Who Are Your "Greatest Hits" Kinda Bands?

I've got Steve Miller Band. What's yours?

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It’s no secret that I’m generally not a fan of greatest hits albums. Even if I’m digging into a band for the first time, I’m usually forgoing a career-spanning volume in favor of researching what is considered to be their best entry point. When albums are often portraits of a period in an artist’s life, context matters, warts and all.

I do take exception sometimes, though. A case in point is thrifting a cassette version of Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974-1978 earlier this week. The Space Cowboy’s peak career “best of” has been in my life for as long as I can remember. My parents played it all the time while growing up. I’ve had it on CD and vinyl, and yet here I was, unable to say “no” and picking it up yet again (the cassette version sounds awesome btw).

Sure, it doesn’t cover Miller’s earlier career, while only covering three albums (The Joker, Fly Like An Eagle, Book of Dreams) and is missing his eighties hit, “Abracadabra.” So I guess you could consider it an incomplete cash grab, as are most greatest hits compilations. But for my personal preferences, this is all the Steve Miller Band I will ever need. It does a great job of including all of the enormous radio hits like “Take the Money and Run,” “Jungle Love,” and “Jet Airliner,” but also includes great stuff like “Swingtown,” “True Fine Love,” and the “Rocky Mountain Way” aping “Threshold” that I love only because I’ve been listening to this damn thing for thirty-five plus years.

So my question to you, reader, is, what great hits collection is enough for you when it comes to a particular band? Let me know in the comments!

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