Greatest hits album

A greatest hits album, sometimes called a "best of" album or a catalog album, is a compilation of songs by a particular artist or band. Most often the track list contains previously released recordings with a high degree of notability. However, to increase the appeal, especially to people who already own the original release, it is common to include remixes and/or alternate takes of popular songs; even new material (previously unreleased). At times a greatest hits compilation is the original release for songs that have themselves been released as a single and charted successfully.

Notable compilations

Madonna's The Immaculate Collection is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a solo artist; all of the songs on it are presented in different versions than the original hit versions. The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a group and also one of the ten best selling albums in history. Greatest hits albums are typically produced after an artist has had enough successful songs to fill out an album release. Some artists, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Kiss, U2, Dolly Parton, Journey, Los Tigres del Norte, Queen, Kylie Minogue and Billy Joel, have released multiple greatest hits albums through their long careers. Some greatest hits albums are released only at the end of the artist or group's career. For example, My Chemical Romance released a greatest hits album after they disbanded. Other artists, like Eminem have released hits albums in the center of their success. He released Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005 and then Shady XV as a compilation album in 2014.

The Best (Bonnie Tyler album)

The Best is a compilation album by Bonnie Tyler released by Sony Music International. The album was released in 1993, and different versions were only released in France and the UK. The back cover art differs in each version while the front cover is identical.

This compilation features another retrospective of Tyler's career. "It's a Heartache" and "Lost in France" are here, among other hits like "Total Eclipse of the Heart", "Faster Than the Speed of Night", "A Natural Woman", and the feature track "The Best". Some tracks also differ; the French version includes an extended version of "Band of Gold", while the UK edition features the Shakin' Stevens duet "A Rockin' Good Way", among other unique tracks.

The UK version is cited to have been re-released on February 2, 1999. Meanwhile, the French version is cited on AllMusic with an October 7, 1996 release date; the album cover clearly proves the AllMusic title incorrect.

Track listing

UK Version

The Best (UK TV series)

The Best is a British programme which aired for ten episodes in 2002 on BBC2. The series starred British cooks Silvana Franco and Paul Merrett and Australian Ben O'Donoghue, who participated in friendly competition to create the best dish for each of two given categories per half-hour episode. Judging was performed by a rotating panel of three judges, who were not told who created which dish.

The sixty recipes seen in the series were collected in a 2003 book, also titled The Best. (ISBN 978-0563488538)

References

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal (Russian: о́зеро Байка́л, tr. Ozero Baykal; IPA: [ˈozʲɪrə bɐjˈkɑl]; Buryat: Байгал нуур, Mongolian: Байгал нуур, Baygal nuur, etymologically meaning, in Mongolian, "the Nature Lake") is a rift lake in Russia, located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast.

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, containing roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen surface fresh water. With a maximum depth of 1,642 m (5,387 ft), Baikal is the world's deepest lake. It is considered among the world's clearest lakes and is considered the world's oldest lake— at 25 million years. It is the seventh-largest lake in the world by surface area. With 23,615.39 km³ (5,700 cu mi) of fresh water, it contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Like Lake Tanganyika, Lake Baikal was formed as an ancient rift valley, having the typical long crescent shape with a surface area of 31,722 km² (12,248 sq mi). Baikal is home to thousands of species of plants and animals, many of which exist nowhere else in the world. The lake was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. It is also home to Buryat tribes who reside on the eastern side of Lake Baikal, rearing goats, camels, cattle, and sheep, where the mean temperature varies from a winter minimum of −19 °C (−2 °F) to a summer maximum of 14 °C (57 °F).