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Welder
18-02-2011, 11:02
I'm not sure if I’m a serious music collector but I consider myself to be a serious music lover. I do have a lot of best of albums but I can’t think of many albums that there aren’t a few tracks I would happily skip and others which I could happily never hear again.
As for the “pop” stuff, yep, I’ve got Sugar Babes and Beyonce to Toto and Groove Amada and while they may not be everyone’s taste some tracks are classic pop.

Anyone else prefer “Best of” albums?
Modern pop, do you listen to it?

Clive
18-02-2011, 11:57
A lot of modern music works as "best of" as it's created as single tracks for download. Older music was often intended to be heard as an album with many artists carefully assembling tracks in the right order, best of in this situation is akin to just watching the action clips from a movie. But it's your listening pleasure so it's up to you.

Welder
18-02-2011, 12:18
Hi Clive.

I agree with you in general. I do have complete original albums as well ;)
There are however, a number of artists, not just modern pop, who I have Best of, Credance Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane for example who were fairly prolific in their day but who also produced some pretty mediocre stuff mixed in with some exceptional music.
I suppose having got used to play lists with file audio now the tendency to listen to complete albums which I would have done when I had vinyl has gone :scratch:

Clive
18-02-2011, 12:21
I use file audio too but my main source is vinyl so I suppose we're each being dictated to by the media we use, or at least we are to a certain extent.

Barry
18-02-2011, 12:22
I like 'best of' or compilation albums, especially of those artists for whom I have only a passing interest. In many cases were I to buy the complete LP, there would only be two or three tracks that I really liked.

Some of the best compilation albums I have are by:

The Stranglers
The Shadows
Buddy Holly
The Righteous Brothers
Chuck Berry
Manfred Mann
Creedence Clearwater Revival
The Byrds
The Beatles (no. 1 hits)
Johnny Winter
The Kinks
Squeeze
The Police
Blondie
The Velvet Underground
Kirsty McColl
Fleetwood Mac (post Peter Green)
Dionne Warwick
Phil Spector's productions
Nina Simone
Nat King Cole

I think it's being a bit purist to say that albums are meant to be heard as a whole, since the artist took great care in assembling the tracks in the right order. Often the order was chosen by the producer, with the artist having little say in the matter.

Regards

Welder
18-02-2011, 12:29
Hey Barry.

I’ve got a few of those :)
Your post just reminded me of a Johnny Winter concert I saw at Watford Town Hall; the loudest concert I can recal :eek::mental:

Clive
18-02-2011, 12:30
I think it's being a bit purist to say that albums are meant to be heard as a whole, since the artist took great care in assembling the tracks in the right order. Often the order was chosen by the producer, with the artist having little say in the matter.

Regards
Probably it is a bit purist but I wasn't just thinking of pop. Certainly a fair chunk of the artists you mention won't have been so involved in the final assemblage. Someone like Kate Bush was more involved. I really would want too many best of's for the likes of Coltrane, Brubeck, Mingus, Adderley, Beethoven, Mozart etc...sure some classical is fine as individual pieces, I'm thinking complete works here.

WAD62
18-02-2011, 13:00
I’ve got Sugar Babes and Beyonce to Toto and Groove Amada

...I think you're being rather unfair to Groove Armada lumping them in with that other tosh, Vertigo is hardly commercial 'pop' ;)

Welder
18-02-2011, 13:09
Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve offended your sensibilities Will :rolleyes:

(How dare he call Sugar Babes and Beyonce tosh :steam:)

:lolsign:

WAD62
18-02-2011, 14:48
Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve offended your sensibilities Will :rolleyes:

(How dare he call Sugar Babes and Beyonce tosh :steam:)

:lolsign:

:lolsign:

At the risk of name dropping I vaguely know Andy Cato (the lanky one), through a mutual friend who's a producer, the poor lad would be mortified to be placed in such rarefied company (actually he'd probably find it amusing too, he seems like a good sort)...;)

Still I'll get some entertainment out of it :)

Welder
18-02-2011, 15:05
Just for that mate ;)

I mean, how can you not like this.......yep and the music ;)
G6HPJJjqvG0

Barry
18-02-2011, 16:11
Probably it is a bit purist but I wasn't just thinking of pop. Certainly a fair chunk of the artists you mention won't have been so involved in the final assemblage. Someone like Kate Bush was more involved. I really would want too many best of's for the likes of Coltrane, Brubeck, Mingus, Adderley, Beethoven, Mozart etc...sure some classical is fine as individual pieces, I'm thinking complete works here.

Yes, I would avoid "best of" collections when it comes to jazz (such as the artists you mention) and most definitely for classical. However some early jazz, such as Django Reinhart and stuff like Fats Waller I have as compilation discs and they serve me well.

You see plenty of 'The Great Classical Collections' (usually by Reader's Digest) in charity shops, and I always pass them by.

Same too with most 'freebies' stuck on the front of music magazines, with the honourable exception of the BBC Music magazine - their discs are of complete works.

Oh and Welder you reminded me of Jefferson Airplane: their "The Best of" and "Worst of" are fine compilations.

Regards

Clive
18-02-2011, 17:32
Apologies Barry for my lousy typing, I was distracted mid flow.....anyway you seem to have made sense of it!

