I agree that Cherry Red has taken over the mantle of chief compiler from Rhino in terms of broad box sets (the new "Action Time Vision" punk oddities box is great). Labels like Soul Jazz are fantastic for the more specialized comps.
I find I have two distinct uses for comps:
- Overviews of scenes, eras, styles or genres are extremely useful and those are the ones I keep.
- Overviews of labels, radio station comps, and give-aways are typically used for R&D and are disposed of after picking out the artists I want to investigate further.
Some of my favorites:
Swing Jazz:
Swing That Music (Smithsonian 4CD box): http://www.allmusic.com/album/swing-that-music-smithsonian-mw0000103793
The Swing Era (Charly Records 4CD box): https://www.musik-sammler.de/media/482625/
Very little overlap between these two, they capture the big names, the best tunes and a great overview of the era
Pre-rock:
The First Rock And Roll Record: a fascinating companion to the similarly titled book
The Roots of Rock'n'Roll: a much more linear overview of the jump blues and hillbilly songs that melted into the rock'n'roll pot
50's rock:
Loud, Fast & Out Of Control: includes rockabilly staples as well as r&b and ballads
Rockin' Bones: focuses on the wildest up-tempo rockabilly
Essential Rockabilly (10 volumes): 2CD sets each covering one label: Capitol, Columbia, Decca, Dot, Imperial, King, Mercury, MGM, RCA, Sun, a hell of a lot cheaper than the Bear Family "That'll Flat Git It" series which takes a similar approach
60's garage & psych:
Nuggets: the mother of all modern compilations, the box set expands the original LP very well
Nuggets II: I like this even more as it adds more psych and expands coverage to a global view (though really mostly UK)
Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers: the best psych overview without getting too silly or jammy for my tastes
Insane Times: a nice companion to "Acid Drops"
Uptight Tonight: a nice companion to the "Nuggets" box, a little overlap but outstanding selections
70's pop fluff:
Have A Nice Day (25 volumes!): Brings back many childhood memories as my mother had the top 40 station on all day
Krautrock:
Deutsche Elektronische Musik
Deutsche Elektronische Musik Vol. 2: two 2CD sets from Soul Jazz covering most of the big names (but not Kraftwerk) with a handful of second tier artists
Kollektion 01 - Sky Records
Kollektion 04 - Bureau B: two different looks into the genre, the first from Tim Gane and the second from Richard Fearless. An excellent breadth and depth overview.
Punk - I've got a ton of these, the absolute best are:
1-2-3-4 - Punk & New Wave: A great overview of the UK scene and how things changed very quickly from 1976 to 1979
DIY: 9 volumes covering the US and UK punk and power pop scenes, these are what got me started digging deeper
No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion: a more focused set similar to the individual DIY volumes
Punk 45: 7 volumes and counting from Soul Jazz, leans towards the obscure but totally worthy
Power Pop:
Poptopia!: 3 volumes, one each for the 70s, 80s and 90s.
The Roots Of Power Pop: compiled by it's greatest advocate, Greg Shaw.
Yellow Pills - Prefill: my favorite Numero release, the nuggets of power pop.
New Wave:
Just Can't Get Enough: 17 volumes covering almost everything you'd want
New Wave Club Class-X: 8 volumes plus particularly cool sets dedicated to the Belgian and German scenes, plus some other reconfigurations of all of these
NDW (3CD set): covers the Neu Deutsche Welle scene about as well as I've found
Ska:
The 2 Tone Collection - A Checkered Past: stonkin' classic ska-punk
Indiepop:
NME C86 (3CD box): Cherry Red's expansion of the classic C86 a-la Rhino's expansion of Nuggets
Scared To Get Happy: another great box from Cherry Red full of twee goodness
Postpunk - this is my favorite period to pan for gold, way too many to list but there's everything from label comps to local scenes to country overviews. My favorites:
7" Up: a bakers dozen of wonderful obscurities, all killer no filler
Ambition - The History Of Cherry Red Records: two discs showing the labels' 80s best
Avon Calling: one of the best single city (Bristol) comps ever
From Brussels With Love
Fruit Of The Original Sin
Ghosts Of Christmas Past: 3 comps from the Les Disques Du Crépuscule label that showcase an incredible range of creativity - spoken word, solo piano, ambient, punk + whatever-strikes-yer-fancy style postpunk
In The Beginning There Was Rhythm: early Soul Jazz comp covering dub punk
Messthetics Greatest Hits: there are 10 volumes in this series but this is the most consistent
Movement - BBC 1 Radio Peel Sessions 77-79: what it says on the tin
Nao Wave
The Sexual Life Of The Savages: two comps covering the Brazilian scene
Perfect Unpop: a great dive into obscure Peel favorites
Seeds (5 volumes): classic vinyl-only sets covering Pop, Art, Rock, Punk & Electric
So Young But So Cold: the best French cold wave collection
Wanna Buy A Bridge: another classic postpunk primer
Australian rock:
Do The Pop!: wonderful overview of the Detroit-via-Melbourne sound of the late 70s
Tales From The Australian Underground (2 volumes): 2CD sets covering obscurities from the late 70s and 80s
New Zealand rock - my single favorite scene ever, there's also a ton of these with any Flying Nun comp being good. The best:
Flying Nun 25th Anniversary box set: 4 discs covering one-off singles, obscurities and the biggest names on the label
It's Bigger Than Both Of Us: covers the pre-Flying Nun underground years
Shrew'd: a unique set of new material by Flying Nun women
Xpressway Pile-Up: the noisy underbelly of the Flying Nun jangly scene
Alt-country - I'll rep for almost any comp on Bloodshot but these are my faves:
Down To The Promised Land
For A Decade Of Sin: 5th and 10th anniversary 2CD sets full of great covers, spectacular one-offs and sampling the best of the label
Pine Valley Cosmonauts - The Executioner's Last Songs (3 volumes): more fun covers and originals all about DEATH!
Single best tribute compilation:
Whore (Wire tribute): no duds, all interesting interpretations, some wildly different!
There's plenty more, of course. I quite like the two volumes of "Rogue's Gallery" where underground artists do sea shanties!
Many of these came to my attention via some excellent ILM threads. Hurrah for all y'all!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 15 June 2017 18:26 (six years ago) link