The best compilations ever
 

Let's say , your top 5.
Or your top 200 if you can't help making lists.

Is this about various artists compilations?

Yes.

Flying Nun 25th Anniversary Boxset
Nuggets
John Peel's Festive 15 (Compilation which came with Uncut magazine)

I can't think of any more.

I start:
Guitarrorists.
There are a lot of good tracks on this , eventually by bands I don't enjoy otherwise ( Flaming Lips ) , and somehow , I think the whole stuff is made as a record , not just a bunch of tracks put together to promote the artists.

Pillows and Prayers
Harmony of the Spheres
The Tone Of The Universe (= The Tone Of The Earth)
The Invisible Pyramid Elegy Box
The Devils Jukebox

short music for short people
jukebox buddah
blearughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
garden of forking paths
contemporary guitar

I think it has 10 good songs out of one hundred , that's rather low:rolleyes: .

Ask batreleaser, he's an expert.

short music for short people rules. it's intellectually stimulating.

No New York
American Hardcore
If I Were a Carpenter

Those are about all I've got.

nuggets
a free mojo cd from about 5 years ago... drug music...
sexual life of the belgians
rough trade post punk vol 1
zip up your boots for the showbands (irish compilation of mid nineties post punkers)

Aside from nuggets and one or two others, I can't think of many compilations I think are worth hunting down. Compilations generally kind of suck.

if there is half of the shit on a comp that you like, then its a good compilation, thats my rule of thumb..

If there is half of the shit on a comp that you like, you should be spending your money on those bands' original LPs instead. That's my rule of thumb.

Not to emulate Family Feud, but, "Good Answer!"

Just included it the other day as one of the best albums of the nineties.

Yes, Nuggets is rather obligatory here.
I suppose we are shying away from compilation albums as in a greatest hits collection or else I'd have to mention John Lennon - Shaved Fish. Oops, just did anyway.


Also, heehee...
Atari's Picks: Sonic Youth Live Vols. 1-10
Atari's Picks: Another Point of VU
Atari's Picks: Interstellar Overdrive
Atari's Picks: Dark Star Vols. 1-2
Atari's Picks: The Beatles 1968 Vols. 1-4
Atari's Picks: Best of 2006
Atari's Picks: Best of 2007 Vols. 1-2
Atari's Picks: VU NYC '66-'67
Atari's Picks: Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Live
Atari's Picks: Party Train

(ready, but never shared)
Atari's Picks: Dazed and Confused
Atari's Picks: Grateful Dead '65-'67
Atari's Picks: Grateful Dead '67-'69
Atari's Picks: Grateful Dead 70-'77
Atari's Picks: Grateful Dead '78-

...and never shared publicly because there is some official content:
Atari's Picks: Lee Ranaldo
Atari's Picks: Kim Gordon
Atari's Picks: Roots Rock
Atari's Picks: Seventies
Atari's Picks: Eighties
Atari's Picks: Blues
Atari's Picks: Funk/R&B

this is boston not la
bulb singles volume 1
soul jazz new york noise
amphetamine reptile singles volume 1
no new york (obviousfuckingly)
la noise compilation (i think thats what it was called, came out a few years ago, john wiese and such, i dont own it anymore it was rad though)
siltbreeze tard and furthered
soul jazz the story of konk
sublime frequencies the pop spectacular
sublime frequencies probidao forbidden gang funk of rio de janeiro
dischord singles 1981
hanson underground series folume 4
load repopulation program providence
skin graft the blue ghost party favor
esp disk faith and power
nuggets

New York Noise-I guess all of them
No New York
Killing Joke-Laugh? I Nearly Bought One

Left of the Dial (duh)

No Thanks! (duh, again)

1. Smack My Crack (in part for the title but the line up is incredible too: Butthole Surfers, Einsturzende Neubauten, William S. Burroughs, Diamanda Galas before she thought she was a soul singer and was actually great, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Swans, and more!)

2. Deep Six (Green River, Melvins as a fast punk rock band, Malfunkshun, U-men, Skin Yard, and pre-bloat Sound Garden!)

3. Sub Pop 100 (Sonic Youth doing "Kill Yr. Idols", U-men, Steve Albini, Steve Fisk, Savage Republic, Wipers, Naked Raygun, Shonen Knife, and more!)

