Spotlight: CLASSICS VOLUME 1

[Captaindave]

I generally agree...

For a casual listener or someone who wants to have a sample of the music, a compilation is a good idea and probably sufficient. That kind of listener probably isn't going to be too concerned about the song list nor even know all the little details of what might or should or could be on the list.

Based on the experience I have had in buying compilations, I have done so in order to get songs which are often found on such recordings, but without the expense of getting all the albums with all the extra content that I might not necessarily care to have.

For the more serious fan, the only way to go is simply to get all the albums. That is why I was glad to see the reissue project happen.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I agree with most everything in the last two posts.

I made myself a 3-disk TJB compilation and there are STILL some songs I had to cut to make everything fit. Plus there are a handful of tunes that I wasn't really liking that much when I made the set, that I would include if I was making it today.

 

[gameenjoyer]

In all honesty, I see no reason why anything from Lost Treasures would have to be on a Classics compilation. Lost Treasures is basically a collection of the stuff that Alpert didn't deem worthy of release during the TJB's run, which hardly screams "classic" to me, and a few songs from You Smile-The Song Begins rereleased (five if I recall what I've read correctly).

Personally, my opinion would be that if five of the tracks from You Smile-The Song Begins are worth releasing on Lost Treasures and then you have the one that isn't rare because it was released on Foursider ("Last Tango in Paris"), that's half the album and should have made the album itself worthy of rerelease, thus freeing those five slots on Lost Treasures for other truly unreleased songs, but then what do I know other than if the album were rereleased and I found a copy, I'd buy it?

I also understand the statement about Christmas songs on compilations, but let's not forget that "My Favorite Things" made one of the other compilations. I think it was Greatest Hits, Volume 2, if I recall correctly. That's not really a "Christmas song" so it could make a good compromise track on a compilation, just something so that the Christmas Album could be represented.

Certainly the only "compilation" that would please everybody would be a box set of every song the TJB ever recorded, whether it was released or not, although then you'd have people complaining "why in the world did they include (insert name of song they dislike here)?" But who am I kidding? Such a thing is unlikely to happen, especially now that most of the albums have been released individually.

The "problem" with the TJB is that they are such a good group that few and far between (if even extant) are the clunkers that are so bad that all of their fans agree that the song is not a classic. Most any TJB song I would think would have its proponents, and mostly for good reason. Thus, the job of making a compilation would be very difficult because, inevitably, almost everybody would have at least one of their favorites overlooked. That there is what makes compilations so hard to rate is the fact that even if you compile 25 good songs (which this compilation did), there are many more that remain unpresent.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Most any TJB song I would think would have its proponents, and mostly for good reason.

Very true. There are even a few "Talk to the Animals" fans around here.

Thus, the job of making a compilation would be very difficult because, inevitably, almost everybody would have at least one of their favorites overlooked.

Yep. Why the masterpiece "The Sea Is My Soil" has never been on a comp will always be a mystery.