Absolutely Terrific Rock Compilations Now Out of Print in America
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 04/16/2002 - 01:56
Tags:
- Dave Bartholomew - The Spirit of New Orleans: The Genius of Dave Bartholomew
- Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight
- David Bowie - Singles: 1969-1993
- James Brown - Solid Gold: 30 Golden Hits
- Sam Cooke - The Man and His Music
- Elvis Costello - Several (The Very Best of Elvis Costello & the Attractions; Girls Girls Girls)
- Buddy Holly - From the Original Master Tapes
- The Jam - Snap!
- The Police - Greatest Hits (NOT Every Breath You Take)
- Elvis Presley - The Complete Sun Sessions (for those who like this one a bit scruffy and do not want the extra disc largely of non-Sun sessions material on Sunrise)
- Simon & Garfunkel - Collected Works
- The Who - Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy
- Steely Dan - A Decade of Steely Dan (the ORIGINAL version, not the absolutely unnecessary and lesser remaster now available...)
- The Beach Boys - Endless Summer (especially the DCC gold disc version)
Author Comments:
A few off the top of my head. Record companies love to sell you stuff more than once. The above discs were excellent compilations for their artists, but have sadly been replaced by lesser best-ofs in order to sell you the hits yet again. In a few instances (Bowie, Costello), label switches were involved. Several of these are still readily available via import. If you are interested in a compilation of one of these artists, seek these out! Change is not always good...
I'll add more if I think of others.
I haven't heard all that many of these, but I completely agree about the Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley ones. I'm not sure how exactly the two Chess volumes on Berry duplicate The Great Twenty-Eight, but I'll say this: if one of those volumes contains "My Ding a Ling," the song that almost tarnishes Chuck's reputation, I will ban them for life. And I have no idea how you could even hope to improve on From the Original Master Tapes; it is a perfect one-disc compilation!
Johnny Waco
The Buddy Holly comp is simply amazing. Stellar wound, too, considering the age of the material. Wow...
Yes, one of those two Berry best-ofs does, very sadly, include the awful Ding-a-Ling. That's certainly one huge point in the Great Twenty Eight's favor!
The rumor I've heard is that nearly all the Elvis compilations before the recent, pathetic # 1s collection are being discontinued, so this list may grow.
For anyone curious, even though the Great Twenty-Eight is officially out of print, BMG Music Service has the rights to press it, and they still sell it through their music club.
Just in case anyone wants the stellar collection...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
That's stellar sound, not wound. Doh!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Another one that I know of: The Best of The Doors. This is a different one, not the 2 cd set. This one has Who Do You Love, live from Philadelphia, on it also. I can't find it anywhere, although I have it on tape. Also _Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine_ seems to be hard to find.
I think Goldmine has never been legally released on CD in America. I couldn't swear to that, though...
The other Best of you mention has also never been on CD, I believe. I'm curious why you favor this older compilation. Is it the live cut?
I know the fact that it wast the fact that that best of lacks one of the Door's top forty hits, the Unknown Soldier, that encouraged the label to create the newer two CD version.
Personally, if they would rearrange the songs on the two-disc version to play chronologically, and then give that album the same remaster treatment recently given the proper studio albums, I'm not sure you wouldn't have pretty darn near the best Doors compilation possible. Of course, part of the problem is that, frankly, the Doors don't lend themselves to compilations easily - they are certainly album artists.
13 from the vinyl era wasn't too bad, but it was too early to include the band's L.A. Woman album. You could possibly squeek by without Love Her Madly, but no Doors compilation could really survive without Riders on the Storm.
Great comments! Don't forget to let me know why you prefer the older comp! Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
"I know the fact that it wast the fact that that best of lacks one of the Door's top forty hits, the Unknown Soldier, that encouraged the label to create the newer two CD version."
Yeah, that is now officially the most garbled, confused sentence I've yet posted on Listology, and that sadly says something...
I simply meant that a major reason behind the two-disc version was to add Unknown Soldier, since it was (I believe) the only top forty hit missing from the one disc version.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
RCA released an Elvis compilation called "Rocker" in 1984 (RCA AFM1-5182) to coincide with his 50th Anniversary. I'm sure it's out of print now. It included all his heavier stuff including all the Little Richard covers as well as "I Got A Woman", "Money Honey", "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" - all digitally re-mastered. I don't know if it was released on CD, but it would be a great find for someone who liked his heavier style. (12 songs on vinyl)
Good choice. I will have to do an exhaustive search of exactly which Presley compilations are, er, no more, and sadly so. I may have to do a separate list just to keep track of the dearly departed Presleys.
Rocker is a great album - From Jailhouse Rock and Blue Suede Shoes straight through to Hound Dog, Elvis just rips. And those cover songs are smoking.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs