Paedantic Basterd

I can't help but feel like posthumous compilations are a bit of a stain on an artist's career, some effort to capitalize one last time on their death, and ultimately, a bit of an inconsiderate display by those who were involved in them seeing the light of day.

Listening to Elliott Smith's From a Basement on a Hill, I feel that there is some very good work on this album, but can't help wondering how much of it violated his original intentions for it. How many pieces included in such compilations were never meant to see the light of day? How much of this material is incomplete, a shadow of the original vision? How much of it is an embarrassment to the creator, being caught in half-finished, imperfect work? Is the release of this material what the artist would have wanted for their fans, or would they prefer it to be buried? When does the flow of material from a deceased artist cross a line? It seems that many artists are still having their scraps milked for dough (Courtney Love, I'm looking at you), and that these compilations are more about taking advantage of fans than rewarding them.

Thoughts? Favourite posthumous releases and why?

Zer0

That's exactly how I feel about Jeff Buckley's Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk. There's potentially some great songs on it if they were whipped into shape a bit more (i.e. 'Vancouver' and 'The Sky Is a Landfill') and his cover of 'Satisfied Mind' is one of my favourite Jeff Buckley recordings. But there is a lot of half-baked material on that album especially on the second disc. I find it very difficult to listen to rough four-track demos that would have probably been dumped in complete disregard by Jeff had he lived and completed the album. I think a line was crossed with the reissue of Grace in recent years where they seemed to have scraped the barrel with the bonus tracks.

There are some posthumous compilations that I'm glad saw the light of day such as the Joy Division compilations Still and Substance. The Warsaw album however, although enjoyable, was never meant to see the light of day as the band were less than satisfied with it.

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mr dave

Jimi Hendrix has probably the best and worse examples of posthumous releases.

There are some classics like 'First Rays of the Rising Sun' and 'South Saturn Delta' that really give listeners a glimpse into what could have come. I highly recommend both to any Hendrix fan who hasn't already heard them.

Then there's stuff like 'Voodoo Soup' and a myriad of horrible quality bootlegs that may or may not even be Hendrix or 'feature' re-recorded backing tracks by studio musicians rather than members of either The Experience or The Band of Gypsies.

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Paedantic Basterd

Zer0: At least with Joy Division, you've got a number of other members to approve the release and fine tune it. I think posthumous releases by solo artists are just egregious offenders of taste.

Zer0

True, but is it what Ian Curtis would have wanted?

You're right about solo artists though as they're the only ones who can approve their own work. I don't mind posthumous releases by artists long gone such as old blues artists like Robert Johnson as it keeps their music alive, but for more recently deceased artists like Elliott Smith and even Amy Winehouse it is squeezing the money from their corpses in a way.

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Above

I agree with the Joy Division comments. Substance was a damn good compilation. There have been so many Nirvana compilations that it's getting kind of ridiculous now, and there was no need for the Nevermind remastering either. Just seems like everyone is very keen to flog dead horses this time of year.

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duotone

I agree but the obsession and nievety of some fans to have EVERYTHING associated with a particular artist make it easy for Courtney Love and the like to issue a " special compilation " and cash in.

Although still active, The Rolling Stones are buggers for releasing the same album with 4 different coloured album covers to tempt their adoring fans.

Howard the Duck

"The First Rays of the Rising Sun" is probably the best posthumous release ever, but i would still find fault with it, cos it obviously omitted stuff that Jimi would have wanted on it, like the cover of "Drifter's Escape" (released on "South Saturn Delta")

my fave posthumous release (objectively) is probably Nick Drake's Time of No Reply - it shows off how he actually worked - it's long out of print, and superceded by other comps which have other stuff i don't really want

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Lisnaholic

^ I was going to mention the same album, which has some really top-quality material on it. Wasn`t it compiled by a guy who had a real affection for ND, and so was more carefully controlled than some cynical cash-ins are ?

Howard the Duck

i'm not aware of the backstory behind it, but it was certainly a well thought-out comp

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