"Best ofs" and "Greatest Hits" as an introduction

I think that it depends on the live album.  There are plenty of live albums where all the bands play are their greatest hits.  In the case of Rush, the bonus of a live album is that you also get a Neil Peart drum solo which doesn't appear on the regular albums or greatest hits albums.  The thing with a live album is that many times they are double albums and therefore cover more songs than a one CD greatest hits package.  There are some decent 2 CD greatest hit packages like Rush's Chronicles or their Retrospective, although one but not both would be required, since they cover most of the same songs.  Personally, I was introduced to some of the best known prog bands by greatest hits packages, and then expanded from there.  I bought the Best of ELP, Classic Yes, and 20 Years of Jethro Tull, liked what I heard and expanded to the rest of their discographies.  Granted I had heard many of the songs on the radio but having the songs on one disc  kind of put it together for me that they were good bands.  Sure the discs aren't "representative" of the band's most proggiest tracks, but most of those are too long to put onto a compilation album like that.  Box sets work better to this extent because it exposes the listener to more songs but that is generally an expensive investment for a band that you might not know anything about.

Edited by rushfan4 - February 27 2008 at 14:09

When Im trying to get into a band I tend to listen to their most popular album first (looking at Lastfm or this website) as this tends to be the best mix between quality and accessibility. Hasnt failed me too badly so far. I usually only buy greatest hits of artists I would listen to once in a while rather than frequently.

Edited by mellors - February 27 2008 at 14:02

sleeper wrote: Pink Floyds Echoes and Queensryche's Greatest Hits make for very good compilations that give a strong feel for the band as an overall, rather than just the obvious few songs.

Seconded (I've got both albums).  However, in my humble opinion live albums can be a much more effective way to get introduced to a band. To make a recent example, Caravan's wonderful The Show of Our Lives, which features live recordings from 1969 to 1975 (the heyday of the band's career), is even better than a simple "Greatest Hits". Rush's numerous live albums are also an excellent means of introduction to the band's vast output.

Black Sabbath the very best of.... It's all Ozzy era (the best) and having almost the two first albums (the best ones) complete. It's great. Pink Floyd Echoes very good too.
I think Greatest Hits will never be good cause being Greatest Hits, meaning AOR songs from the band mainly. Except if you're talking of pop bands.

The best of.. alwawys depend, there maybe some very good like Sabbath's and other really bad like Genesis. And others that depends what you're looking for like Yes 35th anniversary, I think it's good cause it briefs all their period. Okay there not maybe some very good but still has some.

Pink Floyds Echoes and Queensryche's Greatest Hits make for very good compilations that give a strong feel for the band as an overall, rather than just the obvious few songs.

Reading the Kansas and Toto topic I saw that some of the members had trouble with Kansas due to the bad introduction to the band (the old Best of Kansas). This topic wants to colect references from the members about good and bad "best ofs" albums (no boxes) or, if there's no other reference available, live albums that can summarize to the newbie the style and work of a band.