New Wave Outpost Forum

I am the first to admit that I am still something of a novice when it comes to New Wave music. That being said, I wanna know what you guys recommend in terms of greatest hits or singles compilations I should look into to get a more defined sense of an artist's history.

For instance, do you think I should give The Cars' Greatest Hits a listen? What about The B-52's? Any and all suggestions for great music would be appreciated.

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I think if you stick with the B-52's first two albums you'll be getting the very best stuff they put out.

As for Blondie, I never cared a lot for the singles/hits comps because I'm such a huge fan & think there are too many great album tracks. I think the double Platinum Collection is a good overview though.

There are a few double and even triple disc compilations by a lot of new wave artists available. I think these are better than the usual single-disc comps, as they are more likely to include album tracks or b-sides in addition to the hits, giving a better overview of what a band is like.

For instance, with the Cars, I would highly recommend the "Just What I Needed" anthology that Rhino had put out. You need very little else if you just have that thing (in my opinion, anyway).

As for the B-52's, I agree with WolverineSyr. They're the type of band where I feel that a compilation would cover their hits, but for me would probably miss a number of favorite album tracks. I would also add "Whammy" into the selections that WolverineSyr had mentioned, it's a pretty good album overall.

Why not buy some compilations (good ones that actually tell you which albums the singles were from) and then highlight your fave tracks off the compilations. Then, get the albums from which those tracks came from and give the whole album a listen.

TM

I tell you what--why not go to Pandora Internet Radio: Not only will you get to know similar artists to the one you question, but they're very good at playing album tracks, etc. that you will not hear at a compilation. Write down what you like the best to plan for future purchases:

http://www.pandora.com/