How does someone go about making a Best-Of CD?
This question is quite similar to the one posed by John Cusack's character in the
fabulous movie, High Fidelity. The question he asked, though, was somewhat different
in nature, that being "How do you go about putting together a Top-5 tape?" (this
is a paraphrasing of the line, but you get the idea). The difference is that a Best-Of
compilation is grander in scope and, in a way, harder to do than a Top-5 collection.
First of all, putting together a Top-5 versus a Best-Of is as different as writing
a short story versus writing a novel. Short stories are, quite obviously, shorter
than a novel, and there are differences in style as well. Short stories tend to be
more succinct, the stories more contained, the plotlines simpler. A novel, on the
other hand, is longer, with intricate stories and plots, in-depth characters, and
quite often a stronger feeling of completion when it's done.
Hence the difference between a Top-5 compilation and a Best-Of. A Top-5 is shorter,
containing only the best of the best of the best. The five songs that best highlight
an artist's career or best represent a time or an idea (ie: The Top-5 Songs For A Romantic
Evening; or The Top-5 Songs of 1980, among countless other examples). A Best-Of
compilation, however, best represents an entire career, or simply the best songs of
a decade.
Big differences. A Top-5 is succinct and to the point, while a Best-Of is much longer
and takes in much more of a person's life, or of a time of history.
Enough of that rant within a rant! I digress quite often in real-life (it's often said
that, for me, the quickest way from point A to point B is through point C, around point
D, pass by point F, go through point G...) On to the point of this entire piece, and that
is to detail the making (via my own personal experience) of a Best-Of CD.
Now, we've all made compilations for friends, for those of us who have the capability
of it. As those of us who have made them know, this is truly a tricky feat. How does
one go about making these? How does one know what to put in it?
This is easily answered by the first couple of songs on the CD, the first one especially.
Let's take Billy Joel (one of my current all-time favs, and definitely on my Top 5 list
of kick-ass artists) as an example. The first song on the CD would likely set the tone
for the rest of the compilation. Now, I'll admit, many of you probably won't know of the
songs I'm about to name, and I'm sorry for that, it's just that it's the easiest way to
put this into perspective.
Alright, so the first thing you have to do is set the mood, and that starts up in the very
first few songs of the piece. Is it going to be a slower, modest compilation? Or is it
going to be a fast, rockin' piece of work? This is decided within the first few songs. If, for
example, you give "Piano Man" as your beginning tune, and you follow it up again with something
a little bit slow, like "This Is The Time" or "She's Always A Woman", then you're setting
it up to be an easy-listening, romantic night kind of set. Quite likely, you'll put in a
few more rocking songs, that's true enough, but what you've done is set the expectations of
the compilation to be a slower, easier CD.
Contrast this with if you started the CD with a song like "Big Shot" or "You May Be Right".
Use these and you're right away setting the stage for a CD that's rockin' and rollin' right
along, skipping a lot of the slower stuff. Again, the slow bits will be expected, but more
than likely after the set-up you've given with those two first songs, the listener of the
CD won't be expecting too many of those. As you can see, the first couple of songs are
highly important. If you want a compilation that's going to be all across the board, then
it would be best to put either a slow one beside a rocking one, or put a song in that covers
both sides of the spectrum: "My Life", say, or "Keeping the Faith."
The middle of the CD is also a test to put together. How many songs do you want to put on
it? More importantly, which songs do you want to put on it? What was the tone that you
set in the beginning of the CD? Answer these questions and then you've got the middle of
your compilation down pat! Now, then, there's a logic to the placement of the songs. Let's
assume that you're making yourself a CD that's all encompassing, putting in the rocking
songs as well as the ballads. You have to be careful about the placement of songs in this
case. Put too many fast ones side-by-side and it sounds uneven once you get the ballads
into the mix, and vice-versa. Space them out.
The end of a Best-Of compilation is just as important as the beginning. You want a song
that best represents a culmination of the artist's career or the general feel of the times
that the collection is trying to represent. The entire feel of the CD will play a part in
this, as will how much of yourself you're putting into the CD (more on this later). The fact
remains, however, that the song has to have a sense of finality to it. A sense of "this is
the end, and that's all there is to it."
As for the entire content of the CD, you have to take into account your own motives for
the CD. Are you just making it for a friend? For a prospective girl/guy? For a lover?
For a wife or husband? These motives drive hard at what you'll end up putting onto the
CD, whether you're conscious of it or not.
That's it, to my experience. The making of a Best-Of CD. You want to know the ins-and-
outs of making a Top-5 tape? Watch High Fidelity. But this is definitely the best way
to go about things, as far as I'm concerned. Just listen to a Best-Of compilation and
likely you'll find that this stands more or less true. All rules have their exceptions, of
course, and these are no different. This is only how I see things.
Or, as Dennis Miller says, "That's just my opinion, I could be wrong."