Johnny Stew
06-09-2007, 02:01 PM
From Keith Caulfield's June 8th Ask Billboard (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/index.jsp) column.
GREATEST HITS, GREATEST MISSES
Hi Keith,
I have a question about greatest hits albums. Who has the final say of what songs go on them? The artist or the record company?
It seems like over the past few years we have been bombarded with them, and I must say I find it frustrating when songs that you love from the artist are not on the greatest hits, even if the song was a released single.
The most current example I have is Stevie Nicks' latest (hits set, "Crystal Visions"). I was very disappointed that many of her singles were left off it, but yet we get "live" versions, Fleetwood Mac songs and duplicate songs on it. This seemed weird to me especially since she released two albums between her first greatest hits, 1991's "Timespace" and this one.
Same with Sheryl Crow's greatest hits, there were two versions of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" while other singles of hers were left out. Madonna is another example with "GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2" where she put on songs like "Drowned World" and yet left off several released singles.
Any info about this would be great!
Thanks so much!
Ryan Gibson
Toronto
_______________________________________________________________________
Hello Ryan,
Who determines what is included on a greatest hits album varies from project to project. For example, if you are a record label compiling a hits package for an artist that is no longer signed to the label, you can imagine that the input from the artist could be quite minimal.
Alternately, if you are, say, Madonna, and your entire body of work resides with one label, and you are still signed to the label, and you are an artist of incredible importance, you can bet that they have a lot of creative control over a hits package.
That's why Madonna's "GHV2" album has its quirks ¬ she determined what the tracklist would be.
The same goes for Nicks' "Crystal Visions." I contacted Nicks' publicist Liz Rosenberg (who also represents Madonna), who filled me in on "Crystal."
Nicks made all of the decisions with regards to what would be on the album, the order of the tracks and which versions of the songs would be included.
When picking songs for "Crystal," Nicks also considered which of her songs were already represented on existing hits packages from her and Fleetwood Mac.
Personally speaking, I think "Crystal Visions" is quite a fun collection.
One could quibble with how minor singles like "After the Glitter Fades" Or "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You" are not included. However, the album does have all of Nicks' solo top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including her most famous solo songs, "Stand Back" and "Edge of Seventeen."
Maybe someday we'll probably get a "The Best of Stevie Nicks" compilation that will have all of her solo hits combined with her Fleetwood Mac hits.
That way, you'd get one album that has "Stand Back" alongside "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge of Seventeen" next to "Sara."
For more information on Nicks, visit her official Web site (http://www.nicksfix.com/).
GREATEST HITS, GREATEST MISSES
Hi Keith,
I have a question about greatest hits albums. Who has the final say of what songs go on them? The artist or the record company?
It seems like over the past few years we have been bombarded with them, and I must say I find it frustrating when songs that you love from the artist are not on the greatest hits, even if the song was a released single.
The most current example I have is Stevie Nicks' latest (hits set, "Crystal Visions"). I was very disappointed that many of her singles were left off it, but yet we get "live" versions, Fleetwood Mac songs and duplicate songs on it. This seemed weird to me especially since she released two albums between her first greatest hits, 1991's "Timespace" and this one.
Same with Sheryl Crow's greatest hits, there were two versions of "The First Cut Is The Deepest" while other singles of hers were left out. Madonna is another example with "GHV2: Greatest Hits Volume 2" where she put on songs like "Drowned World" and yet left off several released singles.
Any info about this would be great!
Thanks so much!
Ryan Gibson
Toronto
_______________________________________________________________________
Hello Ryan,
Who determines what is included on a greatest hits album varies from project to project. For example, if you are a record label compiling a hits package for an artist that is no longer signed to the label, you can imagine that the input from the artist could be quite minimal.
Alternately, if you are, say, Madonna, and your entire body of work resides with one label, and you are still signed to the label, and you are an artist of incredible importance, you can bet that they have a lot of creative control over a hits package.
That's why Madonna's "GHV2" album has its quirks ¬ she determined what the tracklist would be.
The same goes for Nicks' "Crystal Visions." I contacted Nicks' publicist Liz Rosenberg (who also represents Madonna), who filled me in on "Crystal."
Nicks made all of the decisions with regards to what would be on the album, the order of the tracks and which versions of the songs would be included.
When picking songs for "Crystal," Nicks also considered which of her songs were already represented on existing hits packages from her and Fleetwood Mac.
Personally speaking, I think "Crystal Visions" is quite a fun collection.
One could quibble with how minor singles like "After the Glitter Fades" Or "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You" are not included. However, the album does have all of Nicks' solo top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including her most famous solo songs, "Stand Back" and "Edge of Seventeen."
Maybe someday we'll probably get a "The Best of Stevie Nicks" compilation that will have all of her solo hits combined with her Fleetwood Mac hits.
That way, you'd get one album that has "Stand Back" alongside "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge of Seventeen" next to "Sara."
For more information on Nicks, visit her official Web site (http://www.nicksfix.com/).