Jon and Jonathan's Rules of Compilations
Nekesa Mumbi Moody has just published an article on how "Best Of" albums are not so great these days.
But have they -ever- been? She identifies who's doing it all wrong but
bands and labels are often confronted with the task of "how to do it
right." Here's a helpful guideline to anybody faced with making a
compilation.
- Best Ofs should exist in the rare case that you get to
release something dirt cheap almost as a "promotional" item and don't
intend to make money off it.
- Compilations should be
"Singles" or "B-Sides" or "Compilation tracks" - something to
compliment albums and not overlap material - alternate versions of LP
tracks should be used in every case. Music
fans who own albums don't need to buy something for 1 track and often a
"Best Of" is just some label exec's picks of what their fave songs
are. It's never a definitive (or respectful) collection of
somebody's career if you
omit singles.
- On
the same note, make deleted or out-of-print music available
again.
Seriously, even if you hate the music you personally recorded 20 years
ago, try to keep those eBayers from making fuckloads of money just for
music you probably didn't make much off to begin with.
- Singles compilations shall be in chronological order.
Always. Since a buyer has already resigned themselves to
listening to a retrospective and -not- a fully-conceived long-player,
they should hear the progress of the artist over time, getting better
or worse, depending on who it is and who you ask always. (This can only be broken for reverse chronological order.)
- Include
detailed information: booklets with singles cover images, release
dates, chart positions always make for the best packages. It's
also great with a retrospective to see the changes in hairstyles over
the years (see: Bowie, Duran Duran, anybody else who's English and
loves hair products).
- Nobody should make a compilation after only having two
full-length albums. Sorry, I love Frankie Goes to Hollywood but
that Bang comp was pointless.
- Likewise, there should never be no Best Of compilation by artists that only
ever recorded one song that anyone would remember or want to own.
Examples of this offense are "Greatest Hits" collections from Peter
Schilling, Information Society or Thin Lizzy, which could easily have
been reduced to one-song CDEPs, but were instead padded out with 11
other songs no one cares about.
- NEVER
UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF REMASTERING!!! There's plenty of
singles and Best Of comps out there with half-assed compiling,
disregarding the differences in volume levels, sometimes leaving faint
clicks in between tracks in those silent spaces. Good move guys.
- Boxed
sets can be great ideas, but once again, stray from the overlap.
Boxed sets of singles are really cool when CD sleeves are made as
replicas of 7"/12" sleeves - but do everybody a favor and omit no
track. These have become great packages for bands like Depeche
Mode, Massive Attack, and Blondie.