THE BEST...

I knew about the existence of this 2 LP compilation (it really is a re-packaging of "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot" done by Buddah Records in 1976 and released as "The Best") because my late father had the monthly Schwann record catalogues from the U.S., which were guides for the record buyers of albums released in the U.S. and sometimes in other countries (and which were imported to other countries) from several genres like Classical Music, Rock, Jazz, etc., from the early sixties until the early 2000s. This compilation was listed in the "New Listings" section in one of the early Schwann record catalogues from 1976, and if I remember well, it didn`t last for more than a year listed in those catalogues, being put out of print. I never saw a copy of this compilation in the record shops of my country. Buddah (using the Charisma Records label) released three Genesis` albums in the early seventies ("Nursery Cryme", "Foxtrot" and "Genesis Live") all of which were out of print in the U.S. by early 1976, and it seems that in the same year, Buddah replaced the individual releases of "Nursery Cryme" and "Foxtrot" with the release of this "The Best" 2 LP set, which was also part of a series of albums called "The Best" in the same label, as the label also released several other albums by other artists titled as "The Best". The first Genesis` album that I listened to was "Nursery Cryme" in early 1979, in a non-gatefold version released by Buddah on the Charisma Records label, which was lent to one of my brothers by one of his friends. I liked the album a lot, but when I wanted to buy the album, I realized that it wasn`t available in my country, and that it was out of print as an U.S. import and it only was available as an expensive import from England. But in late 1979, Polydor / Polygram released both albums again in the U.S. (on the Charisma label and with a different cover) in a double LP set called "Nursery Cryme / "Foxtrot" which I bought as an import (not very expensive; two LPs at almost the same price of the English version of "Nursery Cryme") in 1980, and again it went of print by 1981. I previously reviewed both albums separately in this website, so I`m not going to do it again. So this review only was written to explain the existence of this Buddah`s "The Best " compilation, a curious release, in my opinion. It was until the early eighties that Atlantc Records finally re-issued in the U.S. in the LP format the "Nursery Cryme", "Foxtrot" and "Genesis Live" albums, all in individual releases.