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Greatest Hits?

the wufsthe wufs Posts: 2
edited December 2003 in Words and Music...Communication
I'm new to the PJ forums so I'm guessing this subject may have been addressed before, but wouldn't it be great if Pearl Jam put out a double-CD best of? I've got "Lost Dogs" and some of it's quite good, and I've got all the albums, but I still think that a compilation of career highlights (which might also include "I Got Id" and "Crazy Mary", never on full-length in their studio versions) would be wonderful. Like I said, I think a two-CD running time would be absolutely necessary since the group has had seven studio albums and so many non-album hits as well, and, as I realize that the band might be suspicious about the ultimate aesthetic value of such a document, especially given their understandable reluctance to kowtow to corporate interests (I'm sure Epic would love the idea even though Pearl Jam doesn't owe them any more music), I'm wondering if a favorable consensus from the group's fans might persuade them of its worth. What do people think? I think a band with such a rich oevure deserves a good retrospective, and I also think that Pearl Jam owes it to their fans and to themselves. Hits aren't everything, but Pearl Jam's had an awful lot of great ones and not to recognize that would be a shame.
Post edited by Unknown User on

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    Black Circle SpinBlack Circle Spin Posts: 55
    Good point, but I think a collection like that should come out AFTER the band has called it quits.



    My tracklist for such a collection

    1. Alive
    2. Even Flow
    3. Save You
    4. Dissident
    5. Hail Hail
    6. RVM
    7. Nothingman
    8. Jeremy
    9. Who You Are
    10. Sad
    11. Do the Evolution
    12. Spin the Black Circle
    13. Porch
    14. Release
    15. Small Town


    1. Yellow Ledbetter
    2. Daughter
    3. Love Boat Captain
    4. State of Love and Trust
    5. I Am Mine
    6. Last Kiss
    7. Lukin
    8. Not For You
    9. Corduroy
    10. Betterman
    11. Black
    12. Light Years
    13. Nothing as it Seems
    14. Man of the Hour
    15. Given to Fly
    16. Wishlist
    I'm not too concerned with PJ20, because I celebrate the band's existence every year.
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    Eddie Louis SeversonEddie Louis Severson Posts: 285
    ummmm.......i know everyone here would like a greatest hits CD, but i agree that it should be made after they called quits, cus greatest hits in most of all cases indiactes the end of a band-and persuade them to do that is the least us fans would like to do, so....id rather have all the studio albums they release.
    Nothing Better than Leather, man!

    ''i dont wanna think, i wanna feel''
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    AffaAffa Posts: 9
    wash? =,(
    Safe outside my glided cage with an ounce of pain, I wield a ton of rage, just like suicide...
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    theskyiscrapetheskyiscrape Posts: 69
    i wouldn't like it if they released a gh cd
    em ot sselecirp si y c a v i r p
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    crazycommisarcrazycommisar Posts: 60
    i would think if they were realeasing a GH CD that they wouldnt be making any new hits and then i wouldnt know what to do with myself :(
    3503
    If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?


    MSU Class of '10
    James Madison School of International Relations
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    alexiliorrralexiliorrr Posts: 1
    Hello everybody:

    I´m alexiliorrr from Spain.This is my first mesaage here.

    Greatest hits can be used to show someone the style of a group,what they have to say and all this.But I think that there are other ways to do it if someone is interested in take contact whith it as,for example,radio or internet (we are in the information age).So I'm not sure that a GH CD is a good idea.Maybe for other kind of messages,but not for people as PJ,because exists an special movement arround their music and lyrics that can't be explained or lived whith some songs.Because ,how Lou Reed said,every record is a conplex thing,and it can't be broken because the sense turns diferent.This is not a teenager group.Well,this is my opinion...
    search for beauty,because beauty is the only thing that pays the cost of searching... Tomas de Aquino
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    given to jamgiven to jam Posts: 57
    i would have to spend hours working out my personal "greatest hits" for pearl jam. but considering it was only one cd, i would expect the record companies to put out something like this:

    alive
    even flow
    jeremy
    black
    yellow ledbetter
    rearviewmirror
    daughter
    elderly woman
    corduroy
    nothingman
    better man
    hail hail
    given to fly
    wishlist
    do the evolution
    last kiss
    nothing as it seems
    i am mine

