"Boink"" is a 1988 Replacements record that runs a little over 25 minutes long. It is a compilation, but it is not a hits collection. It's not even a rarities collection. It contains three tracks from "Hootenanny," three from "Stink," a b-side and an unreleased track. And it never came out in the United States. I play "Boink!! more than any other 'Mats record. As a matter of fact, I checked my "Now Playing" blog and it appears I have played "Boink!!" a dozen times in the last year and will probably listen to it again today.
Why am I so in love with "Boink!!?"
Because I think it perfectly represents this band. If you had never heard a note by The Replacements and wanted to know why they are one of my favorite bands, I would say listen to "Boink!!" It covers it all truthfully.
I could suggest 10 of their most commercial tracks, but that wouldn't be fair to the band, since they'd most likely hate five of those songs themselves. I could suggest 10 of their fastest and quickest punk tracks, but that wouldn't highlight the beautiful melodies that Paul Westerberg has written over nine records.
To put it succinctly, if you don't get "Boink!!," then you won't get the Replacements. Whereas, if you do get "Boink!!," you're most likely ready to go all in.
Whoever compiled "Boink!!" is a genius.
Which leads me to this question-
Is there an album, could be catalogue or a compilation, that you feel perfectly represents one of your favorite artists? Think on it because your favorite album may not sound like anything else in that artist's catalogue, and so it wouldn't be a very good representation.
32 comments:
Big Kate Bush fan -- but I've always thought "The Whole Story" is a perfect representation of everything I like about Kate from the straight on pop stuff to the weird stuff and have used it as a gateway album for many people (admittedly, some of them just didn't like it.) Is it missing some songs I would have put on it that came after? Sure. But what is on it -- considering I'm one of those people that isn't head-over-heals with "The Ninth Wave" -- fits your criteria.
But, I mean, aren't most "compilations" or "Greatest Hits" albums generally perfect representations -- or at least they should come close?
But, for non-compliations: "Get The Knack" is right there. And "Permission To Land" by The Darkness. Everything about those two bands is excellently summed up by their debut albums.
I dunno -- maybe I'm way off here for what you are looking for?
I'll throw out a few catalog choices that I think stand out as the best releases by their artists, and which are vastly superior to most of their work:
The Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse- Just plain better than anything else they did. One of many many great Glyn Johns productions.
The Proclaimers Persevere- Some of their others come close, but this one does the encapsulation thing in spades. Most people would say Sunshine On Leith, but these are the best songs, and show all of their sides.
Elvis Presley From Elvis In Memphis- A good compilation is needed to wrap up all the great singles from bad LPs, but this is far and away his best long player by a big margin.
Aimee Mann I'm With Stupid- This one is not particularly representative. In fact, it is something of an outlier in her body of work. But it rocks more than any of her others, and she never did it again. So probably not really on the theme...
And for my compilation entry, I'll go with The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years- From 1963 to 1971, all the A and B sides. Really wonderful, with lyrics and recording dates and notes nicely documented (at least in the booklet in the 1989 four LP set, I don't know about the CD versions).
Most of my Weekend Mixes fall into the "Boink!" category. Makes me want to hear it.
Thanks for the tip on Boink, Sal -- I was unaware of that one and I consider myself a Replacements nut.
How big? Well, my creative project for the last few months has been doing a cover of "I'll Be You." You know -- because what the world really needs is a 76 year old Jewish guy doing a Replacements song.
Seriously, I've been in and out of the studio working on it since December -- at this point, it's got eight guitar tracks, including a 12-string, plus keys and a rough vocal and sampled strings It's like 75% done, but I'm on hiatus at the moment because my engineer (whose a pal whose worked on everything my various bands have done over the last decade) is currently battling cancer.
Hopefull, sometime soon we'll get back to it, and this folly of my old age can finally be unleashed on an uncaring world.
Have I mentioned thanks again for "Boink"?
"But, I mean, aren't most "compilations" or "Greatest Hits" albums generally perfect representations -- or at least they should come close?"
For me? No. Not at all.
Some of my least favorite Cheap Trick songs are the biggest hits.
I would never try getting to someone to listen to CT by playing "The Flame," "Ain't That A Shame," "I Want You To Want Me," "If You Want My Love," "Can't Stop Falling Into Love."
