Wednesday, January 30, 2008

THURSDAY THIRTEEN #15 . . . 13 OF MY FAVORITE "BEST OF" & "GREATEST HITS" MUSIC COLLECTIONS . . .

This list didn't come easy. I have a ton of "best of" & "greatest hits" cds from a variety of musical genres. In order to simplify the task, I decided to take my hard-core "jazz" and "blues" collections off the table altogether. So here we go and in no particular order-- a short list of SOME of my favorite "best of" and "greatest hits" music collections.

1) PRINCE (Prince: The Hits/The B-Sides) 4 favorite cuts: Erotic City, Let's Go Crazy, Head & Purple Rain

2) STEELY DAN (The Definitive Collection) 3 favorite cuts: Peg, Deacon Blues & Rikki Don't Lose That Number

3) ARETHA FRANKLIN (Aretha's Best) 5 fav cuts: A Natural Woman, Rock Steady, Call Me, Day Dreaming & I Never Loved A Man

4) MARVIN GAYE (The Best of Marvin Gaye: Vol 2. The '70s) 3 fav cuts: Trouble Man, Come Get To This & Inner City Blues

5) AVERAGE WHITE BAND (Pickin' Up The Pieces: The Best Of Average White Band) 2 fav cuts: School Boy Crush & Cut The Cake

6) LENNY KRAVITZ (Lenny Kravitz Greatest Hits) 2 fav cuts: Again & Heaven Help

7) BOBBY MCFERRIN (The Best of Bobby McFerrin: The Blue Note Years) 2 fav cuts: Freedom Is A Voice & Friends

8) PHYLLIS HYMAN (The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman) 3 fav cuts: Betcha by Golly, Wow, Old Friend & Living All Alone

9) CHIC (The Best of Chic: Dance, Dance, Dance) 3 fav cuts: Good Times, Everybody Dance & I Want Your Love

10) JOHNNIE TAYLOR (Johnnie Taylor: The Twenty Greatest Hits) 3 fav cuts: I Believe In You, Cheaper To Keep Her & We're Getting Careless With Our Love

11) TEENA MARIE (Teena Marie: Greatest Hits) 3 fav cuts: Square Biz, Behind The Groove & Portuguese Love

12) LUTHER VANDROSS (Always & Forever: The Classics) 3 fav cuts: Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me, Anyone Who Had A Heart, & I (Who Have Nothing)

13) THE ISLEY BROTHERS (The Essential Isley Brothers) 5 fav cuts: That Lady, Harvest For The World, Summer Breeze, Fight The Power & The Pride

What are your favorite "best of" and/ or "greatest hits" music collections? Feel free to name them, even if they didn't make my list.

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22 comments:

pjazzypar said...

I am in agreement with you on all of these. Our taste in music is quite similar indeed. I actually have most of these in my collection. Although I don't have the Isley Brothers. I probably have practically every album they made. Thanks for sharing your list.

SandyCarlson said...

I'll be over later to borrow your records!

ellen b. said...

Tapestry Revisited a Tribute to Carole King. Does that count?
happy tt...

Lilibeth said...

Alright. My all time favorites are: Hebrides, The Hall of the Mountain King, The Flying Dutchman, Beethoven's 1st and 7th, and Bolero. I wonder why they didn't make the cut. sigh.

Anonymous said...

I have a few "best of" compilations but I don't think more tha one person in a hundred will have heard of the artists in question!

I don't know most of the ones in your list, but I've heard of Marvin Gaye of course. That's what comes of never listening to music!

Malcolm said...

Over on the TT website, I read your subject this week and said that I bet it was hard for you to narrow it down to just 13. The Hits/the B-Sides is one of my favorite collections. Although I don't have the same ones as you, I also own "best ofs" by Steely Dan, Aretha, Marvin, AWB, Luther, and the Isleys.

Some of my other fave collections are:

The Temptations Anthology
The Great Twenty Eight-Chuck Berry
The Essential Earth, Wind and Fire
The Rascals Anthology
The Best of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

pussreboots said...

Interesting selection of music. Happy TT.

