Complete Works: So who do you feel compelled to own absolutely everything by, even the mediocre stuff?
Imperial Phase: Who are you happy to to have the generally accepted classics or canon of, maybe the odd leftfield choice by but never felt the need to go beyond that?
The Best Of: Happy with one compilation and/or that one classic album.
Complete Works – I reckon this the least rational category – not much rhyme or reason to this one –
So for me A Certain Ratio and Cabaret Voltaire because the sleeve artwork is almost always brilliant and the music veers from some of the most influential ever made, to absolute mediocrity.
Autechre, XTC, Cardiacs, Wire, Stereolab, Broadcast, Demdike Stare, Cocteau Twins, Japan, Prefab Sprout – because they didn’t/haven’t made any bad records yet. Soft Machine because even their bad records are interesting. I’ll include Kraftwerk and My Bloody Valentine but excluding the prehistoric records they’ve also disowned – which I’ve never heard.
The Fall sit somewhere in between because I still resisted some of their later albums.
Imperial Phase: Stones from Satanic Majesties to Exile. Happy with Fairport ‘Holidays’ – ‘Full House’ , King Crimson (Debut, Starless, Larks, Red, Discipline), Roxy Music, The Who, The Kinks, Duran Duran, OMD, Echo and the Bunnymen, Kate Bush, Bowie, The Cure, Can, John Foxx, Buzzcocks,
The Best Of: Madness, Depeche Mode, Human League, Jimmy Webb, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, The Stranglers, Blur, Mott, The Byrds (many more)
Your best of list makes for some easy explorations for cherry-picking some great albums from big discographies:
One Step Beyond… and The Liberty of Norton Folgate
Violator
Dare
You’re probably right about Jimmy Webb
The Doors and LA Woman
Rumours
Rattus Norvegicus (and others – paging Rigid)
Parklife and Modern Life is Rubbish
All The Young Dudes
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
You called, I shall respond.
Rattus is the best cherry pick, closely followed by Black and White.
The Raven and The Gospel According to the Meninblack are also worthy of investigation
Feline’s one of their best too.
Japan’s complete works would include the first two albums, Obscure Alternatives and Adolescent Sex. Both largely horrible.
The Doors always seem to come up in this.
All my favourite songs of theirs wouldn’t be on the “Hits.”
Ditto The Byrds, how many Byrds’ comps. miss off probably their greatest three minutes, “Lady Friend”? Pretty much all of them.
One of the most underrated singles ever released. Love how the chiming guitars sound like church bells.
My very first Byrds “Best Of” opened with Lady Friend! And yes, it’s one of their very best songs.
Imperial phase: Rod Stewart. From An Old Raincoat … to Atlantic Crossing (possibly A Night On The Town?). Including Faces.
Faces, yes. Solo, Old Raincoat to Smiler (and I’m a bit 50/50 on Smiler, it’s where he really started to coast). Once Rod signed with Warners, quality went off the edge of a cliff.
The complete works:
The Jam – although if you want to go down the Best Of route, Snap is one of the finest comps out there
The Clash – although tread carefully after London Calling
I’d say tread carefully before London Calling! (Sandinista was their best, imho.)
Re: “Sandinista was their best”
Listen to Gary on this point. He speaks the truth.
Best of:
Painful to admit, but Buzzcocks are best in 3 minute single format.
but going steady makes for a cracking album!
Complete – Dylan, Van Morrison,Bruce, John Fogerty, Lucinda Williams, Laura Marling,Richard Thompson (though I do have a few gaps with RT)
Imperial – Stones, Costello, Joni Mitchell, Bowie, Emmylou
Greatest hits – The Who, The Kinks, The Jam, Elton
Imperial Bedroom must be part of Costello’s “Imperial” phase – the clue is in the name!
