The Poptopia! series www.discogs.com/label/693779...!

Less than zero soundtrack

www.amazon.co.uk/Flow-Definit...

Desmond Dekker, the Maytals, the Melodians, Delroy Wilson and more.

I was looking to see if somebody named Wanna Buy a Bridge? And somebody did! Also very high on my personal hit parade: Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill. And does James Brown's Funky People, Part 2 count?

One of my favourite comps is this dbl album. Features reggae greats Inc. Val Bennett, Alton Ellis, The Wailers, U Roy, Dennis Brown, John Holt. Ken Boothe & Bob Andy & many others.

As a series, Éthiopiques has to be up there, and volume 13 is my favorite. Consistently great, and instead of hiding a weak track at the end, closes out with Tashamanalètch. Discount bin gold. thiopiques.bandcamp.com/album/ethiop...

Oh shit yes

all the fat wreck compilations but most notably short music for short people. also: nuggets, superstars of the 70s (sentimental pick), the punk-o-rama series

Those short ones are a hoot.

Got loads, here are two

feel like Nuggets is an obvious pick, as is the Harry Smith anthology, but..they're obvious for a reason! Also all of the Rhino punk, 70s soul, and disco collections

Is Nuggets the most influential compilation ever? Maybe No New York? I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch

The Harder They Come, which basically introduced the 70s US to reggae, is def. up there

Nuggets has to be up there, considering the god-knows-how-many grey-market compilation series (Pebbles, Boulders, Highs of the Sixties) that came in its wake.

The Anthology of American Folk music was important to the folk revival and the roots turn in mid-60s rock, and has been an organizing principle for all major consideration of pre-rock music since (derogatory)

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Yessssssssss

One of the two first albums i ever bought as CDs

This is the one

I think I bought that from Columbia House, bitd.

Oh my God how did I miss this until now?

I have this actual CD somewhere in this mess

Any Pebbles compilation:

‘Fill your head with rock’ probably mine

This was quite something too

Soul Jazz’s In the Beginning There Was Rhythm, the sort of pre cursor to the better selling New York noise comp after

Blue in the Face “OST”, it’s essentially just a great David Byrne pull list.

The Vertigo Sampler double album from 1995. (Vertigo/4AD/Beggar's Banquet) Look at those songs!

Oops! 1985, not 1995. Music had gone to hell by 1995, LOL.

Bloodstains Across Texas Killed By Death vol. 2 Subnormal Girls vol. 1 Who's a Punk? Night City Life vol. 1 Lost Paradise Blissed Out Breakbeat Space Echo: Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Bonkers 3 A Journey Into Madness

Really digging the Lost Paradise comp. Thanks!

this one left a mark (and started my love affair with amy denio's music). www.discogs.com/release/1967...

Haven't thought about that comp in AGES.

i would call it seminal .. but ewwwww!

I've released 71 of them and they're all my favorite, but not counting those today my vote is this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darker_...

I'll plug Levi's comps! ballofwax.org

Is it cheating to choose all three of the COMPLETE STAX SOUL SINGLES box sets? Or this box set? (If so, then I nominate the *original* pre-box set 2 lp version of the Atlantic one)

They are so essential for a good life those sets. I have seriously listened to them on shuffle everyday for years now

Will always have a soft spot for K-Tel's 1980 compilation THE ROCK ALBUM, a collection of A-list corporate rock that was not only the very first LP I purchased (at a Tower Records with a $25 bar mitzvah gift certificate) but the foundation of my musical tastes, or lack of, for *decades*.

Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys: The Golden Years of Western Swing Gypsy Jazz Verve//Remixed A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box

- Anything compiled by David Toop: Ocean of Sound, Crooning on Venus, etc. - The first WOMAD compilation - Excavated Shellac's An Alternative History of the World - Best of Ken Burns' Jazz - Ambient 4: Isolationism - the Savoy gospel LPs on Honest Jon's records

Also: the Wire Tapper series - cover mount CDs from The Wire magazine.

www.discogs.com/release/1248...

Yes! Amazing comp.

This was big for teenage me.

