Let us praise first-rate collections of first-rate songs but let us skip the twenty-four albums awarded some variation of the E grade. Also: albums vs. songs, Mary J. Blige, Geese, and chansons.
Jamie, it seems memory failed you on one count--the Wilson Pickett comp belongs with the upper echelon, A+. . . . And just off the top of my head, let's not forget to mention Elmore James.
I might add that I appreciate juxtaposition and flow, intrarelation, interrelation, and synergy among tracks--possibly creating a coherent arc, a journey--on a best-of as much as on any other album, but we don't often get it from the pros (some exceptions noted in your question), so we're left to do it ourselves if we so desire.
I swear people will compare Geese to anything except the music they are actually heavily derivative of. Which isn’t me saying they are boring or uninteresting but more how hard people try to pretend they are new.
Pierre de Gaillande also put out Bad Reputation 2, another collection of Brassens songs translated to English. Both are worth a listen.
How’s Georgia?
Jamie, it seems memory failed you on one count--the Wilson Pickett comp belongs with the upper echelon, A+. . . . And just off the top of my head, let's not forget to mention Elmore James.
I might add that I appreciate juxtaposition and flow, intrarelation, interrelation, and synergy among tracks--possibly creating a coherent arc, a journey--on a best-of as much as on any other album, but we don't often get it from the pros (some exceptions noted in your question), so we're left to do it ourselves if we so desire.
I swear people will compare Geese to anything except the music they are actually heavily derivative of. Which isn’t me saying they are boring or uninteresting but more how hard people try to pretend they are new.