Complete – very few but as of last week I tracked down the first album by the Pearlfishers to complete the collection
Imperial – Joni
Best of – The Doors (my own comp)
Back in the early 90s when the WWW was still just a glint in Tim’s eye. I set about collecting the full set of Hank Williams complete works set of 8 CDs that Polydor put together. I couldn’t find them all I the UK so spent hours on holiday in the US in record shops ( no special journeys!). Since then, loads more recordings have been released. Is there a complete works of anyone available?
I’ve always been ridiculous for wanting every album by artists I like. I like to be able to put all their music into context this way. It has led to me buying loads of CDs that I am very unlikely to ever play more than once. It’s only recently that I have been able to rein this compulsion in. Morrissey, Belle and Sebastian and Half Man Half Biscuit are three off the top of my head that are now complete up to their most recent album. It really was a big step to be able to do this without it eating away at me, but I’m really pleased with myself for finally managing it! This despite me making a pledge when I switched from vinyl to CD that I’d only buy CDs that I am going to listen to.
So there are loads where I have every album on CD, far too many to list. And even more where I have the complete works by someone on MP3 (or MP4A or whatever format they are nowadays). But I have pretty impressive CD collections by Pet Shop Boys, where I pretty much have everything that’s that’s come out in this country (Albums, singles, promos, interview discs, fan club discs, etc). Tracking down every CD by MF DOOM took some time (and money!), as did all of Felt’s reissue series. I’ve also amassed an impressive KLF collection, including all the Recovered and Remastered series, plus every CD by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. My best collection though is my Stephen Duffy one. I have absolutely everything there is to be had apart from the withdrawn Baby Impossible 7” single.
Electronically, I have managed to track down just about every version of every song for quite a few artists. For a lot of them it wasn’t easy. Acts like Depeche Mode, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Beatles (including bootlegs), Stones, etc. And for some rappers (eg Brother Ali, NaS, Guru, etc) I’ve even tracked down every track they guest on. The wife thinks I have an obsessive compulsive disorder. She may be right.
But there must be another 50 artists at least where I’d still buy any new album they released on CD (Skepta’s arrived yesterday), although money having become tighter will slow that down. Finding artists where I am happy with just a greatest hits is not as easy, as if I only have a greatest hits CD I will probably have some albums electronically. I think we’d only be looking at 50s, 60s and 70s artists. The Merry-Go-Round is one. Chuck Berry another, there aren’t many. And for single albums, with absolutely nothing else by them (apart from those still early in their careers) it gets harder still. A quick look at my CD shelves and I found Becoming X by Sneaker Pimps (I like that album, so I don’t know why I haven’t explored further, unless they only did that one), similar with Cut, by The Slits. There’s Edward Ball with Catholic Guilt, Shelleyan Orphan with Helleborine and, of course Bat Out Of Hell. I can’t imagine ever wanting any more Meat Loaf, or even playing the one I have, even though I quite like it.
Truth be told, there are plenty of artists, including some big artists, where just a greatest hits would do. Similarly, there are plenty of bands for whom only one album is required, because all their albums sound the same. I won’t name names though!
Right, after doing this I now have a pile of CDs out that I want to play next…
Edit – it’s only after I press the submit button that I realise I’ve gone on a bit, as usual. It’s been a good exercise though, as it’s made me question my habits and has highlighted quite a few CDs that I might get rid of (am I ever going to play that album by Cast again??).
Paul, if you only have the one Shelleyan Orphan album, you should really get Century Flower as well. I can “help”.
I also have almost everything New Order put their name to, in some format or other, including numerous doof-doof mixes on DJ compilations. Most unlikely I will ever want to hear any of them again. There’s a promo CD of mixes of Guilt Is A Useless Emotion which lasts over an hour, of a song which would be best heard in under a minute.
I can think of only one act who lasted more than about 7 years where “everything” is the preferred option … The Beatles.
No one “needs” Knocked Out Loaded, Dirty Work, Misfits, Face Dances or Press to Play, unless they require a cheap coaster mat for their Theakston’s Old Peculiar.
In which case – job done.
