Greatest Hits Albums

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE ELEVENTH EDITION OF "THE BEAU ZONE" ON THE HARD ROCK HEROES WEBSITE FROM MARCH TO NOVEMBER 2008.

Something a little different this time around on The Beau Zone. A few weeks ago, Winnipeg Free Press writer David Sanderson asked me to contribute something to an article he was writing for the paper's Saturday Detour section on the 50th anniversary of the greatest hits album. I initially thought that meant I would be quoted in his article, but instead he just put some of my comments, along with other Winnipeg celebrities' comments, in a certain section of the page alongside the article. So he took a few of my many comments I e-mailed him and squished them together the best he could. I kind of feel some of what he printed was taken out of context, although if he had printed what my context was, I admit the resulting piece would have been too long. Nevertheless, since I'm overdue for a new Beau Zone, I thought I'd reprint my original e-mail to him here in the next few paragraphs for your pleasure. Enjoy.

Thanks for thinking of me, David. I have to generally go into my vinyl albums, because I don't have time to really think about the CD compilations that come out now, although I buy some of them. It was in the '70s that my friends and I played albums over and over and really got to know them. For this reason, greatest hits albums were a bit off our radar, because we had the songs already and they didn't have the flow we already had become accustomed to from the individual albums. Live albums made the songs flow better.

That being said, I took a quick look at my record collection, and, although I can't decide upon one all-time favorite, here are some random thoughts:

1) I love Kiss' "Double Platinum," their first greatest hits collection from 1978 that they entrusted Jimmy Iovine to remix, where he made new versions of some of the songs, although they weren't that happy with some of the resulting tracks. Some of what he did that I love included Hard Luck Woman where the drums don't come in until the second verse, or Calling Dr. Love, with the added mystery in the intro and the effect of emphasis on the sleazy guitar line during the chorus when Gene's vocal is removed right after the guitar solo.

2) "All The Best from Prism" had a lot of airplay at friends' parties when it came out, just 'cause they were one of those bands that "passed us by," so to speak, but had enough hits that a greatest hits collection that captured them all sufficed perfectly.

3) Streetheart: There's never been a decent Streetheart greatest hits compilation. Formerly, this seemed to be due to the band appearing on two different record companies in its' career and the problems that entails, probably financially, to include songs from both record companies on one compilation. The Rolling Stones can do it, but they obviously have way more money than anyone connected with Streetheart. The "60 Minutes With Streetheart" CD (now out of print, I believe) on Capitol had to include live versions of their WEA songs. I guess those songs were unavailable for a Capitol release. "Action: The Best Of Streetheart" only comprises their WEA stuff after Streetheart left WEA and is basically a too-early compilation. Recently, whoever is doing the "Essential" CDs put out "The Essential Streetheart" with songs from both record companies, but it has only around ten tracks just thrown together without rhyme or reason. I hate CDs like that. The first song doesn't sound like it should be the first song on the CD, etc. I didn't have time to remember who put that out, if it was Capitol or who. There's an interesting very early cover photo of the band, probably when they were called Witness, I believe even pre-Paul Dean/Matt Frenette, that probably has other members who have left, but there's no liner notes or anything telling us about that photo or anything else. Just completely slipshod. Streetheart needs a worthy greatest hits album that has between 15 and 20 songs on it.

4) Beatles: I have a soft spot for 1976's "Rock And Roll Music," a double album with all their uptempo songs mixed to sound louder and brasher. I guess this is more of a "compilation" and less of a "greatest hits" album. For a real greatest hits album, I don't know what's better: "20 Greatest Hits" (is that still in print?), their new CD "No. 1s," or the vinyl-but-CD-or-boxed-set-styled-in-hindsight albums 1962-66 and 1967-70. Depends what mood you're in at the time, I guess.

5) "Aerosmith's Greatest Hits:" I always like it when greatest hits albums pick up wayward tracks that were singles only or given to movie soundtracks. In this case, it was "Come Together" from the Sgt. Pepper soundtrack. This album also makes me think of the Aerosmith biography where Joe Perry talks about how, during the time he wasn't in the band and was doing The Joe Perry Project, some kid gave him this album to autograph and it was the first time he had ever heard of it or seen it. No one had told him of its' release.

6) Recent CDs? Well, before I was into hard rock, I was into '70s pop and bubblegum, so I absolutely adore "Absolutely The Best Of The Archies" and The Partridge Family "Greatest Hits." And yes, I'm going to see David Cassidy. Ace Frehley, too, for that matter. Along the same vein, very valuable is TimeLife's "AM Top Twenty: Sounds Of The Seventies," an excellent collection that contains such early '70s AM gems as The Night Chicago Died, Billy Don't Be A Hero, and Rock Me Gently. The only CD I've ever bought from an infomercial. My most-played non-Kiss CD. I also like "The Best Of Foghat," because they did blues-boogie, but my friends and I liked their straight hard rock stuff, so their albums were spotty to us. Their live album, "Foghat Live," was one of our top albums. So "The Best Of Foghat" effectively collects all their best hard rock tracks. The CD "Anthology" by Angel (remember them, with their white outfits?) needs more songs from the "Sinful" album.

7) Have to include this: In the "Television's Greatest Hits" records/CDs, my favorites are volumes 2 and 5 with the most memorable sitcom and cartoon TV theme songs. The first one is good, too.