    basically all the biggest hits... what a shame
    knowledge is a tree
    it's growing up just like me.
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    chefcroychefcroy Posts: 2
    Originally posted by the wufs
    I'm new to the PJ forums so I'm guessing this subject may have been addressed before, but wouldn't it be great if Pearl Jam put out a double-CD best of? I've got "Lost Dogs" and some of it's quite good, and I've got all the albums, but I still think that a compilation of career highlights (which might also include "I Got Id" and "Crazy Mary", never on full-length in their studio versions) would be wonderful. Like I said, I think a two-CD running time would be absolutely necessary since the group has had seven studio albums and so many non-album hits as well, and, as I realize that the band might be suspicious about the ultimate aesthetic value of such a document, especially given their understandable reluctance to kowtow to corporate interests (I'm sure Epic would love the idea even though Pearl Jam doesn't owe them any more music), I'm wondering if a favorable consensus from the group's fans might persuade them of its worth. What do people think? I think a band with such a rich oevure deserves a good retrospective, and I also think that Pearl Jam owes it to their fans and to themselves. Hits aren't everything, but Pearl Jam's had an awful lot of great ones and not to recognize that would be a shame.
    pearl jam fan since the early days, lived in Paulsbo 1998 loved the july 22 show at the memorial stadium got the recent cd from penn st concert and going to get lost dogs for x-mas
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    chefcroychefcroy Posts: 2
    Originally posted by chefcroy
    when........? Can not wait for that to come out, I've pick up the live penn state concert and love it I play it all day while I'm fishing on the Chesapeake Bay and Live on Two Legs is my warm up music to any big day I have in the kitchen the kitchen guys love it. I remind them of days gone by when I lived across the Puget Sound and was at July 22 1998 show I miss those days and miss the beers at Hales Ale in Fremont. The best thing this band could do is produce the greatest hits, everything ever put together, shared and covered a box set would be worth it's price in gold!!!!!! This band is by far the best for their time and my life!!!If they ever knew how much I play the live on two legs cd for the rally cry for the day there has been alot of food prepared and tens of thousands people fed! Bring on the box set of greatest hits..... I missed the D.C. show July 2003 because of work always work .....real bummer
    pearl jam fan since the early days, lived in Paulsbo 1998 loved the july 22 show at the memorial stadium got the recent cd from penn st concert and going to get lost dogs for x-mas
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    a country doctora country doctor Posts: 145
    I think it is impossible to make a greatest hits compilation that satifys every fan. Everybody has different favourite PJ Songs, and most people, why do I say most people, I mean NOBODY knows all songs.

    So this thread is a bit useless, the question should be, what is your personal PJ greatest hits collection?

    Of course I like songs like Even Flow, Alive, Betterman, Daugther, Given to Fly and other just great songs of them.
    But I would not but them on my PJ Greatest hit cd.

    The really greatest PJ songs are unrealesed or sometimes just unbelivable good interpreted cover versions.

    So some examples for my PJ greatest hit cd:

    Breath
    Yellow Ledbetter
    I'm open (great lyrics)
    Who you are
    I've got a feeling ( a Beatles cover=)
    Olympic something (can't think of the name)
    Go
    Mankind
    and this demo tape of Ed "Just a girl" is somehow cool too
    BANZÄÄÄ

    When he was six, he believed that the moon overhead followed him
    By nine, he deciphered the illusion, trading magic for fact, no trade-backs
    So this is what it's like to be an adult?
    If he only knew now what he knew then
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    whoYOUarewhoYOUare Posts: 274
    it seems to me that is why they release every show as a CD. not only would someone want it because they were there, but some of the set lists (to a true fan anyway) are absolutely extrodinary. so in esance there many, many greatest hit Cds out there
    peace
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    SoLATisASoLATisA Posts: 215
    pearl jam's greatest hits:

    disc 1: ten / vs
    disc 2: vitalogy / merkinball / no code
    disc 3: yield / binaural
    disc 4: riot act / b sides / unreleased / singles / covers
    disc 5: all new songs

    i'm sorry, but i know any greatest hits cd would make me mad... this would be the only way to truly satisfy me. i can't really say there is a bad pearl jam song... there are strange songs.... but that doesn't mean they're not awesome in their own way.
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    the wufsthe wufs Posts: 2
    Ok, maybe I'm a little too technical, but I really think a "Greatest Hits" CD should be a HITS collection - perhaps such an idea would be antithetical to the Pearl Jam philosophy, but since these message boards are more about what the fans think, and everybody seems to be posting their own fantasy "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" track listings, here goes:

