Love Me Do - 3
Please Please Me - 3
From Me To You - 4
She Loves You - 3
All My Loving - 3
Can't Buy Me Love - 3
A Hard Day's Night - 4
Eight Days A Week - 3
I Feel Fine - 4
Ticket To Ride - 3
Yesterday - 4
Help! - 4
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - 4
We Can Work It Out - 4
Day Tripper - 4
Drive My Car - 4
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - 3
Nowhere Man - 3
Michelle - 3
In My Life - 3
Girl - 3
Paperback Writer - 4
Eleanor Rigby - 5
Yellow Submarine - 4
Total - 85 stars / 24 stars = 3.54 stars
Strawberry Fields Forever - 4
Penny Lane - 4
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 4
With A Little Help From My Friends - 4
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - 4
A Day In The Life - 4
All You Need Is Love - 4
I Am The Walrus - 4
Hello Goodbye - 4
The Fool On The Hill - 3
Magical Mystery Tour - 3
Lady Madonna - 3
Hey Jude - 4
Revolution - 4
Back In The USSR - 4
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - 4
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - 4
Get Back - 4
Don't Let Me Down - 4
The Ballad Of John And Yoko - 4
Old Brown Shoe - 3
Here Comes The Sun - 4
Come Together - 4
Something - 4
Octopus' Garden - 4
Let It Be - 4
Across The Universe - 4
The Long And Winding Road - 3
Total - 107 stars / 28 stars = 3.82 stars
Listening to this album, as well as compiling my list of the 50 Greatest Artists Of All Time, I realized how much I dislike compilation albums. As far as I'm concerned, compilations exist for three reasons
1) Cash grabs (or contract fulfillments) for artists who aren't making new music/have absurd deadlines.
2) Cash grabs for a third party, who had dick all to do with the music in the first place.
3) Introducing people to the most accessible music an artist has to date, giving them the opportunity to try them out before invested in their entire catalogue.
In any of these instances, the album itself's artistic merit is non-existant, or, if it does exist, it is a borrowed artistry. A compilation is not in itself art, it is a reflection of previous art, a reflection whose construction and form generally has no new contributions from the musican in question. The Beatles' music is on 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, but they are not Beatles albums. They are an accumulated re-organization of what their manager, Allen Klein, considered to be their greatest hits.
Therefore, for the time being, I will no longer be reviewing greatest hits albums, because really, what is there to say that wouldn't be redundant from the album reviews. While the quality of the compilation is certainly a celebration of the ability of the band to create incredible music (1967-1970's 3.82 rating is the 4th highest I've ever given), its ability to regurgitate the greatness of other albums does entitle it to creative recognition.
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