Live CD's/Greatest Hits/Singles Compilations?

[Liam]

More of an interest thing for me, but I was wondering how many live/greatest hits/single compilations people had in thier CD collection, and whether they generally are any good or not.

Live Cd

Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy

Jeff Buckley - Live At L'Olympia

Pearl Jam - State College, Pennsylvania

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged

Nirvana - Live From The Banks Of The Wishkah (sp?)

Alice In Chains - Live

Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged

Muse - Hullabaloo

Metallica - S&M

Greatest Hits

Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You

The Best Of Morrissey

Recurring Dream:The Best Of Crowded House

The Best Of INXS

1990-2000: The Best Of U2

New Order - Substance

Iron Maiden - Edward The Great

Singles Collections

Green Day - International Superhits

The Smiths - Singles

Ash - Intergalactic Sonic 7 Inchers

Also, do you buy them because you are a completist, or more because they are bands you like, but not enough to delve further into thier catalogue?

Edited April 26, 2005 by rvdwannabe

[Guest Ringmaster]

I'm not answering the question, because there are too many to lists, but usually, I buy the live CDs of the bands/artists I like and I buy the Greatest Hits of bands that I don't know that much about.

[tristy]

Live CDs:

Nirvana's Unplugged In New York

Metallica's S&M

Rammstein's Live Aus Berlin

Nine Inch Nails' And All That Could Have Been

The Mars Volta's Live EP

Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow Live

Greatest Hits:

Nirvana's Nirvana

Singles Collections:

Green Day's International Superhits

Too bad bootlegs don't count for Live CDs. I have a shitload of NIN & TMV.

[Guest Wrestling_Man]

Live CD's:

Iron Maiden- Live After Death

Metallica- Live Shit

AC/DC- If You Want Blood...You've Got It

Greatest Hits:

Queensryche

Billy Idol

Guns N' Roses

Rolling Stones- 40 Licks

The Very Best of KISS

That's about it.

[Guest Booker T & The MG's]

Live CD's

I have numerous bootlegs which probably don't count.

Greatest Hits

Beth Orton - Pass In Time

Björk - Greatest Hits

Black Sabbath - Best Of Black Sabbath

De La Soul - The Best Of De La Soul

Gang Of Four - A Brief History Of The 20th Century

Kraftwerk - The Mix (techinically a remix album but it is there take on a greatest hits complilation)

Morrissey - Suedehead

Pixies - Death To The Pixies

Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples (2 Disc)

Smiths - The Very Best Of The Smiths

Singles Collections

Ash - Intergalactic Sonic 7 Inchers

Cult - Pure Cult

Green Day - International Superhits

I buy/find live CD's of acts I really, really like or become obsessive about. I buy greatest hits albums if I am curious about an act, if I like it then I start to buy there albums.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Live

Rage Against The Machine - Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Metallica - S&M

Jimi Hendrix - Live at Berkeley

Greatist Hits

Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You: Greatest Hits

Ice Cube - Greatest Hits

Public Enemy - Greatest Misses

Run-DMC - Greatest Hits

NWA - Greatest Hits

2Pac - Greatist Hits

Experience Hendrix: Best of Jimi Hendrix

Singles Comps

No Doubt - The Singles 1992-2003

I dunno, I have no real reason for buying compliations, I just do. A few of them I bought before I had a burner so it was only I could have a comp of all of an artist's best songs. Besides that, I dunno.

Edited April 25, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[The Hardcore Canuck]

Live CD's

Family Values Tour 98

Family Values Tour 99

Union Underground: One Nation Underground

Nirvana Boxset (it's mostly live stuff so I'm counting it here)

Greatest Hits

Nirvana

Pearl Jam: Rear-View Mirror

Singles

None

[K]

I get compos, best of and lives for bands I like.

