Classic Compilation
Classic Compilation: B. B. King – His Definitive Greatest Hits
B. B. King was a legend and legend is not a word I use lightly. He was and remains an icon of popular music. A blues guitar player whose career ran parallel to rock and roll and who managed to maintain a dignified career for multiple decades, he outlasted contemporaries, weathered constantly shifting fashions in …
Classic Compilation: James – The Best of James
James are one of those bands that I return to every now and again. It’s not as if I am a massive fan, but they have slowly crept into my album collection over the years and The Best of James ably demonstrates what a great band they were when it came to the pop song. …
Classic Compilation: Neil Innes – Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues
When is a compilation not a compilation? When it is an album padded out by a few contemporaneous bonus tracks. Except it isn’t, because those additional b-sides, singles and rarities are dotted around before, after, and even during the original album’s run time. There’s also the fact that Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues is almost everything that …
Classic Compilation: Ed Harcourt – Until Tomorrow Then
Ed Harcourt was one of those artists that came tantalisingly close to mainstream success, but for whatever reason feel short and has spent the majority of his career being feted by a small and enthusiastic crowd of followers as one of the great ender-appreciated talents of his generation, while the vast majority of the record …
Classic Compilation: Marvin Gaye – The Very Best of Marvin Gaye
Of course it’s been said far too many times over the years that Marvin Gaye was one of the definitive voices of Soul, but it’s true. His vocals can seduce even a relative ignoramus like myself. He is quite simply a giant of the genre. It’s easy to just remember Marvin Gaye as the guy …
Classic Compilation: Free – The Free Story
There’s a load of stuff about The Free Story that just shouldn’t work. Released a little while after Free disbanded for the final time, yet just long enough for 50% of the band to enjoy huge success as 50% of Bad Company, and be able to ride that wave of success, there’s an inescapable whiff …
Classic Compilation: The Eels – Meet The Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1 (1996–2006)
To my ongoing shame, prior to hearing Meet the Eels, I had dismissed Eels as little more than a post-grunge novelty act after seeing them miming along with toy instruments to “Susan’s House” on Top of the Pops in the mid 90s. A few years later I picked up a copy of Beautiful Freak as …
Classic Compilation: The Divine Comedy – A Secret History: The Best of The Divine Comedy
There have been few compilations as well timed as A Secret History: The Best of The Divine Comedy. Released just as Neil Hannon was enjoying the apex of his commercial success, it saw the band briefly established as one of the most popular groups in the UK, ensuring mega-sales for a compilation that was effectively …
Classic Compilation: Elvis Costello – The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years
Of course there are far more Elvis Costello compilations on the shelves than are strictly necessary, and given that throughout his lengthy and relatively productive career he has frequently thrown his fans a curve-ball, there’s never going to be a compilation that captures the full-scope of his career to date, at least not to everyone’s …
Classic Compilation: The Beatles – Love
How many words have been written about The Beatles in the last five and a half decades? Too damn many that’s for certain, but it’s also probably one of the greatest indicators of how they still stand like an immovable colossus over popular culture. Almost fifty years after they imploded in a cloud of legal …