Best of ,Greatest hits albums

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mad cyril said:
question mate, as you’re clearly a big fan. What’s your favourite REM album and what would you recommend to a novice ( except out of time / automatic which I do know )?

the other day on 6 music they played a track which was clearly REM and it turns out it was E-bow the letter. what a tune that was.
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That's their best song. Probably because Thom Yorke is on it (well a version of it). Patti Smith does backing vocal.
 
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Piano Man - the very best of Billy Joel.

Love every one of the 19 songs on it so went to see him at the Manchester Arena a few years back and he played 4 of them. f***ing 4 man. The rest of the set was made up of obscure album tracks neebody had heard - the absolute bastard.
 
steely dan
never really had many hits as such but their albums are of such high quality any of the tracks could have been a single

they have a few compliations out that are well worth getting
 
mad cyril said:
question mate, as you’re clearly a big fan. What’s your favourite REM album and what would you recommend to a novice ( except out of time / automatic which I do know )?

the other day on 6 music they played a track which was clearly REM and it turns out it was E-bow the letter. what a tune that was.
Click to expand...

E-bow The Letter is off New Adventures which is my personal fave album of theirs.
Probably the most diverse collection of songs they ever recorded.

Murmur is considered one of the finest Alternative/Indie debut albums of all time.

Lifes Rich Pageant has one of the finest four song openings ever for me.
The rest of the record is really strong too.

Green (their debut major label release) is really highly considered too.

One of my best friends isn’t a massive REM fan but he absolutely loves Document as a one off affair.

I know @Arkle is a big fan of them also.
Anything else to add?
 
mad cyril said:
question mate, as you’re clearly a big fan. What’s your favourite REM album and what would you recommend to a novice ( except out of time / automatic which I do know )?

the other day on 6 music they played a track which was clearly REM and it turns out it was E-bow the letter. what a tune that was.
Click to expand...
If I might just butt in here... :p

If I had a gun put to my head and was forced to choose two REM albums, I think I'd probably go for Document and Green -they came out consecutively (87 & 88) and mark a significant change in their career and sound - Document was the last album on their indie label, and Green was the first for a major label, Warner. They both capture a lot of their early quirky Indie sound, but Green introduces the more polished 'big' songs that made them 'The Biggest Band in the World' and stadium fillers.
NewAdventuresInWiFi said:
E-bow The Letter is off New Adventures which is my personal fave album of theirs.
Probably the most diverse collection of songs they ever recorded.

Murmur is considered one of the finest Alternative/Indie debut albums of all time.

Lifes Rich Pageant has one of the finest four song openings ever for me.
The rest of the record is really strong too.

Green (their debut major label release) is really highly considered too.

One of my best friends isn’t a massive REM fan but he absolutely loves Document as a one off affair.

I know @Arkle is a big fan of them also.
Anything else to add?
Click to expand...
Murmur was like nothing you'd ever heard before. I remember getting it when it came cos it was raved about in the NME, and I was a bit underwhelmed at the time - probably because it was so unusual after having been into punk and indie for a few years. After about ten plays trying to 'get' it I was hooked.
 
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Oh, also Reckoning.
SMB favourite Stewart Lee included it in his favourite albums of all time a while back.
Despite the fact he utterly despised what REM later became & they represented the most disappointing career trajectory he has ever known.
(Hello Stew - if you’re viewing 👋)
 
bedlington mackem said:
steely dan
never really had many hits as such but their albums are of such high quality any of the tracks could have been a single

they have a few compliations out that are well worth getting
Click to expand...
The only band I actually feel nauseous listening too, that dreadful guitar effect they totally overuse etc, Reelin' is about the only track I can stomach, also I've noticed Ken Bruce has a habit of playing their songs just after Pop Master, he must know everyone goes for a piss afterwards so he doesn't want them to miss anything decent!
 
sylvian said:
Adam & Ants
Altered Images
Housemartins/Beautiful South
Carpenters
The Cure
Depeche Mode
Fine Young Cannibals
Hall & Oats
Madonna
Supremes
Wings
Prince
REM
Simon & Garfunkel
Sting
Waterboys

Never been arsed to listen any albums above apart from the Cure (but generally listen to the singles)
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The Raw and The Cooked is essentially FYC’s greatest hits.
 
LeicesterMackem said:
If I might just butt in here... :p

If I had a gun put to my head and was forced to choose two REM albums, I think I'd probably go for Document and Green -they came out consecutively (87 & 88) and mark a significant change in their career and sound - Document was the last album on their indie label, and Green was the first for a major label, Warner. They both capture a lot of their early quirky Indie sound, but Green introduces the more polished 'big' songs that made them 'The Biggest Band in the World' and stadium fillers.

Murmur was like nothing you'd ever heard before. I remember getting it when it came cos it was raved about in the NME, and I was a bit underwhelmed at the time - probably because it was so unusual after having been into punk and indie for a few years. After about ten plays trying to 'get' it I was hooked.
Click to expand...
Life's rich pageant for me. Liked green at the time but some of it sounds too glossy to me now
 
Going to get amongst some stuff by Springsteen over the weeken. Don't think it'll be for me from the limited stuff I've heard but we shall see.

Oh, and REM, in the main, are shite.
 
Havent seen mentions for

Duran Duran
Police
Simply Red
Chic
Donna Summer

Would also mention Midge Ure Ultravox & Blondie. Take away couple of tracks that not singles on Vienna or Parallel Lines and theres no need to listen to rest of catalogue outside the greatest hits.

Conversely Sex Pistols are a band whose legacy is tainted by greatest hits collections-any others?
 
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