[K]

Live

Aerosmith - Classics Live

Alice Cooper - Nobody Likes Alice Cooper Live

Motorhead - No Sleep At All

Motorhead - Lock Up Your Daughters

Rage Against The Machine - Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium

Rage Against The Machine - Live And Rare

Stiff Little Fingers - Pure Fingers Live

Stiff Little Fingers - Live

Stiff Little Fingers - No Sleep Til Belfast

Best Of's

Alice Cooper - Superhits

Beastie Boys - Anthology

Diamondhead - The Best Of Diamond Head

The Jam - The Very Best Of The Jam

The Kinks - Come Dancing With The Kinks

Manowar - Anthology

Ozzy Osbourne - The Essential Ozzy Osbourne

RUN DMC - Together Forever

Stiff Little Fingers - All The Best

Twisted Sister - Big Hits And Nasty Cuts

William Shatner + Leonard Nimoy - Spaced Out

Single Compilations

Greenday - International Superhits

The Hives - Your New Favorite Band

The Kinks - The BBC Sessions

That should be all of them. Might be a couple I've missed.

Most of them were purchases of opportunity, I've seen them in the store cheap and picked them up.

[zero]

Live CDs

Blue Oyster Cult - Some Enchanted Evening

KISS - You Wanted the Best You Got the Best

Metallica - S&M

Evanescence - Anywhere But Home

Rage Against the Machine - Live & Rare

Greatest Hits

Korn - Vol. 1

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Weird Al Yankovic Vol. 1

Weird Al Yankovic Vol. 2

Blue Oyster Cult

Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples

Depeche Mode 81-85

Depeche Mode 86-98

The Cars

The Clash

Aerosmith - Big Ones

Ozzy - The Ozzman Cometh

Jimi Hendrix - The Ultimate Experience

Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget

Duran Duran

Rob Zombie - Past, Present, Future

The Police

Alice in Chains

Styx

Forgive my stupidity, but what's the difference between a greatest hits and a singles collection? Hits are pretty much always singles. Perhaps I'm missing some obvious difference?

Anyhoo, I used to buy Greatest Hits compilations just because it was an easy way to get introduced to a band, now I usually do it because I'm a completist.

Edited April 26, 2005 by Zero

[Lowerdeck]

Greatest Hits

2Pac

Journey

The Very Best of Hall and Oates

Foreigner's Complete Greatest Hits

Singles

The NWA Legacy Vol. 1 (88-98)

Mostly I get the greatest hits albums because it contains many good songs from artists I like. Doesn't necessarily have to be because other parts of the catalog aren't good enough ... although that's the case with the Foreigner CD.

[Liam]

Live CDs

Blue Oyster Cult - Some Enchanted Evening

KISS - You Wanted the Best You Got the Best

Metallica - S&M

Evanescence - Anywhere But Home

Rage Against the Machine - Live & Rare

Greatest Hits

Korn - Vol. 1

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Weird Al Yankovic Vol. 1

Weird Al Yankovic Vol. 2

Blue Oyster Cult

Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples

Depeche Mode 81-85

Depeche Mode 86-98

The Cars

The Clash

Aerosmith - Big Ones

Ozzy - The Ozzman Cometh

Jimi Hendrix - The Ultimate Experience

Marilyn Manson - Lest We Forget

Duran Duran

Rob Zombie - Past, Present, Future

The Police

Alice in Chains

Styx

Forgive my stupidity, but what's the difference between a greatest hits and a singles collection?  Hits are pretty much always singles.  Perhaps I'm missing some obvious difference?

Anyhoo, I used to buy Greatest Hits compilations just because it was an easy way to get introduced to a band, now I usually do it because I'm a completist.

←

Singles compilations usually are just singles, with maybe 1 or 2 new songs to entice collectors. Greatest Hits don't just specifically have singles, they have whatever a band/producer/record label deems is worth putting on an album. A good example of a Singles Compilation are the Depeche Mode CD's you mentioned, whilst a good example of a Greatest Hits is Nirvana's Greatest Hits.

It usually says something in the title about it, so you can usually work it out from there.

