Before I begin - learn to use the "quote" function - its not that hard, geez!
,,,and where did I say the compilation is "crap"? Strawman #1
People were expecting new music because they WERE recording a new album at the time, but didn't finish it for ego reasons mostly, plus most people tour new albums - do/did they not? I never said anyone bought 'So Far' thinking it was new music (you just made that up) as I am aware that the vast majority of people have the ability to flip an album cover over and read the tracklisting on the back of it before deciding whether to make the purchase or not. Strawman #2 - I never said fans were expecting new music ON a Greatest Hits album.
Funny how that was your point as this is the first time you mentioned it. You kept going on and on about how much its sold in the decades since, so that's what I mainly addressed. Plus the two albums it derived from ALSO hit #1 on the album chart, so it's not like this compilation revived the material contained on two flop albums or something. The previous two albums were doing just fine on their own sales-wise prior to the release of 'So Far'.
Moving the goalposts - so now its units shipped you want to talk about. The four Kiss solo albums shipped Platinum. Do you believe that's what they actually sold? I doubt those cut-out bin filling turkeys even sold gold, but it was always the case that units shipped (rather than units sold) was what was eligible to be certified by the RIAA - but probably not anymore after Soundscan became a thing in the 90s though. I'm not saying that means a gold sales certification for CSNY isn't more believable than Platinum sales certification for Kiss solo albums, but the fact remains - units shipped is NOT the same as units bought and the two should not be lazily (or indeed, dishonestly) conflated. Heck back then sometimes albums were even certified BEFORE the day of release, so OBVIOUSLY in those cases those certifications would not have been based on customer sales.
Strawmanning again. I said no such thing. All that matters is the timing at the time something happens. If something works out in the long run (in retrospect/hindsight) based on things that haven't happened yet/could not have been foreseen - that is NOT "perfect timing". The most that could be said is "luckily it all happened to work out in the end". But that would have NOTHING to do with the wisdom of a decision taken at the time its taken.Yes - Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits is a great example of an album that cannibalized the sales of its source albums. When "classic rock radio" became a big thing for younger people to listen to by the late 80s - literally EVERYONE I knew had a copy of the Greatest Hits, yet NO-ONE had a copy of either 'Fly Like An Eagle' or 'Book Of Dreams'. Why? Because the Greatest Hits album had every hit (and a bunch of non-hit album tracks) from both albums, making it all (or possibly even more) than most people want.
Do you believe that a greatest album that includes a full half of an regular album is an incentive or a disincentive in generating sales of that source album? (since that source album is ultimately half full of songs already in your collection and is being sold for full price).
I'd say studio albums tend to sell better when they aren't almost completely cannibalized by a Greatest Hits album, leaving the consumer little reason to want to buy them. One, two or even three of an album's songs being included on a Greatest Hits album is fine (aren't likely to hurt sales of a studio album much) but a full half the album? (5 or 6 songs or more depending on the album).
Well my hands are tied since YOU are responding with multi-paragraphs which means I have to address all your (mostly non) points with multi-paragraphs, so...you go first - since its YOUR idea!
BTW *I* don't know what a Greatest Hits album should be? Well unlike you I know it should include all of a band's hits (So Far leaves one hit out - even though it includes half their first album that contains it). What does it include instead - non-single, non-hit, album tracks (from both albums - and a lot of them - especially from the debut)!
I have seen a Nash interview where he said exactly this but rather than searching for it at the moment, I'll be lazy and just post it from wikipedia:
"Graham Nash later insisted that the group was against the album's release, calling the concoction of a greatest-hits album from two LPs and one non-LP single "absurd"."
So why don't you bring up your objections to Graham Nash directly? He has a twitter account so - go ahead, and let us know how he responds to you. It should be hilarious!