Red Hot Chili Peppers Greatest Hits Vinyl vs Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication

Buy Greatest Hits if you want one record that covers the band's whole career, from Under the Bridge to Scar Tissue, plus two songs you can't get on the studio albums. Buy Californication if you want a complete album and rate it as their strongest front-to-back work. Greatest Hits is a single disc of singles; Californication is a 15-track studio album and the band's best-selling record worldwide. Both are standard Warner vinyl, so build quality is comparable. Owners rate the hits set well, though some note the two new songs are the weak point.

• Choose the Greatest Hits LP if you want the singles collection, including the two tracks that appear only here.
• Choose Californication if you want the full 1999 album with Frusciante's return and would rather have a complete record than a compilation.