[YI]

Live CD's

Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium - Rage Against The Machine

Live in a Dive - Strung Out (If not simply for thef act it's their only release with Lost Motel, it's one hell of a song)

Live in a Dive - DI (Searched and searched for stuff by these. Eventually ordered from America. It's awesome)

Can't think of anymore right now, if it wre DVD's I could throw in Dream Theater (Live at the Bukadon (sp?) and 2 Primus DVD's.

I don't think I have any Greatest Hits CD's or Single Comp's

Edited April 26, 2005 by YI

[Enter Blue Guy]

Can't think of anymore right now, if it wre DVD's I could throw in Dream Theater (Live at the Bukadon (sp?)

←

Edited April 26, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[K]

It's Rage Against The Machine so it's good, but some of the recordings are pretty bad.

I couldn't even tell Fuck Tha Police WAS Fuck Tha Police.

Overall it;s good though, so go for it.

Edit:

There's a re-release version as well with a bonus track.

It's only The Ghost Of Tom Joad, which is on Renegades, but if like me you hate not having the best copy of a CD, make sure you pick up the re-release.

[TAFKA Castroneves]

Live - Sevendust's Acoustic One

That is all.

[Ash J. Williams]

Live:

Dream Theater

Live at Budokan

Live Scenes From New York

Master of Puppets

Metallica

S&M

Live Shit

alot of bootlegs

Alice in Chains

Live

Unplugged

Rammstein

Live Aus Berlin

Green Day

Foot in Mouth

Rage Against The Machine

Live and Rare

Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

The Ramones

It's Alive

We're Outta Here!

Loco Live

Best of's

Limp Bizkit

Three Dollar Bill, Ya'll

Green Day

International Superhits

John Mellencamp

Word's and Music

The Best That I Could Do (1978-1988)

[Enter Blue Guy]

Live - Sevendust's Acoustic One

That is all.

Edited April 26, 2005 by Enter Blue Guy

[VerbalPuke]

Live Albums

Anti Heros - 1000 Nights of Chaos

Bad Brains - Live

Chaos UK - Live in Japan

The Dils - Class War

Catholic Discipline - Underground Babylon

Chumbawamba - A Night of Punk Rock Nostalgia

Cockney Rejects/Angelic Upstarts split - Live and Loud

D.I. - Live in a Dive

Dead Kennedys - Mutiny on the Bay

G.G Allin - Hated in the Nation

Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly

Pere Ubu - The Shape of Things To Come

Reverend Horton Heat - Live in Chicago

Reagan Youth - Live and Rare

The Dead Boys - Night of the Living Dead Boys

The Mentors - Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll

Sex Pistols - Best of and the rest of original Pistols live

The Rotters - What we do is stupid

Rocket from the Tombs - The Day the Earth Met the Rocket From the Tombs

The Offs - Live at the Mabuhay Gardens

Singles Collections

Angelic Upstarts - Independent Punk Singles Collection

Link Wray - Swan Singles Collection

UK Subs - Singles 1978-1982

4-Skins - Singles and Rarities

Unsane - Singles 89-92

New Bomb Turks - Pissing out the poison singles

Great Hits/Best Of Compilations

Billy Childish - 25 Years of Being Billy Childish

Black Sabbath - We Sold our Soul for Rock and Roll

Government Issue - Vol 1 and 2

Negative Approach - Total Recall

Peter and the Test Tube Babies - Best of Peter and the Test Tube Babies

Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout

Anti-Nowhere League - Anthology

The Doors - Best of the Doors

The Germs - M.I.A. Complete Anthology

The Saints - Wild About You

Dr. Know - The Best of Dr. Know

Devo - Devo's Greatest Hits

Deep Purple - Deepest Purple, Best of

Dick Dale and the Deltones - King of the Surf Guitar, Best Of

Reagan Youth - A Collection of Pop Classics

Kraut - Complete Studio Recordings

Radio Birdman - Essential 1974-1978

The Ramones - All This Stuff and More Vol. 1 and 2

MC5 - Big Bang! Best of the MC5

The Dickies - Great Dictatons: Definitive Dickies Collection

I noticed my collection doesn't have many singles collections. I don't know if it's the nature of the music I like, or if it's because I just never bought many singles collections.