Women of Kerrville; Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 4, No. 8) Toronto; Birds on Fire (Fretwork); O Brother Where Art Thou?; Winter Was Hard (Kronos); Pickin' On series; Vitamin String Quartet; PostModern Jukebox

songs the cramps taught us series

Light in the Attic’s Country Funk comps. The Teengenerate comps. Coxone’s Dramatic and Music Center. Synthesize the Soul. Nihon No Wave. A bunch of the Habibi Funk comps… All o’ the Stax comps. Basement Beehive.

The Killer Sounds of Halloween album series

youtu.be/nOwhA5CGnEA?...

definitely this one — it completely changed the game for me when I discovered it in my mid-20s

That looks eye opening.

but before that, this one completely changed the game for me when I discovered it in my late teens

A classic!!

This one is super music.apple.com/au/album/dee...

Singles OST Until the End of the World OST Gross Pointe Blank OST What's Up Matador? Warp10+3 Remixes Forge Your Own Chains (Now Again) La Ola Interior (Bongo Joe) Thai Pop Spectacular (Sublime Frequencies)

Too many to settle on one... Some absolute pearls on Jazzman Records' Bandcamp these days. Am treating myself to one of their Spiritual Jazz comps per month. spiritualjazz.bandcamp.com/album/spirit...

Just 6 mid-price CDs to pick up a lifetime of northern soul? Yes please. Talcum Soul on the reliably awesome Stateside label. www.discogs.com/label/837502...

Best covermount comps? Mojo would be a strong contender, with their Nuggets series, and this beaut... www.discogs.com/release/5523...

Wizzz records over on Bandcamp could easily hoover up all my cash. Here's one to prep you for autumn... wizzzcompilation.bandcamp.com/album/dirty-...

Amazing value from the Beginners Guide 3CD sets on Nascente. Their African Funk one is unmissable, even if you're not a beginner. www.discogs.com/release/2122...

Oh and the shite parties I used to throw for an excuse to put these on... React and BBE. (Anyone fancy coming to a really shite party?)

Back when I was "fifty-quid bloke" at HMV or Virgin Megastore, Trojan's 3CD sets were always a winner. The Ska one though. Ah... The Ska one. www.discogs.com/master/19592...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Diamo...

And www.discogs.com/release/1267...

Oops, originally replied to @andrewhickey.500songs.com w this! " Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead" + "Selections fr Can You Dig It?-'70s Soul Experience" a one-disc sampler from the Rhino box of that name. That may have been a promo, but its avail where you find used physical media.

Lonely is an eyesore. The Harry Smith anthologies. Nothing short of total war. Lux Interior's Xmas compilation. 20 years of Dischord. We do em our way. But also this youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Can't believe I forgot about this one. Looking Through Gary Gilmore's Eyes (this version) is a frequent earworm

(doh! that's on volume one)

Red Hot + Blue (Cole Porter compilation) and Love Jones soundtrack

Bought this in the mid 80s when it came out, and then investigated all the acts on it. Liked most of them a lot.

The Gram Parsons tribute album Return of the Grievous Angel is great

dan le sac and scroobius pip

Ronco's "Get It On!" was super important to my formative years

I still listen to this regularly.

Good suggestions up above, especially Nuggets, but one I like is Deadicated from 1991, even though I don’t like the Grateful Dead.

That's an interesting one that I need to revisit. I bought it as a kid because it had Jane's Addiction but never really gave the rest of it the time of day.

The Crow 2: City of Angels soundtrack is 🔥🔥🔥 Miles better than the movie Also XGames Vol. 2 there’s a Sugar Ray track on there that shows you what kind of music they made before they found out songs like Fly worked better for their wallets. No hate just sayin’ lol

the Six Degrees cds they put out in the early 00s, like asian travels, which was an assortment of asian techno / club music from a bunch of countries

Loved the Warner/Reprise loss leaders

Rhino’s Loud, Fast and Out of Control box set made me finally take 50s rock seriously. Soundway’s Colombia: the Golden Age of Discos Fuentes inspired me to move to Colombia.

Soundbombing 1 and 2

Can't fall off with Soul Jazz Records.

Sire’s “Just Say Yes” series.

#4 was solid en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Sa...

Burt Bacharach: One Amazing Night It was various artists paying tribute to the composer in concert and it was also released as an album. My favourite cover was Barenaked Ladies performing (They Long to Be) Close to You

The Ramones singing the theme to the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon is a highlight.

I just brought this one up to my bedroom turntable today so I’ll go with this, why not.

I could probably list comps all day, but this is one of my fave, classic, goth comps.