Elton is another one. ELO another one.
Shades of Ian Hunter: The Ballad of Ian Hunter & Mott The Hoople. The two vinyl record compilation that came out in 1979. Two sides of Mott and two sides of Hunter.
Yeah, maybe it depends on the compilation.
I flipped through my CD rack and thought "A-Sides Win" by Sloan, "Extras" and/or "Snap" by The Jam, The Offspring's "Greatest Hits", "Fossil Fuel" by XTC etc, were really solid examples of meeting your criteria so that's why I thought maybe they all worked.. But I can see that bands that have been around *forever* and have had stylistic changes aren't as well represented by a Greatest Hits comp.
Black Market Clash
Singles Going Steady is an excellent introduction to Buzzcocks, and it can stand alone as a great album front to back.
I remember when Boink came out. I really, really wanted it for the non-LP track (Nowhere Is My Home). Thankfully a friend had it so I could tape "Nowhere".
Speaking of home taping, I'm just finishing Marc Masters' book High Bias, and it's quite good! It has chapters on tape trading (among Deadheads and metalheads), the art of the mixtape, the history of hip hop mixtapes, the recording industry's response ("Home Taping Is Killing Music") and artists like Daniel Johnston and R. Stevie Moore who self-released albums on tape.
That is a very good question! Queen automatically comes to mind (that's right, my name is Christine and I still love classic rock) but there are two Queens for me-the first six albums (pure perfection) and post "News of the World", although "Jazz" is pretty good too. If I wanted to introduce someone to Queen, I can't decide if it should be "Sheer Heart Attack" or "News of the World". They both have hits that everyone has heard already, and they both have songs that may put people off ("In the Lap of the Gods" or "Get Down Make Love"). Of course, Queen II is the ultimate experience for me. Damn, this is tough!
Looking forward to listening to "Boink!!"
The New York Dolls debut is perfect and everything you want from the band.
I agree that Boink is a pretty good representation of the Mats, but I had to dig thru my files to find it... 72 minutes, mind you, guess it wasn't a vinyl rip!!
The two that came to my mind are both live albums: "John Prine Live" and Marshall Crenshaw's "My Truck Is My Home."
The Prine album is mostly a solo acoustic show plus a handful of tracks with a different bands mixed in throughout. (Admittedly, an odd idea.) But you get all the varied sides of Prine: the comedian ("Illegal Smile," "That's the Way the World Goes Round"), the humanist ("Grandpa Was a Carpenter," "Blue Umbrella," "Donald and Lydia") and poet of tragedy ("Six O'Clock News," "Sam Stone," "Hello In There"). Plus a duet with Bonnie Raitt on "Angel from Montgomery." 19 tracks in all.
The Crenshaw record are all songs recorded at different times and places. Some are his better-known ("My Favorite Waste of Time," "Cynical Girl"; others are great but lesser-known originals ("Vague Memory," "Calling Out for Love"). Plus there is his great taste in choosing and performing covers, from Dave Alvin to MC5 to ABBA. 14 songs altogether.
"Prine Live" is from 1988 and "My Truck" came out in 1994 so obviously there's a whole lot of wonderful material produced afterward that's missing from these compilations. But if I had to choose just one disc to explain to someone why I own nearly everything these two artists created, these would be the ones.
And while we're on the topic of The Replacements, did anyone here read "Trouble Boys"? (The Replacements bio.) Recommend? Or skip? 5 stars on the Amazon page and lots of glowing blurbs but I'd prefer some informed BW opinions...
Great topic, especially when you expand your thinking beyond the 'best' release or your favorite from a band/artist and think about something that encapsulates everything you like about them.
The Cars debut album (which plays like a greatest hits)
Woodface from Crowded House
Stop Making Sense soundtrack
Welcome Interstate Managers from Fountains of Wayne
Who's Next and Fragile and Trick of the Tail
And the best example I can think of is Moving Pictures from Rush. If you don't like that one, you won't like anything before or after
"Brian said...
Shades of Ian Hunter: The Ballad of Ian Hunter & Mott The Hoople. The two vinyl record compilation that came out in 1979. Two sides of Mott and two sides of Hunter."
Spot on! And I thought I was the only one who remembers/rates that particular set. The liner notes are pretty great as well!
