Great/Favourite LP Compilation Albums

[gavreid]

Compilation/Greatest Hits/Singles LPs then. No CDs etc that's trivial. Piecing together a good compilation from different analogue master tapes must have been a labour of love when done properly.

I think the famous greatest hits are known for a reason Al Green, CCR, Abba (??), Rolling Stones, Bob Marley etc. A few of my favourites (not certain that they're all AAA but they're in the right spirit)

 

[Bob McC]

I’m old enough to have Fill Your Head With Rock in my record rack.


The 60s/70s sampler albums were great fun

 

[Marchbanks]

The earliest sampler I remember is The Age of Atlantic. I never owned it, but several schoolmates certainly did. My first exposure to Led Zeppelin, I would guess. I thought Broken Arrow was properly weird.

Of course, when it grew up it became a Peter Gabriel video.

 

[billo]

Samplers were great value, I have "Nice Enough to Eat" , " A breath of fresh air" and "Bumpers" along with some from Windham Hill

 

[Tony L]

I’ve never been a fan of compilation albums at all, but the few that really made an impression with me were:

The budget Cherry Red compilation Pillows & Prayers which introduced me to The Passage, Tracey Thorn, Eyeless In Gaza etc. I don’t have a copy as I bought everything of interest.

A Sample Of Blue Notes, the 1987 Blue Note 50th Anniversary sampler which cost £1.99 and sent me right out on the jazz trajectory I remain on today. Again I no longer have it as it served its purpose the the extent I think I have every album it compiled.

We Out Here, the Brownswood label compilation of the recent London jazz scene. I have got a copy of this, though being honest I don’t really need it as I have explored further.

Archives GRM. A 5xCD compilation of GRM music concrete, early electronic music etc. This is where compilations make sense to me as this stuff would be impossible to find otherwise!

My main issue with compilations is mastering, they always try to pack too much onto a side and inevitably the most dynamic and well recorded tracks have to be smashed down to the level of the worst so the thing plays as a coherent whole. I’ve even appeared on a couple so I’ve seen this first hand!

PS To my mind YouTube and other streaming options have made compilation albums all but irrelevant now. They used to exist as a discovery tool, we now have far better ways of trying before buying.

 

[GavinA]

One of the few LPs I have kept. A classic with great pics of the band.

 

[GavinA]

Look at those threads!

 

[GavinA]

I’ve never been a fan of compilation albums at all, but the few that really made an impression with me were:

The budget Cherry Red compilation Pillows & Prayers which introduced me to The Passage, Tracey Thorn, Eyeless In Gaza etc. I don’t have a copy as I bought everything of interest.

A Sample Of Blue Notes, the 1987 Blue Note 50th Anniversary sampler which cost £1.99 and sent me right out on the jazz trajectory I remain on today. Again I no longer have it as it served its purpose the the extent I think I have every album it compiled.

We Out Here, the Brownswood label compilation of the recent London jazz scene. I have got a copy of this, though being honest I don’t really need it as I have explored further.

Archives GRM. A 5xCD compilation of GRM music concrete, early electronic music etc. This is where compilations make sense to me as this stuff would be impossible to find otherwise!

My main issue with compilations is mastering, they always try to pack too much onto a side and inevitably the most dynamic and well recorded tracks have to be smashed down to the level of the worst so the thing plays as a coherent whole. I’ve even appeared on a couple so I’ve seen this first hand!

PS To my mind YouTube and other streaming options have made compilation albums all but irrelevant now. They used to exist as a discovery tool, we now have far better ways of trying before buying.

The sound quality aspect had not occurred to me. For me the driver was I couldn’t afford the individual albums - the compilation was a financial shortcut.

 

[kjb]

I’ve never been a fan of compilation albums at all, but the few that really made an impression with me were:

We Out Here, the Brownswood label compilation of the recent London jazz scene.

+ 1 for the sentiment and We Out Here.

I did quite like old soul compilations, although these were often on cassette tape for car journeys


I still dig this out on CD

One of my favourites / most played on vinyl :

 

[gavreid]

PS To my mind YouTube and other streaming options have made compilation albums all but irrelevant now. They used to exist as a discovery tool, we now have far better ways of trying before buying.

Sure but they exist and some of them (a small number) deserve great respect.

 

[kjb]

I’m old enough to have Fill Your Head With Rock in my record rack.


The 60s/70s sampler albums were great fun

I was introduced to so much music through the early 70s samplers. I was 11-12 when these came out and, as they were all super cheap, I could get them with pocket money. I still have these 3 :

I'm forever grateful that I was introduced to Quintessence at such a formative age

 

[Weekender]

https://www.discogs.com/release/24211-David-Mancuso-The-Loft-
https://www.discogs.com/release/104215-David-Mancuso-The-Loft-Volume-Two

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bma5dw/david-mancuso-the-loft-rip-colleen-cosmo-murphy

 

[Bodkin]

I was introduced to so much music through the early 70s samplers. I was 11-12 when these came out and, as they were all super cheap, I could get them with pocket money. I still have these 3 :

I'm forever grateful that I was introduced to Quintessence at such a formative age

Journey of discovery for me with those and other Samplers, especially Bumpers... Buy it, play it, get into it, go back to shop and search for the LP by the Artist/ band you like.
So IF, Spooky tooth, Blodwyn Pig etc etc .All bands at that time I never knew about let alone heard...
Other thing to note some tracks on sampler LPs different as in Spooky tooth Bumpers version of I am the walrus; different from the Last Puff LP.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Archives GRM. A 5xCD compilation of GRM music concrete, early electronic music etc. This is where compilations make sense to me as this stuff would be impossible to find otherwise!

That looks very interesting. I've not really explored GRM much despite seeing Beatriz Ferreyra perform live a while back.

Editions Mego have/had a nice series of GRM reissues on vinyl: https://www.discogs.com/label/399382-Recollection-GRM

(I don't know what's happening with Mego now Peter Rehberg has passed away)

 

[andvinylly]

I don't tend to go for compilations, but they have been gateways to explore more stuff,I still enjoy all of my Trojan Tighten up series though, and in pre internet days you would never have found so many rare releases' also like This Is Sue on Island records

 

[Bob McC]

And who can ever forget this from 1968...

 

[kjb]

Having a quick scan of the racks, this one stands out as a compilation that seemed more than a collection of tracks and had a real integrity as a record - vinyl version not expanded CD reissue

 

[billo]

The sound quality aspect had not occurred to me. For me the driver was I couldn’t afford the individual albums - the compilation was a financial shortcut.

I was always short of money and the compilation LP was a great way of getting into new music. And at just under £1.50 for a double album they were great value
PXL_20230807_132145346
also at about 90p for a single LP
PXL_20230807_132358188

 

[yentone]

First album I ever bought, still played to this day. The Front Line nearly matched it, later on.

 

[Seeker_UK]

Piecing together a good compilation from different analogue master tapes must have been a labour of love when done properly.

Point of (new) order - a lot of the tracks on that are not sourced from analogue - many are from DAT.