[waits for link to album on Amazon posted]

...AC/DC and Metallica. Two of the world's biggest acts. Can't speak for Metallica but AC/DC have said they'd never release a greatest hits, although the Iron Man 2 soundtrack came pretty close.

Is there anything on the Scritti Politti best of that isn't on the LPs?

It will be interesting to see if an Greatest Hits is in Jack's Authenticity Rule Book.

I noticed the other day that Sham 69 have about 4 greatest hits/best of/very best of/definitive collection compilations. Did 4 singles ever work so hard?

Not many artists go 20 years without falling back on a greatest hits to boost the coffers.

16 years and counting.

Surprised Sony haven't at least knocked together a Ben Folds Five "Best Of", especially since Folds' profile in America has been somewhat raised recently by his appearing as a judge on NBC's "The Sing Off", a sort of X Factor for a capella groups.

Although they have had a compilation of their non-album singles.

Don't think he's got a 'Definitive Collection', 'Essential', Best Of', 'Anthology', or any of the other many names given to such a collection

The Flaming Lips, Ryan Adams, Queens Of The Stone Age. All ripe for a best of i think.

May not be a major band, but a Best Of would be highly appreciated. Their albums never seem to be able to grab my attention the whole way through, but they have made some great songs. They are apparently planning a year off, so maybe it´s time to do some compiling. Er, is that a word?

Yes, various single CD Best Ofs but his 40 plus year career needs the full whack. Is JT the last of the true greats not to have such a work out?

Although again this would be a "best of" not a greatest hits.

complete remastered box would be much appreciated. The current cds sound pretty bad.

And not exactly chock full of hits but -
Beck, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, Tindrsticks, Aphex Twin, Decemberists
and - for reasons explained in a recent thread - the KLF

...but I think Kate Bush needs one, because 'The Whole Story' (ha!) is so inadequate. (I think I've moaned about this on the site before.)

1) Doesn't have the 'real' version of 'Wuthering Heights'.
2) Even at the time, missed out quite a few singles. And underlined this fact by printing the sleeves of all the 45s on the album cover, even, er, the ones that weren't included in the compilation.
3) It pre-dated 'The Sensual World', 'The Red Shoes' and 'Aerial'.

Perhaps she has blocked the idea (assuming artists can - didn't Van scupper his re-issue programme a short while back?), but I say - come on, EMI.

...don't Du best-ofs, alas. They were one of the very few 80s band I liked during the 80s. For some reason I bought lots of their singles but no albums (poverty I suppose). I recall hearing that the ex members didn't want any posthumous best-of (the split was rancourous a la the Smiths) but agreed to a live album instead.

Call me a philistine if you wish, but Husker Du always sounded much more impressive on studio recordings than live to me. If/when there is a bona fide best of, it should have room for their NME covermount-exclusive version of this tune (heard here in a less impressive live version):

Needs a "definitive" reappraisal to include the Marc and the Mambas stuff.

Bjork and The Sugarcubes ever had one done?

Have they had a greatest hits/best Of yet ?

Mostly rerecorded versions, no full collection of original hits.

Gawd, I miss the old days sometimes.

What we don't see any more (unless there is a label split) are decent sequences of Hits albums. So, with Elvis, the punter got Golden Records Vols 1 thru 4 (there was a post-death 5 too); the Beach Boys did three Greatest Hits across the 60s, Cliff and the Shadows adopted the same approach, and the Rolling Stones gave us "High Tide..." and "Through the Past...", as good a pair of collections as you'll find anywhere.

This excellent strategy - which assumed the same buyers were coming back for more, to build up their collections, seems to have packed up once bands lost their hitmaking longevity. Madness gave us Complete and Utter, but since then, every Greatest Hits album appears to have been an override of the previous. So, I own the Pet Shop Boys' "Discography", which is a great album, came out 20 (!!) years ago. Since then, "Essential", "Pop Art" and "Ultimate" have all covered the same ground, plus some recent stuff. I don't need to buy West End Girls again.

Now I'm warming up, we did have a list running at Our Price in the 80s of acts who have never/will never put out a Greatest Hits album. Typically, they were album artists, knee-deep in cred. People like Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd... all succumbed in the end.

The only band I can think of on the list that never got a proper GH treatment (as opposed to later, budget-priced compilations, not the same thing at all) was... the Bay City Rollers. I think their career collapsed, their fan-base deserted them, and the whole Bell/Arista thing got messy, so unlike Mud, Showaddywaddy and the Rubettes, they never got the GH treatment their success (if not their artistry) merited.

Back to the Stones - separate thread required... best hits album ever? Rolled Gold, easy.

did a volume 2 after The Immaculate Collection which had no overlap of songs IIRC. I'v eposted before that I can't understand why anyone would buy Ultimate Pet Shop Boys espech as PopARt was cheaper around Xmas when UPB came out.
I think the limitations of vinyl necessitated the GH Vol2s of yesteryear. Once you had 12 hits you could bang out a "best of" and if you kept going you could do another. If your first best of is a 2CD affair you are that bit less likely to make it to GH2.
Finally, in the case of almost every artist ever (e.g. Madge, above) segmenting your career into its first and second halves only serves to emphasise how much weaker the second half is....