4. Kill Rock Stars (Melvins, Unwound, Nirvana, Steve Fisk, Bikini Kill, Kicking Giant, Witchy Poo, Jad Fair, Nation of Ulysses, Some Velvet Sidewalk, and other stuff too!)

5. Wiretapper #9 (2 cd edition with Wire, Liars, Themselves, Suicide, A Small Good Thing, Pulseprogramming, Amon Tobin, Supersilent, Mum, Vadim, Leafcutter John, Sun, and a whole fuck of a lot more great stuff too!)

6. Jungle Exotica (Crypt Records comp. of crossover garage rock/exotica tracks from 32 acts you never heard of who all fucking rule!)

7. The Elephant Table Album (Chris & Cosey, Coil, Nurse With Wound, Lustmord, SPK, Nocturnal Emissions, Legendary Pink Dots, and lots of other killer proto-gothic industrial psyced out weird shit!)

8. CRI The Composer-Performer, Forty Years of Discovery 1954-1994 (Harry Partch, Henry Cowell, Otto Luening, Alice Shields, Tan Dun, Guy Klucevsek, and many other geniuses!)

9. Sub Pop 200 (you know...)

10. Pebbles Vol. 1 (beats Nuggets by a landslide in my book, favorite tracks include Kim Fowley's "The Trip" and The Wild Knights incredible "Beaver Patrol"!)

11. All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0 (The Sea and Cake, Prefuse 73, Yo La Tengo, Tortois, Mike Ladd, Boards of Canada, Atmosphere, Autechre, and everyone else is great too!)

12. The Tyranny of the Beat (Mute comp that oddly has many tracks with little or no beat and some where that is what it's about, but anyway SPK, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Die Krpps, Einsturzende Neubauten, Non, Can, Wire, Swell Maps, Dome, The Halfler Trio, Loop, Fad Gadget, and other killer stuff)

13. Throne of Drones (pretty much what it says, all great, but standouts from Maryanne Amacher, Biosphere, and Jeff Greinke)

14. Sidereal Rest (a Scratch Records comp based upon sleepiness with Noggin, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, U.S. Saucer, Sun City Girls, Loren Mazzacane, Bugskull, Roughage, Pork Queen, Caroliner, Kathleen Yearwood, and much more!)

15. Shimmy Disc - The 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love 1967-1987 (Half Japanese, Fred Frith, Shockabilly, Bongwater, Missing Foundation, King Missle, Krackhouse, Tuli Kupferberg, Allen Ginseberg with Steve Taylor, and tons of other awesome shit!)

1.Blasting Concept (SST)

2.P.E.A.C.E ,the best H.Core comp ever?

3.Devastate to Liberate

4.Let Them Eat Jellybeans

5.A Texas Trip

Bought in my youth still listen to them!.

stuff i've been enjoying listening to recently

Fort Worth Teen Scene
Utreg Punx
Bullshit Detector
Xpressway Pile Up

Yep , a great one.
It made me realise that the good bands were not only english or american.

Love and Napalm.
With 2 cool unreleased Cherubs songs.

No New York
The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968
Pebbles Vol.1
Crescent City Soul: The Sound of New Orleans 1947-1974
Nuggets Vol. 1

1) The Grateful Dead "Views from the Vault Box Set"

This collection of several bad ass fucking dead shows from the late 80s and early 90s are beyond essential, in fact, it is one of the finest collections of music since the Smithosian blues recordings from the Delta...



This material reveals how the Grateful Dead are the finest performing band in the history of music. I said it, so there!

2) Ethiopiques Volume 8 "Swingin Addis: 1968-1974"



Ethiopian blues, jazz and dance music was the Emperor Selassie I's last and final gift to the people of Ethiopia, and if it weren't for the decade of terror and civil war the followed, it would have continued further up to this day.

though Alemayehu Eshete and Getachew Merkurya are still around today.

3) Trojan Records Roots Box Set One:


This is thee collection of essential studio one rhythms and a taste of the crucial roots artists of the early 1970s, though it is farely limited in scope being only the "trojan" cuts, and not having the majority of the scene which were not affiliated. Still, there are some significant artists on this mix, it is a must have for roots rock reggae.

