Entertainment For Lively Minds
Where's the original stuff?
I like to browse through the CDs in my local library - it's a good way of finding out what there is out there I may enjoy.
The problem is that they have to bow to a certain amount of pressure from the borrowing public. It makes sense, really; after all, who's going to borrow something that is so avant-garde (read 'shite')
That means there's a lot of reality show by-product (Leona Lewis, The MacDonald Brothers etc ad nauseum), and a fair amount of what could charitably be called 'household names'.
Even when you manage to find some (comparably) left-field choices, it will still be the more mainstream choices.
The Mission? Check.
Lacuna Coil? Who?
OK, let's try something else - Gentle Giant? Erm... I've heard of them...
OK, I have to admit, I am being unfair. The library has no started stocking acts that I've either not heard before (Electric Prunes) or even heard of.
Still, the fact remains that there is a stupid amount of certain artists; Robbie Williams (DON'T START), Genesis, Frank Sinatra and, for some bizarre reason, Ozric Tentacles.
The thing is, most of the CDs here are covered by the classification 'compilation'. Either that, or it's a live album.
Do we really need another collection?
Genesis did 15 studio albums, 6 live and 7 compilations.
Guess what? Every single one of those collections was compiled AFTER the last studio album.
I know we had a thread recently about the need for compilations from barely-established acts, but I wanted to have a rant about the unnecessary ones.
The Beautiful South had a decent collection (Carry On Up The Charts) partway into their career. Why couldn't they do a second one at the end containing just the later singles? No, they put out a single CD with a cherry picked few spanning the whole career. And don't get me started on the recent 'Soup' compilation.
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compilations?
Artistic merit? No, bugger that, these things are put together to shift units, whether it's the record company advertising money or the library spending budget. 'Need' doesn't come into it, 'revenue' (or borrowings per unit) does. The joy of compiling a 'best of' comes with having the distance to see what has lasted properly and what has been revealed as of it's time. I'm guessing the next, inevitable, The Who compilation won't have "Old Red Wine" alongside "My Generation". I always prefer to get the budget compilations - there's a splendid Split Enz one that gives a much better overview of the band's career purely because the hits were held back and the company involved could only afford to license the interesting album tracks.