Open Grove Claudia said...

Ok, I know some - I haven't heard of others, and truth be told, I wrinkled my nose at Steely Dan. I'm not proud of my nose wrinkling - it was an automatic gesture. ;)

Happy TT!

On a Limb with Claudia

Natalie said...

Gotta love Lenny Kravitz!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, Marvin Gaye, I almost forgot about him! Blessings, Cricket

SJ Reidhead said...

You can't beat Aretha!

SJR
The Pink Flamingo
http://thepinkflamingo.blogharbor.com/blog

Anonymous said...

Very good taste in Music. I love Queen's greatest hits CD and Billy Joel.

Happy TT.

Anonymous said...

I'm from Long Island and Billy Joel is like a God here.

Btw, I interview authors on my blog. Here's a link to the latest interview: http://auriacortes.com/interview-with-adrienne-kress/. If you'd like to be interviewed regarding your debut novel, shoot me an email.

maryt/theteach said...

Love your collection! I could take all your suggestions and spend a wonderful day listening! Happy TT! :)

Unknown said...

Great list for me...
ELO
America
Chicago
The Beatles
Heart
Queen


Too hard to narrow it down so I'll stop now.
~ The Mama Bear

Michelle said...

The Essential Earth Wind and Fire, definitely.
And, the Sly and the Family Stone 2-CD collection, Everybody is a Star, and the classic Thankyou fallettinme be miceful again!

Happy TT!

Mia said...

Love Aretha, Happy TT!!

Joyismygoal said...

My Favorite is Best of James Taylor --'Smiling Face' and 'You've got a friend'

Nerd Girl said...

I own #s 1,3,4,12,and 13, so I'm definitely with you on those.

I'd have to include "The Best of Etta James." I love "Tell Mama," "A Sunday Kind of Love," and of course, "At Last."

Think I'll rock that while at work today. Happy Monday!

Anonymous said...

I agree with some of your choices and I'll add a few of my own at the end.

Here are some of mine(most are from The Best of ___):

Minnie Rippleton - Memory Lane/ Springtime

Deniece Williams - Black Butterfly/Silly

The Commodores - Just to be close to you/Brickhouse/Still/Lady

The SOS Band - Take your time/Weekend Girl/Just Be Good to Me/No One's Gonna Love You

Midnight Star (No Parking on the Dance Floor) - Electricity/Wet My Whistle/No Parking/Freak-a-Zoid/Slow Jam

New Editon (HITS) - Mr. Telephone Man/Lost in Love/Cool it Now/If It Isn't Love/Can You Stand the Rain

Whitney Houston (The Greatest Hits) - You Give Good Love/Saving All My Love for You/I Will Always Love You/Greatest Love of All



Here are the ones I agree with:
PRINCE (Prince: The Hits/The B-Sides) 4 favorite cuts: Erotic City, Let's Go Crazy, Head & Purple Rain

ARETHA FRANKLIN (Aretha's Best) 5 fav cuts: A Natural Woman, Rock Steady, Call Me, Day Dreaming & I Never Loved A Man

MARVIN GAYE (The Best of Marvin Gaye: Vol 2. The '70s) 3 fav cuts: Trouble Man, Come Get To This & Inner City Blues

PHYLLIS HYMAN (The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman) 3 fav cuts: Betcha by Golly, Wow, Old Friend & Living All Alone

TEENA MARIE (Teena Marie: Greatest Hits) 3 fav cuts: Square Biz, Behind The Groove & Portuguese Love

LUTHER VANDROSS (Always & Forever: The Classics) 3 fav cuts: Superstar/Until You Come Back To Me, Anyone Who Had A Heart, & I (Who Have Nothing)

THE ISLEY BROTHERS (The Essential Isley Brothers) 5 fav cuts: That Lady, Harvest For The World, Summer Breeze, Fight The Power & The Pride

Keith said...

I have to co-sign on Luther. I have two of his dozen or so "Greatest Hits" albums and they are R & B at it's finest. Heck, it's music at its finest.

k said...

you have great taste! i adore steely dan & the isley brothers.