Here beginnith the Compilation Compendium

Welcome to the Compilation Compendium! A blog designed to review those albums that often indicate the end of times for some artists, the compilation album. During the course of this blog I'll be looking at box sets, single discs, double discs, and the occasional triple disc. We'll be hearing a lot from the usual suspects in the reissue field like Warner's Rhino, Sony's Legacy, UMG's Chronicles, etc. And I'll also be going over some specific "series" like Rhino's various Anthologies , Sony's Essentials, UMG's Gold, and EMI's Legendary Masters Series. My purpose of this is to show that there is a variance in how compilation albums are put together and approached. To do this, I will be using the following terminology...

• Standard Greatest Hits - This is typically a one disc affair and more often than not has the words "greatest hits" on it. Mostly comprised of singles that made a serious dent on the charts or were fan favorites at live shows. Occasionally an artist will throw in some new tracks to sweeten the deal. More often than not these will not be arranged in chronological order.

• Quick fix - Similar to above but with a heavily abridged track listing and lower price point. Most of the time, these will be branded as part of a series (Super Hits, 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection, etc.)

• Aural History - These albums take more of a scholarly approach to an artist, usually focusing on a combination of hits and album tracks arranged in chronological order to trace overall development. Early examples date back to the 1970s with Atco's "History of Eric Clapton" and Neil Young's "Decade", but the format really took off in the early 90's following the smash success of Clapton's "Crossroads" box set.

• Catalog Killer - These attempt the everything but the kitchen sink approach. Where aural history albums usually leave sizable gaps in certain albums to get you interested in looking for their artists' albums, these albums leave no gaps. They're all studio works with rarities and non-album singles included designed for the fans who are already aware of said work and don't need an introduction.

As of late there has been a great deal of crossbreeding between these types so I'll be annotating them accordingly. Also in my reviews I will be looking (or listening) at sound quality, packaging, and liner notes. So with that out of the way... welcome to The Compilation Compendium!