Poll- Greatest Hits or Complete Album

The Judge

When Shopping at Stores Like BB I see a lot of Greatest Hits Albums.
Thats why I don't buy a lot of my music there. I prefer whole albums compared to greatest hits as the "Greatest Hit" isn't always the best music on the album.
Also some albums are made to be played from beginning to end, like a Great Piece of Music composed by people who are now decomposing.

nadams

Whole album... try listening to the "greatest hits" of Pink Floyd.. it just sounds kind of chopped up. A lot of albums from a lot of artists "flowed" from song to song... even told a story through the album.

avguytx

I have some of both for some groups. It depends on if I come across them for a reasonable price...used, yard sale, etc. The problem with the "Greatest Hits" CD's or LP's is that more times than not, it's a crappy transfer/recording. I agree with nadams in that I would just as soon have the entire album since a lot of the "other" songs are the ones that are sometimes better than the "hits".

george daniel

Gimme the LP,, the greatist hits versions see like they were for airplay,just my .02 worth,IMHO.

treitz3

Some of the Greatest hits albums don't sound [end result] as good as the original entire albums from what I've noticed and sometimes the songs are recorded at different playback levels which sometimes can get annoying on shorter songs. Like you said, I damn sure wouldn't listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall" mixed in with other songs on other albums especially when going from live to studio recordings. You would lose the "feel" of the album and the magic that it presents when listening to the entire album from start to finish IMO. To listen to Little Feat's live "Waiting for Columbus" album and then going from that to an earlier studio recorded version of "Dixie Chicken" just wouldn't float my boat.

That said, I didn't vote because I like some greatest hits albums especially from bands that only had maybe 10 or so songs that I like to listen too and I have a choice. Buy 5 albums to get all of the songs I would like to hear, or get the GH's album that might have 8 out of the 10 songs I would like to listen too.

So for me, I prefer either one it just depends on the bands, selections of songs and how bad I would like to hear them recorded well and just not recorded to "fit" the GH's album.

My 2 cents.............

cubdog

Complete. Especially if the band is in their prime.

cubdog

cfrizz

Most of my album collection is greatest hits. There are very few albums that I have gotten that makes the grade as far as I'm concerned. You pick up very fast the most of the songs sound alike, or are all sung in the same key or have the same kind of tempo.

You quickly learn that they are simply not that good of a band!

There are a few though that are the exception.

wingnut4772

I am not gonna front. Greatest hits for me unless it's an artist I adore like Sarah, Norah, Pearl Jam, Talking Heads for example.

zingo

If I find a song that is of good quality and I really like, most of the time the rest of the album is the same. I'm just feel I would be losing out on some good music.

capecodder

Original album in most cases. However, couple of "best of" classics include Al Green and Bob Marley.

Danny Tse

I usually buy a "Greatest Hits" CD to sample a band or an artist's work. If I like what I hear, then the complete albums.

RuSsMaN

I was actually thinking about this the other night, it depends on the group / artist in question. For example - The Cars. Do I really need TEN albums for a group I don't care for all that much? No, a single GH cd will cover any 'Cars' urge I'll ever have.

Others, I can't imagine not having entire Mark Knopfler, or Pink Flyd albums.

Depends on the artist, and the invidual.

dragon1952

Yep....Led Zep, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, Deep Purple, Doors...all, or most at least.
Rod Stewart/Faces, Great White, Steve Miller, Spirit, Joe Walsh, Tom Petty.....Greatest Hits.

tbyrne

It depends - the poster who named the Cars as a greatest hits band was right. The B-52s, the Smithereens, etc.

skipf

I prefer the original complete album. Recording quality on greatest hits albums is often not nearly as good as the original.

dipiazza

New to you artist? Greatest Hits to get your feet wet. Then explore the full albums if you like what you hear. Thats what i go for.

TroyD

I'm in the camp of it's a band that has a couple of songs I like spread out over a few albums...GH is the way to go.

BDT

steveinaz

Is it just me, or do alot of "greatest hits" compilations seem to have lesser quality audio than the original album? I've noticed this on a number of greatest hits, when cuts are compared to the original CD...

treitz3

No, it's not just you.

steveinaz

Cool, I thought it might be my "trick" ear...LOL

jgido759

Is it just me, or do any of you notice that they are putting more and more "unreleased" or "bonus" material on GH CDs?

This sort of forces you to get the GH if you want to collect the artists' complete body of work.