New Needle

Without fail, as soon as I buy a "The Best Of ..." compact disc, the artist whose collection of greatest hits I've just purchased will invariably release a "The Very Best Of ..."
Besides superior re-packaging, these annoying new Cd's usually feature exactly the same track-list as the original, except that ten extra songs will have been included at no extra cost. Sometimes even a whole second disc will be added, often with multi-media elements and a free tee-shirt offer.
Obviously this unhappy situation is rather ironic, since logically you would assume that such an exclusive sounding item as a "The Very Best Of ..." should surely contain less music than a plain old, undiscriminating "The Best Of ...", not more.
Of course, now, with the fortunate advent of the iPod and similar devices, consumers need no longer waste money on such inequitable compilations. We can download the music and create our own idea of what constitutes an "Absolutely The Very, Very Best Of ... " Unfortunately, I have recently discovered that this personally selective iPod method of acquiring listening material rarely amounts to a collection of more than two or three songs by any given artist. Oh well, another example of less is more, I suppose.

Comments

[Mikeachim]

Good point well made. The Best of The Best Of would be smaller, eventally reducing down to one song and putting various people out of a job who should be working a lot harder anyway.
I think the way to keep their jobs is to create huge dateline-crossing medleys that are technically one song but encompass bloody everything the artist has done. The album could be called "[artist]: The Lot".
And then later, "[artist]: The Lot Including New Stuff". Someone better at sloganology could tart these titles up, but the essence stands on its own two feet, I hope.