Compilations music lovers shouldn’t miss

International Superhits by Green Day: Billie Joe, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt, collectively known as Green Day, create what may be the most ear-pleasing punk music in the world today. These guys blend commercial hooks with intensely felt tales about what goes on around them. And most interesting is that while punk music is generally perceived as dark and brooding, Green Day manages to put in hints of hope in their compositions.

It is no wonder then that this trio appeals not just to the usual punk music buyers but also to a wider market. They have continued making hits since their debut in 1989. Take note that not many successful bands last this long and with a series of hit singles over the ensuing years to boot.

These hit tunes take the spotlight in the album International Superhits. Featuring 19 of the band’s most popular tracks, the album is a veritable showcase of Green Day evolution, starting with the breakthrough single Longview from 1000 Hours down to cuts culled from the popular albums Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning and others.

Heading the line-up are two new songs, Maria and Poprocks & Coke, that were recorded expressly for this compilation. Check out these two and then get ready for the headiest Green Day fest ever with Longview, Welcome to Paradise, Basket Case, When I Come Around, She, J.A.R.(Jason Andrew Relva), Geek Stink Breath, Brain Stew, Jaded, Walking Contradiction, Stuck with Me, Hitchin’ a Ride, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Redundant, Nice Guys Finish Last, Minority, Warning, Waiting and Macy’s Day Parade.

In case you are a real Green Day fanatic, you might want to also check out the DVD containing all of the group’s videos set for release simultaneously with the album.

Their Greatest Hits, The Record by the Bee Gees: Although there is no doubt that Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb make up pop music’s most successful trio of all time, it is also a fact that not every album they made became a hit. You cannot really call those duds badly made, it was just that they failed to live up to the very high standards that these brothers set for themselves. You can only make one Saturday Night Fever. So while these may yield a hit or two, there are also cuts that you would prefer not to listen to again. But you still want to hear all those big selling tunes created by the Bee Gees over the past four decades.

So what is the solution? A greatest hits collection of course. Other artists usually do such compilations after three or four albums when they feel like taking a break from the studio. The Bee Gees though shied away from this practice. It was only recently that a definitive hit collection was finally made available. A two-CD set, The Greatest Hits, The Record has all the hits so you’d better not miss out on this one.

It contains New York Mining Disaster 1941, To Love Somebody, Holiday, Massachusetts, Words, I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You, I Started a Joke, First of May, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Run to Me, Jive Talking, If I Can’t Have You, You Should Be Dancing, Stayin’ Alive, How Deep is Your Love, Night Fever, More Than a Woman, Emotion, Too Much Heaven, Tragedy, Love You Inside Out, Guilty with Barbra Streisand, Heartbreaker, Islands in the Stream, Immortality and others.

All Hits by All Saints: Given the way these girls sound, I honestly thought that this British group would be the one to throw a juggernaut at the Spice Girls phenomenon by proving that pop stars should not only look good but should also be able to sing. Sadly though, they faltered early in the game and that honor went to Destiny’s Child.

I have not heard anything new about All Saints these past months. The silence is disappointing but such absences should never be taken against music stars as they are probably only in the process of putting together what could be a big hit album.

In the meantime, all you All Saints fans out there may content yourselves with the foursome’s first hit compilation. All Hits include two mixes of Pure Shores. One is the single and the other is from the soundtrack of the motion picture The Beach, Never Ever, Under the Bridge, Lady Marmalade, I Know Where It’s At, Twentyfourseven, Black Coffee, Bootie Call, All Hooked Up and War of Nerves.