True Fans Know It's The Album After The Greatest Hits That Matters

Friday is fun because it's about music, so links and a playlist. Today, the album that arrives right after the greatest hits often includes some new, fresh magic, a change of direction...

The Greatest Hits of any band or solo artist might indeed be great — but the real fans know that it’s about the albums; in fact the compilations are really for the casual listeners who just want to check in on ELO or The Bangles or The Beatles or whoever it might be. The other buyer of the Best Of compilation is the anorak that simply must have anything connected to the object of their dedication, if not actual affection. That’s just sport. Trophy hunting.

But you can’t own/listen to everything by everyone, and you shouldn’t want to. Sometimes, the greatest hits collection is helpful, it covers a few bases. But it should be an introduction in a lot of cases. My brother always cracked me up, mention of a new recording by Iggy Pop or David Bowie or Deep Purple, or whoever, was always stopped dead by his authorative, “I’ve already GOT the Greatest Hits”.

Now the headline here is almost a bit of bait. I don’t for a second think these albums I’m going to go on to mention and link to are career-best must-haves and the only thing that really matters. But I do think they’re worth hearing and having, and in some cases they’re my favourite by the artist in question. They’re certainly all albums that made me stick around, or stay listening.

So, here’s my pick — in no particular order, other than how they arrive in my head — of ten artists that released an album directly after their greatest hits collection that was excellent, and in a lot of cases is somewhat underrated, certainly lesser known. I was thinking about this because one of my favourite albums by Paul Kelly is his 1998 release, Words & Music, which I’ve just bought on cassette tape. More on that soon, because I’ll put it on this list, I’ll probably write about it in extra detail as part of my just announced new series too:

Right, ten of my favourite post-Greatest Hits albums by some artists I like, and one band I’m (allegedly) not even that much of a fan of:

Dave Dobbyn, Lament For The Numb (1993)

I wrote a bit about this album late last year when it was announced that it would finally be available on vinyl. Some of the deep-cuts from DD’s live sets over the last two decades are on this album. And some of his big hits too. A magical, angry, beautiful album. A reaction. The beginning of his great trilogy. And a chance for him to stand up and away from the ‘anthems’ he wrote for the bands he used to be in — not that he isn’t always generous with those songs live. But I just mean this was the record that gave him a chance to show where he was going away from band, or ‘gimmick’.

Tom Petty, Wildflowers (1994)

I’ve always loved this album — and recently picked up a copy on CD. It’s the second Tom Petty solo album, but it features many of the Heartbreakers. And it’s the first after the departure of long-serving drummer, Stan Lynch. Dave Grohl was going to be the drummer — since he was recently, erm, free from playing in Nirvana. But the job went to Steve Ferrone, a legend from Chaka Khan records, Eric Clapton tours, and The Average White Band. I love Steve’s playing, and he became a fully fledged Heartbreaker right after this album. But the really important detail — for me, anyway — was this album arrived right after the first Greatest Hits album, and before a bigger box-set. I think this is my all-time favourite Tom Petty album; the one with the best sustained mood at the least. Still miss having new music from him. It was almost always worth checking out.

Enya, A Day Without Rain (2000)

This was one of the first albums by Enya that convinced me — I’d liked bits and pieces, but I couldn’t go all the way in. I bought the Greatest Hits album for my mum, and listened to it a bit, very much in the guilty pleasure pile. But then I heard this and specifically the song, Only Time.

And I’ve been a fan pretty much ever since. This was the album that convinced me it was okay to like Enya, more than that she was a synth composing pioneer. An Eno for new age. And this album is the biggest selling new album record of all time I believe. It’s not my favourite Enya album — that would come after another career retrospective funnily enough, but yeah, this was the entry to the club for me. And you catch up with my celebration of Enya that I wrote a few years ago here below if you missed it at the time:

Prince, Come (1994)

Big fan of this album — one of a suite of records that a lot of people just decided couldn’t be any good, because Prince, and/or Symbol was pumping them out as part of Warnergate. Anyway, I like this album a lot and feel like it was the start of a misunderstood phase where Prince had moved through his wannabe rap-cameo vibes and was concentrating more on the R’n’B chill, which made way more sense, since he’d kinda influenced a whole wave of Babyface and the like. The thing that’s crucial about this album’s timing is it’s the return of the name Prince, after the record company released the triple disc Hits/B-Sides compilation. So it did feel like he was free to fly again.