I can’t guarantee I have absolutely everything but there are quite a few artists I can claim to be completist over:
The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane, Miles Davis (although I don’t have every single box set), Talking Heads, Roxy Music, Massive Attack, Burial, Joy Dvision, The Undertones, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Pixies, The White Stripes, Melanie De Basio, Zara McFarlane, Steely Dan+Don Fagan+Walter Becker, Magazine, Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Tricky, Tom Waits, The Supremes, Specials, Sly & The Family Stone, Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake, Nick Cave (The Birthday Party, Bad Seeds & Grinderman), Melody Gardot, Maxwell, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Kraftwerk, Jimi Hendrix, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Grace Jones, Goldfrapp, GoGo Penguin, Flying Lotus, Four Tet, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chic, Can, Burning Spear, The Blue Nile, Björk and Agnes Obel.
Now, I feel depressed. My life has been a total waste. 😃
Trouble is, you never know it’s their Imperial Phase until well after it’s over. Having said that, some examples of my complete works are Any Trouble, del amitri, Green on Red, Dawes and Spirit of the West; Imperial Phase(s) – The Waterboys, Neil Young, Thompy and The Stones; Best Of – The Doors – Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine, Steely Dan – Greatest Hits (ABCD 616), Jimi Hendrix – Best Of (Sainsbury’s).
I often consider the glut of music fan archives that will come onto the market between now and about 30years time (when the age cohort who like the physical item eventually pass). I have thousands of recorded items. My son will have a sift and see what he likes, but I imagine the rest will end up recycled. There must be many wives also mindful of this. I have a friend with a room of zappa, all the vinyl, all the cds, and hundreds of bootlegs (same), plus books, emphemera, etc. She is indifferent to irritated by it, and is unlikely to want to keep it if he dies first. Maybe people should bequeath their music collections to a private music educational trust as a resource for the future.
Yes, one of the best jobs to have at the moment is the record ‘adviser’ at places like Oxfam, as there is going to be some great stuff passing through their hands in the coming years.
Partly for insurance purposes, but partly so the wife doesn’t get ripped off when I snuff it, I’ve been through everything I own (I’m an obsessive collector of comics, books, autographs, trading cards, magazines, Batman memorabilia, football programmes, all kinds of stuff!) and made spreadsheets with the rough values against everything. Otherwise some ‘expert’ would walk in here and have a field day. I have asked, however, that she keeps it all until the kids have grown up, so that they can decide what they want to keep, but I know that most of it, the stuff I have spent decades collecting, will be gone in a matter of weeks, for a fraction of its value, and the money received will be blown on a holiday or two.
The absolute worst artist to be a completist over isn’t Dylan, Beefheart, Zappa or even The Fall. It’s Beck. As well as making some fantastic records he has committed hours upon hours of absolute drivel to tape. I have 25 albums of his and well over half are pretty much unlistenable. They are mainly demo albums he put together, which are little more than him pissing about with a tape recorder. I was quite excited when I happened upon them, as I quite like some of his lo-fi albums, but these are lower than lo-fi.
He still does that, or was it earlier on?
Most of them are his early demo tapes, but he has done 5 ‘record club’ albums a few years ago, where he and a few friends cover a classic album in a day. The results are mixed, from not very good to downright terrible.
Not really anyone, though I must be close to having everything Little Feat have done, maybe the odd late album or live set is missing. I don’t have all the Tu;; though close to it as there are a few shockers I wouldn’t buy. I’m not that much of a completist.
I’m actually a completist for Lowell George, including Little Feat, side projects and solo.
Yes I’ve got a fair few actually. The stuff with John Sebastian is good.
A bad Tull album. Surely not? But my indifference about Yes releasing another live album recently (Yes50) showed how far they’ve fallen. Barring Steve Howe’s great playing, they have become more underwhelming with every year. For Yes, it has to be Imperial, plus a CD of the best bits of everything after ‘Drama’. Maybe including the best bits of ‘Drama’, when I think about it.
Looks like they are emulating Floyd with an ‘early years’ set coming at the end of 2019.
