(# 451) Queen –
Greatest Hits (compilation 1981)
This was the first of three Greatest Hits comps issued by
the band during and after their career. The track listing for this album
apparently varies from country to country depending on which tracks had been released
as singles, but the Australian is incredibly solid. The legendary Bohemian Rhapsody is the
opening track, its massive popularity here no doubt a cause of great
satisfaction to Freddie Mercury after the band had been largely booed at the
Sunbury just the year prior to its release.
(For the full story refer to Mark Blake’s fascinating bio Is This The
Real Life – The Untold Story Of Queen.) All
of Queen’s best stuff from their initial history is here; nods to their early
heavy days in Now I’m Here and Seven Seas Of Rhye, the infectious Killer Queen, their
first hit here, The Fat Bottomed Girls/Bicycle Race double A single (the latter
complete with its bicycle bell solo!), Another One Bites The Dust, Crazy Little
Thing Called Love, Flash, the theme from their Flash Gordon movie soundtrack, the wonderful You’re
My Best Friend and some Freddie flamboyance in Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. Naturally We Will Rock You and We Are The
Champions are kept till last.
But it really wasn’t all that difficult to discern a theme
when it dawned on me that Queen is represented by this album and the subsequent
Greatest Hits II on my iPod and indeed, in my collection. Obviously Queen diehards will disagree, but I
think Queen are a band that is better served through their compilations. Their best work was contained in their
singles which in turn were usually the stand out tracks on the albums. And in any case, their albums cover such a
wide range of, often bizarre, musical styles, that no one or two Queen albums
could possibly do justice to them on the iPod.
And so, I started to scroll through my iPod trying to find
examples where I chose single disc compilations – double albums, anthologies
and box sets excluded – that I used to best represent some cherished acts.
(# 452) Faith No More
– Who Cares A Lot? The Greatest Hits (compilation 1998)
Probably no other act caused as much heartburn when it came
to deciding what to put on my iPod as rap/metal pioneers Faith No More. My initial thought was to have them represented
by the albums The Real Thing and Angel Dust, both classics in their right and
their powerful Live At The Brixton Academy.
I figured the live album would ensure that We Care A Lot would be
included but I still bemoaned the absence of the surging Introduce Yourself,
the title track of their debut album.
I was also unsure about including the King For A Day and Album Of
The Year releases, both very much underrated with many fine tracks but not as
consistent as the other two. Then I
remembered I had this which I had originally purchased exclusively for the
bonus disc of B-sides and rarities. When
I checked out the main disc I realised the compilers had done an excellent
job. Introduce Yourself and We Care A
Lot are both here in all their glory as are the carefully selected highlights
from each of the studio albums including the majestic Epic, From Out Of Nowhere
and Falling To Pieces from The Real Thing, Midlife Crisis and their piss take
of The Commodores Easy (Don’t be fooled
by anyone claiming that this was a reverent homage.) from Angel Dust. The last two albums have been expertly filleted
through the inclusion of the marvellous Digging The Grave and The Gentle Art Of Marking
Enemies and King For Day’s Ashes To Ashes and Stripsearch. If Angel Dust’s Be Aggressive had been
included it would have been close to perfect.
And so, this lives in my iPod along with the live set which contains
more of the Real Thing and a massive cover of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs.
(# 453) John Lennon –
Lennon Legend. The Very Best Of John Lennon (compilation 1997)
The existence of this album made it very easy for me for
Lennon to be represented on the iPod. To
mind, Imagine is far and away his best solo album and that has been
synched. All I then needed to do is to
drop its tracks from this and there is nothing but wall to wall classics –
Instant Karma, Cold Turkey, Mind Games, Whatever Gets You Thru The Night, his
great cover of Stand By Me, Working Class Hero and Give Peace A Chance. More importantly, the best tracks from his
comeback albums are also here – the comeback single (Just Like) Starting Over,
Watching The Wheels, the tragic Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) and the horribly
underrated Nobody Told Me.
(# 454) Masters
Apprentices – Fully Qualified. The Choicest Cuts (compilation 2006)
Who was Australia’s finest band during the 1960’s? A silly question to be sure but no doubts many
critics would nominate the Easybeats nonetheless. I don’t have a problem with that but it is
increasingly becoming apparent to a great many people that the Masters
Apprentices could easily have gained the
honour. Initially an raw R&B combo
the band embraced psychedelics and released a number of timeless tracks and at
least one classic album (their 1967 self titled debut although 1971’s Choice
Cuts also has its fans). This 24 track
comp does justice to their career and includes classic tracks such as the Undecided
and Turn Up Your Radio and their hard rock undertones, the 60s pop smarts of
Elevator Driver and Living In A Child’s Dream, the memorable Australian hit
Because I Love You and the psychedelica of Rio De Camero and Our Friend Owen
Stanley III. 
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