Don't know that one at all. Will have to investigate.

Any of the Give ‘em the Boot comps

AMERICAN GRAFFITI soundtrack, partly for the music itself, and partly because the movie synchronizes with the soundtrack at such an integral level that each song used to inject the scene into my head again.

And after that, the soundtrack to FORBIDDEN ZONE. Bim Bam Boom!

music.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Great choice. I have that on CD.

Wanna Buy a Bridge? (Rough Trade, 1980) Full Up: Best of Studio One vol 2 (Heartbeat, 1985) Mali Music (Sterns Africa, 1988) Darker Than Blue: Soul from Jamdown 1973-80 (Blood & Fire, 2001) More Better Days : Avant Wave (HMV Japanism, 2016)

If I'm not allowed to say Nuggets, I'll say the Coolest Songs In The World series. If I'm allowed to say Nuggets, I'll say the Coolest Songs in the World Series. If I'm not allowed to say the Coolest Songs in the World Series, I'll say Nuggets

As a teen that loved INXS, the Dogs in Space soundtrack introduced me to bands I still love to this day. Gang of Four alone was worth the price of admission.

- The Complete Stax/Volt Singles - The Best of Music and Rhythm - Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys: The Golden Years of Western Swing - The Incredible Chess CD - Just Say Yes / Yo / Mao - Rare on Air, Vol. 1

An all-time favorite I found through that Best of Music and Rhythm: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mec...

Two beauties here 💜

Ethiopiques, Alan Lomax Collection, Harry Smith Anthology

this is the correct answer

The Anthology of American Folk Music by same is also wonderful.

That is indeed the one I’m talking about

Didn't recognize the name. Whenever I hear someone bemoaning the violence in punk or rock or metal music, I wish they would listen to Henry Lee or The Fatal Flower Garden.

The Recommended Records Sampler was my introduction to the Rock In Opposition bands, the Homosexuals, R. Stevie Moore and various avant garde weirdos rerselections.bandcamp.com/album/recomm...

good intro into a few of the outsiders.

It's personal...Rhino Records, Mass. Ave.

David Toop’s ‘Ocean of Sound’ compilations plus his ‘Sugar and Poison’ comp. The former can be heard here:

opens link. sees 16 hours. drowns.

The loss of these is one of the worst things about the streaming era.

That Summer for sure. Best soundtrack to a terrible (apparently) movie?

This is a really old one... the Times Square soundtrack was pretty influential for me, when I was a youngster. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_S...

This was literally the first CD I ever bought:

Probably my fave that’s not part of a series is Lonely is an Eyesore. (I waffled on Stay Awake bc those Wilner albums are kinda purposefully-built and the musicians feel more like a house band for those albums…but I do love it too).

Just posted about this CD a week or so ago and then randomly came across the album in a record store last Saturday. Probably should have bought it.

Have had the CD since the original release but definitely had to grab the vinyl when I found the (slightly) deluxe version during a shop. Even though it’s not the ultra-limited it’s still a nicely packaged treat. Plus of course the music!!

Dammit I'd forgotten that one. No Motion, Fish, many others...

Urgh! A Music War

The Rough Guide To Delta Blues, released 2002, is one. worldmusic.net/products/the...

"Will the Circle be Unbroken" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and just about every great country artist who was alive in 1970. "Canta en Espanol" by Eydie Gormet and the Trio Los Panchos.

Lots on this list but also this

Hal Willner’s tribute LPs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Wil... www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... www.youtube.com/watch?v=scQC... www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI4z...

Dim Lights Thick Smoke series by Bear Family Freedom of Choice The first Sweet Relief LP, for Victoria Williams Me Without You S/T Pillows & Prayers Let Them Eat Jellybeans

That first Sweet Relief comp blew my tiny mind as a youngster.

These are pretty good bsky.app/profile/real...

This one and its sequels: www.discogs.com/release/5511...

Love the eclectic collection of artists here.

"Wanna Buy A Bridge? (A Rough Trade Compilation Of Singles)" Rough Trade – ROUGH-US 3, 1980. This one showed the way. www.discogs.com/release/3719...

www.discogs.com/release/6079...

Studio Barnhus Volym 1 studiobarnhus.bandcamp.com/album/studio...

The first Nigeria Special on Soundway

omg i love nigeria special part 2!

So good