WAD62
19-02-2011, 12:45
Just for that mate ;)

I mean, how can you not like this.......yep and the music ;)
G6HPJJjqvG0

Oh that's cheating...Jay-Z helps!

OK that's the exception that proves the rule...;)

I wonder how long it took her to write that :lolsign:

She is fine on the eye though :)

magiccarpetride
19-02-2011, 18:10
I'm not sure if I’m a serious music collector but I consider myself to be a serious music lover. I do have a lot of best of albums but I can’t think of many albums that there aren’t a few tracks I would happily skip and others which I could happily never hear again.
As for the “pop” stuff, yep, I’ve got Sugar Babes and Beyonce to Toto and Groove Amada and while they may not be everyone’s taste some tracks are classic pop.

Anyone else prefer “Best of” albums?
Modern pop, do you listen to it?

Most of the albums from the pre-CD era suffer less from fillers. This is mostly thanks to the limitations imposed by the vinyl, and not being able to cram more that 35 (on average) minutes of music. With CDs, you can load up to 70 minutes, and sadly many artists took that as a challenge and started producing gobs of fillers. Hence the need for distilling their output into the best-of format.

One thing I don't like about many of the best-of CDs on the market today is that they've been beefed up to sound more high-octane than the same tracks on the original albums. Case in point -- the Beatles "1" CD -- sounds atrociously compressed.

That's why I prefer to stick with the original CDs and just skip the fillers during the playback.

Welder
19-02-2011, 18:49
Hey Will
Hmm, gonna need a greater degree of statement retraction than that mate or I’ll be linking up some more. While your trousers may take the strain I doubt if your ears will :ner::lol:



Hi Alex.
Yep, there is some merit in just skipping the filler tracks, and yes, it does seem in general that when CD’s became the main distribution medium a lot of stuff got put on that would other wise not be there.

I’ve got quite a few best of style collection files. I hasten to add that they comprise a fairly small percentage of my collection and for many I have the full album they were taken from.
As to the tracks being detrimentally messed around with at transfer, hmm, some yes, but most are 1 to 1 copies; re-mastering costs money.

I don’t get overly purist about whole album listening, even with themed albums, one of the benefits of file based audio, playlists.
Even though storage is relatively cheap I don’t really want everything a band has recorded in order to hear what might be five or six decent tunes from their total output spread across half a dozen albums.

Barry
19-02-2011, 18:57
I don’t get overly purist about whole album listening, even with themed albums

In the days when there was only vinyl, friends would be amazed that I would, on occasion, play only one side of an LP. It came as a bit of an epiphany to them that one did not have an obligation (moral, cultural, or aesthetic) to listen to both sides!

Regards

Welder
21-02-2011, 00:13
Right Will, you've asked for it :lol:
SQ7iZ-cxyA0

Nothing wrong with this mate, better than average pop.

Welder
21-02-2011, 00:22
Oh arr, just to take the sting out………..
If I say I think these two are sexy am I safe out on the streets? :eyebrows:
zUfCMiFJ7a8

and yes, the original un fatted version is better.

(maybe this should go in the guilty pleasures section…………..ffs, I need help :trust::D

:sofa:

WAD62
21-02-2011, 14:13
Oh arr, just to take the sting out………..
If I say I think these two are sexy am I safe out on the streets? :eyebrows:

(maybe this should go in the guilty pleasures section…………..ffs, I need help :trust::D

:sofa:

...maybe not the 'Guilty Pleasures' section, I think we need a new 'Guilty As Charged' one... :lolsign:

dantheman91
21-02-2011, 14:49
Best groove armada track i love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb2HBDxqwIg
:lol:

WAD62
21-02-2011, 14:53
...I'd have to go with 'Chicago' from the same album, but that's just me...;)

ZgLtXyqvM-Q

DanJennings
21-02-2011, 18:42
Best groove armada track i love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb2HBDxqwIg
:lol:

Love that track, this is a better version though IMO

iHH8wQZ2Xag

DanJennings
21-02-2011, 18:52
and back on topic, this has reminded me, I don't actually own any Groove Armada, come on then chaps, would I be better off with a Best Of, or do I need the albums?

WAD62
21-02-2011, 18:54
and back on topic, this has reminded me, I don't actually own any Groove Armada, come on then chaps, would I be better off with a Best Of, or do I need the albums?

Vertigo & the best of...hows that for a cop out ;)

Alex_UK
21-02-2011, 20:29
GA are one of my favourite bands, so I'd naturally say get the albums! Vertigo is top 10 albums of all time for me, but Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) & Lovebox are superb too.

DanJennings
21-02-2011, 21:17
Vertigo & the best of...hows that for a cop out ;)


GA are one of my favourite bands, so I'd naturally say get the albums! Vertigo is top 10 albums of all time for me, but Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) & Lovebox are superb too.

Go on then you twisted my arm

Vertigo amazon £1.85 ordered

WAD62
22-02-2011, 18:44
Go on then you twisted my arm

Vertigo amazon £1.85 ordered

I can't argue with Alex as I have them all too...:)

John
22-02-2011, 19:15
For me best of serves as a introduction to an artist I only have a few best of albums mostly early Jazz like Django and Louis Armstrong
My issue is that I tend to like more underground music and best of tend to be for more mainstream music