The Greatest Gifts

Paul McCartney: Another Day

[Purchase]

A fresh batch of greatest hits compilations hit record stores in November of 1978, just in time for the Christmas rush. Not yet the music snob who disdained greatest hits records, I would have put Wings Greatest at the top of my list for the singles I didn't own like "Another Day", "Hi Hi Hi" and "Juniors Farm". I never got it.

Here's the memorable ad for the album:

The Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits 1974-78 is culled from three albums, the title track from The Joker and the rest from Fly Like an Eagle and Book of Dreams. No bonus tracks. Nevertheless, it has sold 14 million copies.

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits is a double album with one bonus track, the forgettable "Here In The Western World", which was originally recorded during the Royal Scam sessions.

The Best of Earth Wind and Fire Volume 1 arrived with three bonus tracks: the Grammy winning "Got To Get You Into My Life" for those who didn't buy the Sgt Pepper soundtrack; "Love Music" and the Top 10 hit, "September", surely one of the best singles of the year.

Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Volume 2 came with "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", her #1 duet with Neil Diamond. Diamond and Streisand had each recorded the song for separate albums, but radio DJ Gary Guthrie  spliced their versions together as a going away present form the wife he was divorcing. When Columbia Records got wind of the sensation the sing was causing they convinced Diamond and Streisand to go into the studio and cut a real duet. They'd surprise Grammy viewers in 1980.