[Malenko]

LIVE:

Adolescents - Return To The Black Hole

Bad Religion - Tested

Blink 182 - The Mark, Tom and Travis Show

Bouncing Souls - Tie One On

Bracket - Live In A Dive

Censurados - Live in Coimbra (portuguese band)

Circle Jerks - Gig

Dance Hall Crashers - The Live Record

Dead Fish - Live Hangar (brazilian band)

Dead Kennedys - Mutiny on The Bay

Dropkick Murphys - Live On St Patrick's Day From Boston

Goldfinger - Live From Omaha

Manu Chao - Radio Bemba Sound System

MxPx - At The Show

Nirvana - From The Muddy Banks Of THe Whiskah

No Use For A Name - Live In A Dive

Nofx - I heard They Suck Live

Pennywise - Live @ The Key Club

Raimundos - MTV Live (Brazilian Band)

Ramones - We're Outta Here (Last Show)

Ramones - It's Alive

Ramones - Loco Live

Ratos De Porão - Live (Brazilian)

Sex Pistols - Winterland Concert

Sex Pistols - Better Live Than Dead

Sick Of It All - Live In A World Full Of Hate

Sick Of It All - Live In A Dive

Soziedad Alkoholika - Directo (Spanish Band)

Strung Out - Live In A Dive

Subhumans - Live In A Dive

Sublime - Stand By Your Van

Toy Dolls - Twenty Two Tunes Live From Tokyo

Best Of's

4 Skins - Best Of

Bad Religion - 80 - 85

Bad Religion - All Ages

Betagarri - 80-00 (Basque band)

Circle Jerks - Golden Shower Of Hits

Clash - The Story of The Clash

Cramps - Psychedelyc Jungle Gravest Hits

Cure - Greatest Hits

Dance Hall Crashers - The Old Record

Desmond Dekker - The Best Of

Down By Law - Punk Rock Days

Good Riddance - Exposed (Limited Edition)

Liberator - Soundchecks

Madness - Madness

Madness - Divine

Madness - Our House Original Songs

Mata-Ratos - 82-97 (portuguese band)

Misfits - Collection

No Fun At All - Master Celebrations

No Use For A Name - New Red Archives (re-edit)

Operation Ivy - Energy

Peste & Sida - O Melhor (portuguese band)

Peste & Sida - A Verdadeira Historia

Ramones - Best Of

Ramones - Hey Ho! Let's Go! Anthology (2Cds)

Sham 69 - Essential

Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone

Stiff Little Fingers - All The Best

Sublime - Sublime Special (re-edit)

Toy Dolls - Ten Years Of Toys

Toy Dolls - The History

UK Subs - Before You Were Punk

Singles Compilations:

Adicts - Complete Adicts Singles

Ash - Intergalactic Sonic 7''

Bad Religion - B-Sides (counts?)

Bikini Kill - The singles

Green Day - International Superhits (does shenanigans fit in any of these?)

Kemuri - Complete Singles (?)

Less Than Jake - Pezcore Collection

No Doubt - The Singles

Toy Dolls - Singles

I tried to skip past all the bootlegs, but maybe i couldn't do it with all of them. I probably missed a lot of albums too.

Anyway, to answer the question, while i think a lot of people get best of's or singles compilations in order to get to know a band, i think they shouldn't do it. Best Of's are in my opinion collector's items. What i usually do when i'm trying to get to know a band is take a listen to their first album, to see the "true" style of the band. If the band has really been around for dozens of years though, and only in that case, i wouldn't mind getting a best of at first. As for the live albums, i don't really think anyone who doesn't know a band will start with a live album. Those are really to the fans, who already know them.

About the quality of them. Best Ofs usually aren't great but there are a few who are pretty well done. Singles collections are worse (although if they're singles collection we can't expect much change), and i wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I've listened/owned bootlegs who were much better than live records put out by the band itself as part of its discography, but as some are of really low quality, i would go for Official Live Records over bootlegs anyday. There aren't much of those though.