What Makes a Great Greatest Hits Package?

Greatest hits packages are, for the most part, a way for bands to grab some extra money while they buy time to record a new album. It's easy money. The songs are already written and just need to be repackaged. Greatest hits albums aren't for the hardcore fans at all. They work well for casual listeners, new listeners, or those who simply want the popular songs by a band.

That isn't to say there aren't greatest hits packages that work well for hardcore fans. The smart bands and the record companies figured out a way to target those fans as well. The premise is simple. Include the hits, sure, but add something extra. Remastering tracks is how they started, but that wasn't good enough to bring in the hardcore fans. Next came previously unreleased live recordings, previously unreleased studio tracks, demos, and alternate takes of popular songs. That's when it really got good, at least for me.

Some people just aren't in to that sort of thing. My wife, for instance, likes the original song the way it was recorded, period, end of sentence. She doesn't want to hear another version of a song at all. Me, I love that stuff. All of it. Alternate lyrics, different music and tempos, demo tracks, all of it. Including that stuff is the way you get me to invest my money in a greatest hits package or a reissue of a previously released album.

I love Belinda Carlisle. I'll say that right now. She recently reissued four of her albums, Live Your Life Be Free, Heaven on Earth, Runaway Horses, and Real, as two-disc editions loaded with remixes, demos, and alternate takes. When it comes to different versions of a song, nobody does it better than Belinda. Seriously, I have never heard the same songs done so many different ways as some of Belinda's songs. When you buy her reissues, you don't just get one or two remixes. You get extended cuts and alternate mixes that sound completely different from the originals you're used to hearing. You get your money's worth.

I've already talked about the Thin Lizzy deluxe editions. The Atlanta Rhythm Section, after years of releasing greatest hits albums with the same songs in their original forms, are finally releasing From the Vaults, which will feature previously unreleased material. I'm excited about that one.

ZZ Tops Greatest Hits is cool. Not only does it have the essential hits, there are two new tracks, Viva Las Vegas and Gun Love, plus remixed versions of a couple of the tunes.

A classic greatest hits package for me is KISS's Double Platinum. The record company insisted the band put the album out because the public was so hungry for KISS material at the time. KISS wasn't really into the idea, but they did it anyway. I think it turned out to be an unrecognized gem. Sean Delaney did most of the work on it and many of the tracks are remixed and sound different from the original versions.

Forty Licks by the Rolling Stones is a great package because of all the songs it includes. In addition, there are four new tracks (Don't Stop is my favorite) and some remixed versions of previously recorded stuff.

I could go on and on. There are a lot of greatest hits packages I've bought for previously unreleased material, remixes, extended versions, or even because there were songs on the album that had previously only been available on a movie soundtrack or elsewhere. Case in point, Sammy Hagar's Essential Red Collection, which contains some of his soundtrack cuts, some demos, and some previously unreleased material.

Other cool greatest hits packages (for varying reasons) include Heart's Greatest Hits/Live and The Essential Heart, Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits by KISS, Little River Band's Re-Arranged, Rod Stewart's If We Fall in Love Tonight, Magic: the Very Best of Olivia Newton-John, The Original Bad Company Anthology, Loverboy's Rock 'N' Roll Revival, and Foreigner's The Very Best . . . and Beyond. There are lots more I could name, but I would be writing all night. Basically, if there's enough remixed or previously unavailable material on the album, I'll buy it.

One more trend I've seen lately is the re-recording of the hits, either by the original band, or the original band featuring new members. A good case in point here is Kiss Klassics, which came as a bonus disc in the Sonic Boom CD and featured fifteen kiss classics re-recorded by the 2008 line-up of KISS. While this is a questionable practice by some die-hard fans, I listen to these types of collections out of curiosity. For the most part, though, they are disappointing because they tend to be nothing more than exact duplicates of the original versions, and if that's all you intend to do when you record originals with a different line-up, what's the point?

That's my take on what makes a greatest hits package valuable to die-hard fans.

A Rock and Roll Alternative

Remember eight track tapes? I do. Not really the best medium for delivering music, but when I was a lot younger than I am now, I got to drive my mom's Trans-Am. It had an eight track player in it. There was also an eight track of a wonderful album called A Rock and Roll Alternative by a killer band, the Atlanta Rhythm Section. I popped that eight track in and turned it up. What I heard changed my life. From that moment on, I've been an Atlanta Rhythm Section fan. I have purchased everything of theirs I could on every medium (minus eight track) that it's been available on.

The Atlanta Rhythm Section, or ARS, as they are often called, rock.

They are billed as a southern rock band, which is accurate in the sense that the guys are southern and their music reflects that, but there is more going on with this band than what you expect from a typical southern rock outfit. The Atlanta Rhythm Section have a sound all their own. Smooth as honey and hard as nails at the same time. They've been at this since 1970. They've got it down.

The classic lineup for me featured Ronnie Hammond on vocals, Barry Baily and J.R. Cobb on guitars, Dean Daughtry on keyboards, Paul Goddard on bass, and Robert Nix (who passed away in 2012) on drums. This lineup played together right up to the end of '78, when Robert Nix left the band and Roy Yeager joined.

There have been several lineup changes through the years. Ronnie (who unfortunately passed away in 2011) was almost always a part of the lineup, with an occasional missing in action status. Paul Goddard, a super bass player, left after 1981's Quinella and completely disappeared from the public view as far as I could tell. I did many Internet searches on him and turned up nothing. The good news is, Paul is back in the band, along with the original singer (yes, there was a singer before Ronnie, for the first album).

There has been a lot of great music from this band over the years. Those who took up the banner after original members (and Dean Daughtry who is original and has always been on board) left did a superb job. I am sorry for those members lost, but grateful to see the current lineup.

Now, on with the original intent of this post, a spotlight on my favorite Atlanta Rhythm Section album, A Rock and roll Alternative.

The album came out in 1976. The track list is as follows:

1. "Sky High" (Buie, Daughtry, Hammond, Nix) – 5:17
2. "Hitch-Hikers' Hero" (Buie, Nix) – 3:38
3. "Don't Miss the Message" (Buie, Cobb, Nix) – 3:27
4. "Georgia Rhythm" (Buie, Cobb, Nix) – 4:52
5. "So In to You" (Buie, Daughtry, Nix) – 4:20
6. "Outside Woman Blues" (Blind Joe Reynolds) – 4:53
7. "Everybody Gotta Go" (Buie, Daughtry, Nix) – 4:10
8. "Neon Nites" (Buie, Nix) – 3:57

The opening track, Sky High, is an uptempo rocker that sets the tone. It's about the joys of music and what it means to play for the fans. One of my favorite songs on the record.

So Into You was, of course, a massive hit and had that slinky groove and a sort of sex appeal that drove the ladies wild. It is still classic rock radio material today.

Other favorite tracks for me, Everybody Gotta Go, Neon Nights, and my all-time favorite ARS track, the one that really puts the ribbon on the package and sums up the band, Georgia Rhythm.

If you've never heard this band, start with this album and then work your way backward and forward. If you like good music, you can't do better than the Atlanta Rhythm Section.