Discs titled Greatest Hits or The Best Of are not typical fodder for critics, but such collections serve their purpose, sometimes splendidly, other times laughably. At times, they can be the best introduction to an artist or band. We’re in the time of the 99 cent download, so albums are nearly extinct, but record companies still release Greatest Hits. Maybe they’re chasing the Eagles, whose Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) – with sales of 42 million worldwide – is the best selling album of all time.
This came to mind when two discs hit my mailbox recently: Quiet Please … The New Best of Nick Lowe (Yep Roc) and Filter’s The Very Best Things (1995-2008) (Rhino). Quiet Please aims to replace the now out of print Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe (Sony), a single disc collection released in 1989. Basher is a desert island disc for me, 25 tracks of the best power pop ever, full of wit and effervescent guitar jangle. If you only know “Cruel to Be Kind,” it’ll open your ears to some of the best Brit-pop of the 1970s and 80s.
Twenty years later, Quiet Please brings Lowe’s career into fuller focus, from his pub rock days with Brinsley Schwarz to his latest incarnation as an aging crooner, and does so by doubling the amount of songs. It even comes in a deluxe version with a DVD of early videos and a concert from 2007. It’s a nice update, and the songs still ring true, but I’ll still take my copy of Basher with me wherever I go.
Put the Filter disc in the laughable category. You’re probably familiar with “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” but beyond that, who cares? Sure it collects some hard to find tracks originally found on movie and TV soundtracks, but this is one where the band’s limited fan base has already downloaded all they want. Vocalist and songwriter Richard Patrick had reformed the band and plans to tour this year, so it seems to be more like a marketing ploy to remind folks that they’re still around.
Besides Basher some of my favorite discs are Greatest Hits, collections for which the term “all killer, no filler” was invented. Some, like Chuck Berry’s The Great Twenty-Eight and The Best of Sam Cooke, might be all you’ll ever need of that artist if you’re not an over-the-top fan. Here are a dozen of my favorites, arranged chronologically. Feel free to call me a fool or add some of yours in the comments.
1) Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight
2) Sam Cooke, The Best of Sam Cooke
3) Jefferson Airplane, The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane
4) Wilson Pickett, Greatest Hits
5) Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle, Vol. 1
6) Hollies, Greatest Hits
7) Earth, Wind & Fire, The Best of Vol. 1
8) Nick Lowe, Basher: The Best of Nick Lowe
9) The Cure, Staring At the Sea: The Singles
10) Echo & the Bunnymen, The Very Best Of: More Songs to Learn and Sing
11) Rodney Crowell, Greatest Hits
12) Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Greatest Hits
This article appears in March 27 • 2009.