In 1973 an Arab oil embargo led to soaring gasoline prices in the U.S. No surprise there. But ... it also caused an alarming rise in the cost of manufacturing vinyl records, a petroleum-based product and, at the time, the standard configuration for musical releases. So by the mid-70s, faced with dwindling profit margins, the record industry came up with a desperate strategy that -- depending on how we revise history -- was either the best thing or the worst thing to happen to music: the Greatest Hits Compilation. Oh, I know. Greatest Hits can be a lot of fun. All the big tunes conveniently packaged together, comin atcha in rapid fire succession. A veritable avalanche of awesome. Everyone is happy. It sure made the record business happy. Without production and recording costs, all a label had to do was throw the extant best-known songs from a given artist on one album and market it to casual music listeners; the respective artists hardcore fans were a given. And, as we know, it was a massive boon for the industry, although the windfalls they brought likely planted a seed for the lazy, bottom line-obsessed artist development that would contribute to its demise 20 years later. BUT THATS A DEBATE FOR ANOTHER TIME. Lets talk about the *best of* the Best Ofs. In an ideal world, a Greatest Hits package is a gateway to deeper musical discovery, illumination, and appreciation for the life and work of an artist that might otherwise have been the background to a barbecue. Such is the case for the great Bob Marley, poet and prophet, as this piece details.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 07:08:24 +0000
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