Complete Works: Led Zeppelin
Imperial: The Who (to Who Are You. Although for the sake of 3 albums, you may as well go for the Complete Works)
Imperial: Black Sabbath (the Ozzy years)
You must have different copies of Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die than I have, Rigid. The ones I have are full of clunkers.
Imperial: Black Sabbath (the Ronnie James Dio years.) All two albums!
Always up and coming and imperial phase with anyone
Genesis have two incarnations.
The Gabriel years is a Complete Works contender.
The Collins era is the “Complete Works until 1983”
Crikey I’m such a lightweight compared to the Grandmasters above. XTC, REM, The Beatles, David Bowie, Prefab Sprout, The Monkees, Belle and Sebastian, Brian Eno, Half Man Half Biscuit, Momus, The Smiths and The Fall are the completist ones that spring to mind.
Lots of imperial phase. Human League, The Clash, The Byrds, Scott Walker, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Yes, The Groundhogs.
I can throughly recommend the new Cherry Red reissues of the first two Fall albums. Even Dragnet sounds (a bit) better.
Wow! You must have a cupboard full (not a mere shelf) of Eno and Bowie albums!
(I don’t have everything Bowie released before Space Oddity.)
As I’ve said before on here before Space Oddity is probably my second favourite Bowie period. After the late 70s masterpieces.
One could make a case that Zeppelin’s imperial phase is actually their complete works….
This one would make the case that after Led Zep IV, only Physical Graffiti really cuts the mustard.
Fair enough: but I’m sure I’m not the only one here who would consider Presence at least the equal of the usual big hitters…
Seconded
With a lot of artist and bands I’ve started with a best of, moved on to the imperial phase and then bought everything they’ve put out. Suddenly you’re sitting there with Landing On Water.
The Ramones – (nearly) The Complete Works. Everything up to and including Halfway To Sanity.
After that, it’s a case of “proceed if you wish”.
I’ve tried, but I really can’t make a strong case for needing to own Brain Drain or Mondo Bizarro or Adios Amigos.
The covers album, Acid Eaters, is worthy of at least one spin (or more if your in my house)
I’d argue the last great Ramones album is the first Joey Ramone solo album. It sounds exactly like I expected the 4th Ramones album to sound like and was waiting for it ever since!
Pop:
Madonna – imperial phase: Like a Virgin through to Confessions on a Dancefloor, with just the odd mis-step. Everything since Confessions…
Britney – Greatest Hits
Spice Girls – Greatest Hits (will defend this to death. They have 12 great tracks. Not more than 12, but that’s enough.)
S Club 7 – EP
Prince – lies exactly on the fault line between Imperial and Completist.
Imperial Phase: Oasis. Definitely Maybe to Be Here Now (careful after that, but all still pretty good)
Blur: Complete Works
Manics
Complete Works (with a gap in the middle), or 3 Imperial Phases
Phase 1:
Generation Terrorists
Gold Against the Soul
The Holy Bible
Phase 2:
Everything Must Go
This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Know Your EnemyLifebloodPhase 3
Send Away the Tigers
Journal for Plague LoversPostcards from a Young Man
Rewind the Film
Futurology
Resistance Is Futile
And now I’m arguing with myself.
The National Treasures singles compo may be the easiest way to consume The Manics
For me they are an exemplary Greatest Hits band. Only TIMTTMY is really essential as an album (others argue for Holy Bible, but as music not as an artefact I find it hard going)
Question?
If someone proposes Queen – The Complete Works, do they mean the entire catalogue or the 1985 Box Set (which is probably defined as The Imperial Phase)
Another question – has anything called The Complete Works ever actually been the complete works?
{Civilian mode} An honest question: do Queen actually have a really all-killer no-filler album? The only ones I’ve listened to are A Night at the Opera, Jazz and The Works and they all have clunkers.
The very definition of a Best Of band to me.
Sheer Heart Attack
I think I only have complete works by two bands: Van der Graaf Generator and Soft Machine – but it’s the Softs that drive you crazy….all those Cuniform live albums…