Paul Kelly, Words and Music (1998)

I sometimes think there is no better songwriter to have ever hit this planet than Paul Kelly; especially of the guitar+voice variety (I know he plays piano a bit too). I was slow to get really into Paul Kelly, but knew him by reputation. Ironically, I deeply tarnished mine the night I first saw him play live. I think everyone knows my Paul Kelly Story by now. Everyone that needs to. I’ll link it here again though. I went to the tour in support of his Greatest Hits, a perfect volume covering his first decade. But I got a bit silly and tried to climb on stage. Anyway, a year later, he released this album. Which might still be my favourite single volume by him — even though it has no real ‘hits’ as such. But so many exquisite songs.

Phil Collins, Both Sides (1993)

My Phil Collins Appreciation was outed early in my life as a blogger, because, why not? He’s fantastic. A voice like a bell, an incredible producer and multi-instrumentalist, and sometimes a very good song writer, and often a very good song selector and stylist when it comes to covers. He was just everywhere and bald and those two things pissed a lot of people off, particularly as the 80s turned toward the 1990s. Phil was running this insane double-career where he’d tour the world on the back of a huge Genesis album, then go straight in on a new solo album and tour the world again. This was his 1980s. Well, there were TV and film cameos as an actor, and various guest spots and production work for other artists as well. Exhausting. No wonder people grew tired of him. He capped his 80s with the Serious Hits…Live! tour and album/concert VHS, and then one of the biggest Genesis tours of his and their career and the We Can’t Dance album too. So, after all those hits, he released Both Sides. And no one really cared. Apart from Winston Peters!

But I cared. In fact I think three of Collins’ all-time best songs are on Both Sides. It took me a while to fully get with the program. But I think it’s his last gem of an album. (Well, unless you’re counting the Tarzan soundtrack. But more on that some other time. We really should count the Tarzan soundtrack).

Queen, Hot Space (1982)

So I’m pushing it to say this is one of Queen’s better albums — but it’s one of the ones I prefer (I’m a lapsed fan at best). I arrived at this album late, and curious — because it had usually been written off as a towering mistake. And maybe it (still) is, but I like it. (And I always want to hear those sorts of albums, to see what all the rage or rant is about). Some great playing, some solid feels. And then I realise it’s the album that arrived when? Why, after the Greatest Hits of course!

Joni Mitchell, Taming The Tiger (1998)

I love every Joni Mitchell album, but as with a couple of others on this list — Paul Kelly, Enya — I really only knew the Greatest Hits for a while; that was the introduction, and then I was eager to hear the abum that arrived straight after. Taming The Tiger isn’t full of later-career ‘hits’ but it is packed with great songs. Because that’s what Joni does. I love her voice on this, the arrangements and instrumentation, and I also love that it’s one of the ‘lesser mentioned’ albums in her catalogue (these days anyway). You will never beat 1970s Joni. No one will. So how could she? But my next favourite decade is 1990s Joni. Easily.

Violent Femmes, Why Do Birds Sing? (1991)

I was introduced to the music of the Violent Femmes on a school bus trip, such a treat to have the teachers and driver basically ‘pranked’ as we lured them into a slightly false sense of security before the famous “Why can’t I get/Just one FUCK?!” line. That was from their debut of course, but I first heard it on Debacle, the compilation that closes out the 1980s and collects up the best songs from the band’s first four albums and a couple of singles. I still really love that collection — but shortly after its release they dropped this album. And it was my Christmas present at the end of the year when the Femmes meant so much to me. I think the cover of Do you Really Want To Hurt Me is one of the Violent Femmes’ best songs, and a brilliant cover, but there were so many good tracks on this album. To this day it remains right up there for me in the Femmes’ catalogue.

Suzanne Vega, Songs in Red and Gray (2001)

I love every album by Suzanne Vega. But her first greatest hits collection is that rare thing — it’s very good even if you already own all the albums. Just a very smart selection, and some days it would feel like you’d covered a lot of ground just listening to that. Vega was a half-dozen albums into her career, and then well anthologised. So when Songs in Red And Gray arrived, after a longer break than usual, I really wasn’t expecting too much from it. Until I actually heard it. Straight away, it has songs that are the equal of anything on any of her other albums. And some that I think are even better. It remains a bit of a secret too. Not one of the albums regularly mentioned in any conversations around her and her work.

So, there you go. There’s ten that I thought of straight away; ten examples. I guess it used to be ultimate fan-badge stuff in a way; you knew to stay on after the greatest hits. You knew there was more gold in them there hills. You knew there was more magic. And it could sometimes feel nice to have something of a secret: The album that even some of the other hardcore fans had decided they didn’t really need…

---

Being a Friday, there’s also our regular playlist. Have at it. Tell me what you think. Or don’t. Share your thougths about any of the albums above, or give them a listen. Let me know about any of your picks for the album that directly followed the greatest hits and offered a whole new sound, a change of direction, or just a great set of tunes.

And thank you — as ever — for reading, for listening. For sticking with me while you do. Happy Friday, and weekend to you and yours.