What makes a good best-of?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

You don't have to read the review of the Radiohead best-of which got me thinking about this - the relevant bit is this: "This compilation is dominated by a pair of central ideas of what Radiohead sound like: emotionally nourishing, impressionistic balladeers, or crunchy, tech- and texture-savvy rockers. The outliers, moments when the band has dabbled more in mood, atmosphere, or a love of pure sound...aren't represented at all."

Now admittedly Scott's talking about the 2CD version not the 1CD version, which would have more room to roam, but my reaction was still "DUDE IT'S A BEST OF" - one of the things best ofs are for is to boil down an act to its essence, and with the best will in the world the experimental stuff has always been fringier to Radiohead than some might have you think.

But maybe you think best ofs are for representing a band's entire output, or spotlighting hidden depths, or presenting fan favourites, or or or - what do you look for in a compilation?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It depends on the artist really - plus I think that so-called 'outliers' are often a lot more essential to the band than compilers often think.

With straight-up pop acts it's easy - just the singles. This may not make for the best possible best-of, especially as pop acts seem to be getting progressively worse at choosing singles (a Girls Aloud or Sugababes or even Britney singles collection would be v underwhelming), but it's a "does what it says on the tin" deal anyway. This is always going to be a problem w/compilations anyway - I used to think they were a useful way into the band, but I actively avoid them now, because they discourage further investigation.

With acts like Radiohead I guess it's harder, because they're torn between wanting to make the product worthwhile for their completist fans who already have everything they've released, and the casual consumers/younger fans who may only just be getting into Radiohead (and even then the market is different - it's people who want the (few) hitz vs people who want Radiohead's entire (narrow) aesthetic spectrum represented).

Short answer though: in this age of itunes and so on, isn't the entire notion of a greatest hits compilation going to be outdated soon anyway?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

what Tori Amos (who's v much a Radiohead-esque act in terms of...her success in the mainstream vs her insane fanbase) did was think up a bonkers librarian concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_a_Librarian), present it in a nice box with DVD extras, leave off half her singles in favour of album INTERLUDES (!), and remaster a bunch of stuff really badly. It was a total botch job but oddly I found it was worth it because one of the new tracks (or it may be an old one she uncovered), 'Snow Cherries From France', is really, really amazing.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

But wouldn't you say that as a result, the Tori Amos compilation would appeal far more to her existing fans than to someone who was new-ish to her work?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think the concept was reasonably strong but the execution was botched (the remasters made the songs worse) and also a little bit half-hearted (if you're going to do something so explicitly fan-orientated why not go the whole hog and put on more rarities, unreleased tracks, maybe even official versions of her fan-favourite live covers etc). God knows what a casual consumer would have made of it.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah the last question is kind of a crux, except presumably when a 15-year-old kid 10 years from now goes to wherever he goes to to access music he'll still have to ask himself "what Radiohead do I get first?"

I think "Download this band's 10 most popular tracks for $5" type of deals are probably the future here (though wouldn't there be a premium on those tracks, come to think of it?)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Also "most popular tracks" aren't necessarily the ones you'll like best (which is where the uncertainty creeps in) - it depends what sort of consumer you are, that model caters better to casual fans. The advantage of downloads though is that you're not necessarily shelling out £15 for a compilation which, because it's trying to be everything to everyone, ends up being awkwardly put together - you can d/l maybe the five most popular itunes songs, or maybe five of your friends' recommendations, or just five random tracks, see where they lead you, and it won't leave you too out-of-pocket.

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

people who want Radiohead's entire (narrow) aesthetic spectrum represented

For Radiohead read whoever, but that's exactly what I want from a compilation - even if I'd never liked any of a band / artist's singles, I might be interested in a best of that represented a broader spectrum. Fan favourites are the things that are easiest to find so there's less value in collecting them all together...

isn't the entire notion of a greatest hits compilation going to be outdated soon anyway?

Maybe - although maybe also the massive glut of music that's available and often a bit contextless might make it more important, this idea that an act can put together 15 songs from across 4 albums (or out of 50 tracks, depending on what happens to the concept of the album) and say, "listen to this, this is us and these are all the things we can sound like" - there's a definite starting point, rather than just downloading at random the songs with titles you like.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think platforms which allow for user recommendations are going to become increasingly important - say if you hear a selection of five tracks from across an act's career, like them all but LOVE one - in places like last.fm what I'd then do is check out who also particularly loves that song, what other songs by that act they like, and go from there. I agree that "packages" of songs are still going to be important as a way into an act, but they have to be as individually tailored as possible, otherwise it's a "try to cater to everyone, end up pleasing no one" deal.

[ruudboy.livejournal.com]

wanting to make the product worthwhile for their completist fans who already have everything they've released

Any acts who attempt to do this by putting 2 new songs on the best of deserve to have their faces smashed in with a brick.