4) Jimi Hendrex Box Set

Yes, you simply must have this. it is the perfect mix of live tunes, alternate studio mixes, limited b-sides, and unreleased studio material. Get it get it get it, it is the essential compliment to a collection of Hendrix albums.

5) The Makaveli Bootlegs

These studio remixes and b-sides from Tupacs massive studio work between 1994 and 1996 are a significant contribution to west coast hip hop, however, as with all underground, you have to be here to know. You have to have these to understand, and they are not always available, and many folks have not heard of them, though there are sixteen to be sure! and EVERYBODY is rappin on these tapes, it is truly a complition of crucial early 1990s rap and hip hop in this regard.

Good, good call man. There's still a lot of these I need to hunt down. But yeah, yr right. What a fruitful time in his career. And of course, it would only end in tragedy. I'm glad to see someone else on this board appreciating Pac's music. I've always found his music, and life in general, quite captivating.

Makaveli is the Christ of Hip Hop.

Such Friends totally reminded me of one of my goto compilations:

I really like the JUST CANT GET ENOUGH: NEW WAVE HALLOWEEN comp. Tons of good stuff. Ramones, SY, Misfits, etc.

No Thanks! the 70's Punk Rebellion



those fucks cheated. notice there are no tracks by "sonic youth".

Oh - -- I totally forgot about this collection:

Burning Ambitions: A History of Punk



This is a fucking amazing compilation.

Also worth mentioning are the soundtracks to Repo Man and Return of the Living Dead.

I was leaving soundtracks out, but yes RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is one of my fav soundtracks of all time.

Rob Instigator's comps to love

Drilling The Curve - com[pilation of early and mid 90's Houston noise rockin shit. Charalambides, Dry Nod, Rusted Shut, Mike Gunn, fucking awesome.

Devil's Jukebox - great comp. 7 (is it 7?) singles in one box, maybe 10. rapeman, sonic youth, big bkack, all sorts of fucking aggro noisy shit.

All I look for in a compilation (as I'm not really a 'compilation person') is something that's like a great jukebox, that you could put on at a party; and that means I don't need to buy a Best Of of an artist just for a couple of songs (i.e., buying an Only One's album just for Another Girl Another Planet).

Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound Retrospective (1 CD): I've got the version which doesn't include the Christmas CD, which is a bonus as that just reminds you that he produced a lot of shmaltz too.. CD1 is just an obvious selection of tracks really, Be My Baby, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (my favourite), Baby I Love You, Then He Kissed me, River Deep Mountain High. It's got them all.

The Best Punk Anthems... Ever!: unlike the best rock anthems ever, etc, this one is comprehensive as far as commercial-ish punk-ish anthems go: Ever Fallen In Love, Another Girl Another Planet, Do Anything You Want To Do, C30 C60 C90, Teenage Kicks, New Rose, INTO THE VALLEY, Roadrunner and a lot of new-wave (Making Plants For Nigel, Marquee Moon).

Nuggets is a bit overrated in my opinion. They could have picked better songs to represent the artists, i.e., The Seeds' Mr Farmer is far superior to Pushing Too Hard, but there's some good stuff on it regardless.

In my defense, the box sets I posted are compilations, because the Dead videos include music from several artists performed by the dead, as does the hendrix box set. Further, the makaveli bootlegs have everybody rapping on them so they are also a compilation of sorts..

I love Strictly For 4 My Niggas. The contrast between a song like Souljah's Revenge and something like Keep Ya Head Up, the genuine emotion in both, does make him quite a captivating figure. He has a good voice. Too little quality control though.

Nuggets

Sub Pop 200

Rockin Bones

No Thanks: The Seventies Punk Rebellion

Singles Soundtrack

I forgot...

That's actually what I love most about him... he'd make a track like "So Many Tearz" which is mournful and honestly vulnerable. And then he'd do something like "Hit Em Up" which is so angry and violent. And yet, critics were quick to yell "hypocrite", when really he was just being human. Remember, he was all about throwing things down on tape immediately. Imagine if every feeling you had was recorded as it happened (not after you had time to cool-down or rationalize). I think he was big on documenting human emotion while it was real, not later from a different view.