Favorite Various Artists Albums?

Some of mine:

No New York - Brian Eno produced album from the late 70s on Antilles, featuring four bands from the short lived No Wave scene of the 1970s and 80s, an art/film/music movement prominently in the New York area that took the DIY aesthetics of punk to an extreme, with most of the members of the movement being entirely self taught in their craft, as well as more diverse and avant-garde themes. The four bands on the album are really fantastic, especially one of my all time favorites DNA, and really give a good sample of what the scene was like.

Open Ends - Released in 2000 by Museum Music. Made up of (usually) experimental music from New York from 1960 to 2000, very diverse, eclectic, and usually very good. Introduced me to some great artists, like The Velvet Underground, Liquid Liquid, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, etc.

Homeland - Black South African music, mostly from the 80s, released on Rounder. If you liked the South African elements on Graceland, I would very strongly recommend this. Some really great artists with really interesting and often infectious music.

An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music Vol. #1 - Released on Sub Rosa, featuring a great selection of noise tunes from 1921 to 2001. Some great gems of early musique concrete.

Woodstock; 40 Years On - Six+ hours of Woodstock on Rhino, featuring almost every artist. Of course not all of the bands are amazing but quite a lot of them are.

P.E.A.C.E. - an international hardcore comp (2 LPs, over 50 bands) that I got in the mid 80s. Introduced me to a whole lotta bands.

The Progressives - a cool 2 LP comp on Columbia from the mid 70s featuring tracks from their progressive jazz roster - Mahavishnu, Paul Winter Consort, Matching Mole, others.

XTC Testimonial Dinner

Seem to have several rock compilations , all of which have Argent Hold You Head Up and Don't Fear The Reaper (BOC)