New Wave Outpost Forum

Some bands had stronger (and more memorable) early 'greatest hits' packages than regular albums. These are my 10 greatest. What are yours?

1. Buzzcocks - "Singles Going Steady" 1981
2. Squeeze - "Singles 45's and Under" 1982
3. Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Once Upon A Time: The Singles" 1981
4. The Damned - "Another Great Record by The Damned" 1981
5. Bauhaus - "Singles: 79-83" 1984
6. Cocteau Twins - "The Pink Opaque" 1985
7. The Jam - "Snap!" 1984
8. Split Enz - "History Never Repeats" 1986
9. Ultravox (w/John Foxx)- "Three Into One" 1980
10. The Stranglers - "The Collection: 77-82" 1982

Wow, you pretty well covered it SuNomi. Nice. Maybe the Cure, Staring at the Sea 1979-1985 (1986)? R.E.M.'s Eponymous had a couple of good early tracks as well. Maybe replace Snap! with one of those - I could never rationalize missing out of any of The Jam's great catalog.

"Staring at the Sea" came to my mind before I read Blir's response. I listened to that one to death. Still love it. Well, OK, "The Hanging Garden" is a bit too creepy and "Love Cats" and "The Caterpillar" are a bit too cutesy/artsy, but every other song is fantastic.

Another one that deserves mention is "Catching Up With Depeche Mode" (1985) or is that not a pure singles collection? Did New Order's "Substance" (1987) come too late to qualify?

1. [i]Substance[/i] - NewOrder
2. [i]Substance[/i] - Joy Division
3. [i]The Collection[/i] - Ultravox
4. [i]Exorcising Ghosts[/i] - Japan
5. [i]Assemblage[/i] - Japan
6. [i]Hatful Of Hollow[/i] - The Smiths

I'll have to think about it some more. Some of the collections I'm thinking of came out in the 90s and in the 2000s.

Oh, man - How did I forget "Hatful"? That's another one I listened to constantly back in the day.

I am at work waiting to leave... so here goes:

how about "Songs to Learn and Sing" by Echo & the Bunnymen? It was a short comp but it was the only place at that time to get the hard to find single "The Puppet"... plus it was just a killer comp for anybody getting into the band at that time.

As for the almighty Smiths "Hatful Of Hollow" and "Louder Than Bombs" (which technically was World Won't Listen with a bunch of singles) both got alot of play on my turntable back in the day. Hatful is probably my all time fave Smiths record to this day.

Shriekback - The Infinite 1985

I would agree with the Cure - Staring At the Sea (especially the cassette, because it had all the b-sides up to that time in there!)
Man, that Bauhaus compilation was the sh*t back then, it was super deluxe-o packaging AND had a complete discography of the band and related bands on the inside sleeve and you could stare at the sleeves for days. Major time spent in between girlfriends poring over that stuff.

Lemme also mention The Stranglers' compilation ('77-'82). I may not listen to it a lot nowadays, but when I first got it I played that shit in a loop.

Good choices I would also add

Gang of Four: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century
The Specials, Selecter, Madness: This are Two Tone
The English Beat: What is Beat

The Primitives & The Wonderstuff singles collection were great.

[quote][i]Originally posted by scramjet[/i]
<br>"Staring at the Sea" came to my mind before I read Blir's response. I listened to that one to death. Still love it. Well, OK, "The Hanging Garden" is a bit too creepy and "Love Cats" and "The Caterpillar" are a bit too cutesy/artsy, but every other song is fantastic.

[/quote]

I'd vote for "Japanese Whispers" instead.

I still have [i]Concert[/i] on cassette[}:)] Good live album...