    Disc 1

    1) Alive
    2) Even Flow
    3) Jeremy
    4) Black
    5) Yellow Ledbetter
    6) Crazy Mary
    7) Animal
    8) Daughter
    9) Dissident
    10) Better Man
    11) Corduroy
    12) Immortality
    13) I Got Id
    14) Who You Are

    Disc 2

    1) Hail Hail
    2) Off He Goes
    3) Given to Fly
    4) Wishlist
    5) Do the Evolution
    6) In Hiding
    7) Nothing As it Seems
    8) Light Years
    9) Last Kiss
    10) Save You
    11) I Am Mine
    12) Love Boat Captain

    I'd probably make an allowance for Pearl Jam's new single on Disc 2, but I haven't actually heard it yet. Actually, "Even Flow" and "Do the Evolution" aren't among my favorite Pearl Jam songs, but this is a best-of and I feel like all or most of PJ's hits should be represented. My favorite Pearl Jam album is "Vitalogy", but I thought including more than three songs would tip the balance too heavily towards the early stuff, which is already very well represented. Technically, "Corduroy" wasn't a single - two other singles besides the ones listed on here were issued from "Vitalogy", "Spin the Black Circle" (which I actually love) and "Not For You", with "Corduroy" as a b-side on one of the singles - but it got a lot of airplay and it's a staple of nearly every Pearl Jam concert. Also, it might be my favorite song of theirs. I must say, though, that only a masochist could deny the pleasure of having all of Pearl Jam's anthems back-to-back on one collection. In the absence of a real best-of just rip from all of your Pearl Jam albums (as opposed to Kazaa) and burn yourself a copy.
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    TheGreatBelowTheGreatBelow Posts: 16
    If the best of was just album tracks:

    Go
    Black
    Love Boat Captain
    Jeremy
    Sometimes
    Faithfull
    Save You
    Corduroy
    Dissident
    Last Exit
    Spin The Black Circle
    Immortality

    Evacuation
    In My Tree
    Red Mosquito
    Garden
    Given To Fly
    In Hiding
    Insignificance
    Of The Girl
    Indifference
    I Am Mine
    Alive

    Not exactly this order...... but how can you pick a best of?
    If I knew where it was I'd take you there
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    Aussie's Rock!Aussie's Rock! Posts: 49
    I think if a greatest hits was ever going to be compiled it would be done in the same way nearly every other greatest hits are done - the obscure songs that appeal to the minority are not going to sell - therefore it would be a compilation of the highest selling and most requested songs.

    Take Loaded Dog for instance - got many non-jammer friends that are at all interested in listening to your little treasure??!

    Bet you the only song they know off it is Last Kiss - pfft
    "Things don't really change - they just move on."
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    eddies grrleddies grrl Posts: 509
    I think a mid-career GH could (and has) been done. The only problem would be, greatest hits according to WHOM? Billboard? Rolling Stone? Purely sales-wise, they haven't had ALOT of "hits" so to speak (#1 on the charts, etc.). The REAL judges of their Greatest TUNES would be the fans. And then, they'd need to release a 4-disc set, 'cause 2 just would not do.
    Life is the riddle
    Of which we're caught in the middle.
    A couple of lucky ones
    Tangled up in too much love
    ~cowboy junkies
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    pariahpariah Posts: 596
    I vote for an 11 CD-box, but I still think it wouldn't be enough...
    "Until you realize the importance of the banana king, you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world."
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    whoYOUarewhoYOUare Posts: 274
    ha ha i completely agree with you, they should also include DVD of concert footage, and the MTV unplugged, as well as interviews withteh band members
    peace
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    pariahpariah Posts: 596
    RIGHT! Was MTV unplugged ever realeased on VHS or CD anyway?

    EDIT: I feel anyway is not the right word here... anyone help me out on my English?
    "Until you realize the importance of the banana king, you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world."
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