Hits" CD's on every artist you can think of.

[Gary]

Without a doubt, Lynyrd Skynyrd! Their early material (MCA) had been repackaged so many times even Gary Rossington comes across stuff he's never seen before! And then you have the GH as the Bluegrass version, the Blues version, te country version, tribute to Skynyrd (Skynyrd Frynds), you name it, it's out there - or in the works! Then you have the "Truckers" CD GH, a combination live / studio GH.... it's just amazing.

As a Skynyrd fan, even I am sick of this!

Part (or all?) of the reason is MCA owns the first two albums. I think there is some kind of a deal with Judy V-Z, too. So it's like a cash cow.....

Lynyrd was (is?) on DCC's list of "want's" but I don't think it'll ever get done because of there being just so much product out there! :mad:

[John Carsell]

Whats really irritating is when record companies leave off an essential hit deliberately from a greatest hits CD, or substitute a live version that was not THE hit. Grrrr! :mad:

[Beagle]

Originally posted by John Carsell
Whats really irritating is when record companies leave off an essential hit deliberately from a greatest hits CD, or substitute a live version that was not THE hit. Grrrr! :mad: I guess that is due to legalities. I see so many Brook Benton "Best Of" without Rainy Night In Georgia"

Anybody remember those early 90's "hits" compilation CD's where most of the songs were re-recorded with the original artists? The "re-recorded" part would be in very, VERY tiny letters on the back near the bottom.

On the topic, BMG seems to have released a lot of Daryl Hall and John Oates "Greatest Hits" packages.

[njwiv]

Originally posted by Matt
Roy Orbison. The Rhino collections, Sony's collections...the only two that are worth getting is DCC and the Rhino double Lp, the latter solely for track selection, not sound quality.

The Sony box is also worthwhile for compiling a good chunk of his MGM stuff that is otherwise tough to find.

Jay