I'm going all in with Shades of Ian Hunter, as well.
Smart set. Singles, deep cuts, b-sides, a few live tracks, solo stuff and a whole side of "Overnight Angels." It's like a fan's mixed tape.
I also love "My Truck Is My Home" for exactly the reasons Ken D. has mentioned.
And I have read "Trouble Boys" and loved it. Though, it was one of the most frustrating reads, thanks to how many damn times The 'Mats fucked things up. But I highly recommend it.
I'm gonna go with Street Hassle by Lou Reed. And honorable mention to Draw The Line by Aerosmith. Records that really sum up their respective classic bags.
And I second the recc on Trouble Boys. Excellent!
I'd suggest the vinyl 2 lp version of Rock and Roll Diary as my Lou Reed Sampler - It includes V.U. and solo tracks.
Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 is the Sam Cooke compilation I send people to if they Don't know about Sam Cooke. Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 if they do know Sam Cooke.
It's Alive has turned a number of friends into Ramones fans.
"The Kink Kronikles." So much that isn't there, and quite a few oddities that are ("Willeseden Green"), but it somehow captures them. Great liner notes, too.
"The Kink Kronikles."
Of course!
Totally agree on Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Diary and The Kink Kronikles. Back in my high school days those were my Velvet/Lou Reed and Kinks albums. They were great buys on a teenager budget.
The Loud Reed collection is much like the Ian Hunter collection in the way it was put together. First two sides focus on the group and next two on the solo artist.
Second (or third) the Kink Kronikles. Magnificent throughout. And while no one album could truly sum up Bob Dylan, his Greatest Hits Vol 2 is a great mix of album cuts, live tracks, and unreleased gems.
Bill
No votes for Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy? The title alone deserves five stars!
Ken, I thought Trouble Boys was well-written and well-researched. As Sal mentioned, their penchant for self-sabotage was impressive. I ended up liking Paul Westerberg a lot less by the end of it. Same feeling after I finished the Iggy Pop bio Open Up And Bleed. It's quite thorough, but damn. Iggy also had a talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and shitting on people while he did it.
Jonder,
I think "Meaty Beaty..." is the greatest singles collection ever assembled. Just the mere mention of it makes me want to play it. But it doesn't represent what the band became after it. Can't represent The Who in 8 tracks without at least one track from Who's Next or Quadrophenia.
Plus a million for "The Kink Kronikles" - an outstanding choice!
Here's another fave:
https://www.discogs.com/master/44236-The-Pink-Floyd-The-Best-Of-The-Pink-Floyd
This follows the "Boink" format with singles, album cuts and b-sides, and it's a perfect overview of the Syd years.
R.E.M.’s Dead Letter Office is one I’ve played many times. It has b-sides, covers, and their fabulous debut EP, Chronic Town.
- Paul in DK
Oasis's "The Masterplan."
I sometimes feel like the Who are two bands, not totally unlike Pink Floyd, so how about "Meaty, Beaty" plus "Odds and Sods"?
Bruce H.
Not sure if the "Hey Jude" Beatles album counts but I'm throwing that into the mix. And though the "The Kink Kronikles" is no doubt a fantastic record, I always preferred that odd Black Kinks double album on Pye. I just played that one non-stop when it came out. Cool topic, Sal!
Hey Jude is a great one. Loved it as a kid and didn't find out until years later that it was a compilation.
Sal, I get your point about Meaty Beaty, but you could say the same of Boink. Then again, you could also say that there's nothing from Who's Next or Quadrophenia on The Kink Kronikles or Shades of Ian Hunter!
Here's why I think "Boink!!" and "Meaty, Beaty..." are different, and why Kronikles and Shades work, while Meaty doesn't.
If my idea of one record in 8 songs repping a band is to be followed, "Boink!!" works because both "Nowhere Is My Home" and "If Only You Were Lonely" sound more like the 'Mats that came after. Those two songs could have been on either "Don't Tell A Soul" or "All Shook Down." Nothing on Meaty, with the possible exception of "The Seeker,' sounds like anything that would be on any who record after "Leeds," just like no Who song from the 60's would fit on any of the 70's albums.
Maybe Kronikles could use a song or two from their Arista records to be truly representive, but it's too good on its own to mess with.
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