handsbloodyhands wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2024 12:30 pm The Enigma Variations comp in 85 introduced me to so much great US underground music. At least the first three sides did.

That's a good one there. I bought it new many years ago (from Tower Records), sold it many years ago, and recently found a used copy and re-purchased.

Wardell Quezergue Strung Out (The Malaco Sessions)

A lovely comp of deep soul from producer/arranger Wardell Quezergue

I'd have voted Not Crap on the basis of "Nuggets" alone. It was the ground zero in terms of multi-artist comps that weren't just promoting artists on a single label . Some of the single label samplers that came out in those days had enough good-to-great moments to be worth spending a few quid on (like CBS's "The Rock Machine Turns You On", and Island's "Nice Enough To Eat" and "You Can All Join In").

Then there was the "Motown Chartbusters" series, all those Trojan reggae box sets, "Cambodian Rocks" and the "Love, Peace and Poetry" comps of Asian and African psych (all of which were probably unauthorized, sadly). And the 2-disc sets that Virgin put out in the mid-90s like " Ambient IV - Isolationism" and "Monsters, Robots and Bugmen". All four of the "Deutsche Elektronisc Muzik" sets that Soul Jazz put out, and their re-issue of "No New York".

Singie-artist compilations can be of value when the artists' individual albums had lots of filler on them (as was the case with a lot of 60s bands who put out two or more albums a year like the Box Tops or the Troggs or the pre-"Today" Beach Boys).

So yes ... Not Crap.

Coming back here to spruik the delights of NZ comp AK79…

I was always a bit so-so on this, but have been playing on repeat lately - one of THE great 70s punk comps imo…

Credibility possibly undermined when Jacinda Adern (NZ PM) gave a copy to our PM a few years back…

https://flyingnun.bandcamp.com/album/ak-79

ETHIOPIQUES

Numero forever bringing the heat.

Another great one - In Love With These Times. I knew one or two Flying Nun bands before this and loved many more after.

I generally prefer albums, and there’s an infinite number of compilations that are simple cash grabs with little thought put into their selections, but there are a few I absolutely adore. When it comes to single artist ones, Pink Floyd’s Relics and Talk Talk’s Natural History are two of my absolute favorites in selection and sequencing to give a unique mood. I dunno if stuff like No New York or Subterranean Modern count as VA compilations or split albums, but if so, those are particularly wonderful. Punk 45 is an essential series imo

I can’t really vote on this poll—like anything there’s both amazing stuff and total shit out there.