A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be created by record companies without express approval from the original artist as a means to generate sales. They are typically regarded as a good starting point for new fans of an artist, but are sometimes criticized by longtime fans as not inclusive enough or necessary at all.
Greatest Hits is the eleventh official album release for English musician Elton John, and the first compilation. Released in November 1974, it spans the years 1970 to 1974, compiling ten of John's singles, with one track variation for releases in North America and for Europe and Australia. It topped the album chart in both the United States and the United Kingdom, staying at number one for ten consecutive weeks in the former nation and eleven weeks in the latter. In Canada, it was number one for 13 weeks between 14 December 1974, and 22 March 1975, missing only 28 December 1974, at number two to Jim Croce's Photographs & Memories.
"Long Hot Summer" is a song by the English band The Style Council which was their third single to be released. It was composed by lead singer Paul Weller, recorded between 12 and 17 June 1983 in the Grande Armée Studios in Paris, and released on 8 August 1983. In the UK "Long Hot Summer" was the lead track of an EP titled À Paris, which also contained the song "The Paris Match" plus two keyboard instrumentals, "Party Chambers" and "Le Depart". In other countries it was a conventional single with "Long Hot Summer" as the A-side. It was also included on the 1983 mini-album Introducing The Style Council.
Rodney Lynn Temperton was an English songwriter, producer and musician.
Barry Blue is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' " and "Do You Wanna Dance".
The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy McCracklin's track, "The Walk". "Dirty Water" reached number 51 in the United States in January 1980. The song led directly to them recording their debut album, First Offence, produced by Vic Maile for Radar Records. Two further albums were quickly recorded; Shot in the Dark again produced by Vic Maile, and Heatwave in Alaska produced by Stuart Coleman.
"Heat Wave" is a 1963 song written by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team. It was first made popular by the Motown vocal group Martha and the Vandellas, who issued it as a single on July 10, 1963, on the Motown subsidiary Gordy label. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart—where it stayed for four weeks—and peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Johnnie James Wilder Jr. was the co-founder and co-lead vocalist of the R&B/funk group Heatwave, who were popular during the late 1970s with hits such as "Boogie Nights", "Mind Blowing Decisions", "Always and Forever", and "The Groove Line".
"Heat Wave" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1933 musical As Thousands Cheer, and introduced in the show by Ethel Waters.
Central Heating is the second studio album by funk-disco band Heatwave. It was released in 1977 on the GTO label in the UK and in 1978 on the Epic label in the US. It was produced by Barry Blue. Central Heating sold more than a million copies in its first two years of release.
Hot Property is the third album by the British band Heatwave. Arranged, and primarily written by Rod Temperton, it was released 27 April 1979 on the GTO record label in the United Kingdom, and the Epic label in the United States of America. It was produced by Phil Ramone.
"Boogie Nights" is a 1977 single by international funk-disco group Heatwave. It was written by keyboardist Rod Temperton and was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle. Harpist Carla Skanger played harp and American actor and singer Clarke Peters performed backing vocals on the recording.
"In the Heat of the Night" is a song by German singer Sandra, written by Michael Cretu, Hubert Kemmler, Markus Löhr and Klaus Hirschburger and produced by Cretu. Kemmler also provided backing vocals on this recording as well as numerous Sandra's songs in the 80s.
GTO Records was a British record label which released many hits during the 1970s. It ran from 1974 to 1981 and mainly concentrated on pop music and disco. The acronym represented the Gem Toby Organization.
"Always and Forever" is an R&B song written by Rod Temperton and produced by Barry Blue. It was first recorded by the British-based multinational funk-disco band Heatwave in 1976. Released as a single on December 3, 1977, the song is included on Heatwave's debut album Too Hot to Handle (1976) and has been covered by numerous artists, becoming something of a standard.
"The Groove Line" is a 1978 single by the Dayton, Ohio/European funk-disco group Heatwave. It was written by Rod Temperton. It was included on Heatwave's second album, Central Heating.
Heatwave was a disco-funk band formed in London, England in 1975. Its most popular line-up featured Americans Johnnie Wilder Jr. and Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio; Englishmen Rod Temperton (keyboards) and Roy Carter (guitar); Swiss Mario Mantese (bass); Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums); and Jamaican Eric Johns (guitar).
"Ain't No Half-Steppin'" is a 1988 hip-hop song written and performed by American rapper Big Daddy Kane. Released as a single from Kane's debut album Long Live the Kane, it peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart. The song samples "Ain't No Half Steppin'" by Heatwave, "UFO" by ESG, and "Blind Alley" by The Emotions.
"All I Am" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Susan Sheridan. It was first released as an album track on Candles, the 1980 Billboard charting album from the soul group, Heatwave. Band member Johnnie Wilder, Jr. revealed that he invited de Paul to contribute the track. It was also released as the B-side to the Heatwave single "Dreamin' You" released in 1980 in Australia. This version has also been released on the Heatwave compilation album Maximum Heat, as well as on the compilation albums The Love Box II: 75 Love Song Sensations, "Hits of the Year 3", "Greatest Slow Legendary" and "Do You Remember This". In 2010, it was released as a track on the expanded and remastered CD version of Candles. It ranked number 7 in the Indonesian top 100 "JazzyTunes songs" chart.
"All in Love Is Fair" is a song by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder recorded for his sixteenth studio album, Innervisions (1973). Written and produced by Wonder, it was released as a 7" single in Brazil in 1974. The song is a pop ballad with lyrics that describe the end of a relationship through the use of clichés. Critical reaction to the song has been varied: Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic wrote that it was among Wonder's "finest ballad statements", but Robert Christgau felt that the singer's performance was "immature". Wonder has included it on several of his greatest hits albums, including the most recent, 2005's The Complete Stevie Wonder.
