Shania Twain, 'Nsync and Limp Bizkit are not musical acts typically mentioned in the same sentence — or even mentioned very much at all anymore, save to ask, "Hey, what ever happened to so-and-so?" However, over the past month, these artists have managed to show their nearly forgotten faces.

Along with the changing of the leaves, the fall season has ushered in an onslaught of "best of" and "greatest hits" albums in genres varying from pop to country to Latin music. At times these albums mark the culmination of decade-spanning careers, while others seem to be shameless excuses to sell more records. Nonetheless, over the course of October and now reaching into November, so-called greatest hits albums are seemingly everywhere.

According to Peter Kaesberg, a long-time employee of B-Side Records on State Street, this flood of new compilations likely can be attributed to the upcoming weeks of post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping. The greatest hits albums can help provide options for those unsure of what to buy their friends or relatives.

"Greatest hits and boxed sets make good gifts for people who maybe don't necessarily 'get' music," Kaesberg said. "They (greatest hits CDs) all start to come out now but people don't start to buy them quite yet."

Upon examining the slew of greatest hits albums released, it seems informal categories start to emerge. There are the albums that tack on a couple of rare or unreleased songs among a play list of otherwise standard song choices.

This can be seen on the November release Blink 182:Greatest Hits, which features the expected songs from Mark, Tom and Travis, such as "What's My Age Again?" and "Rock Show," but also includes the formerly unreleased track, "Another Girl, Another Planet" and UK bonus track, "Not Now."

After 17 years of performing, rocker Melissa Etheridge also put out a compilation of her best work, while adding a few special tracks on her album Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled. The album is comprised of memorable tracks like "Come to My Window" and "I Want to Come Over" but also features Etheridge's soulful Grammy performance of "Piece of My Heart," as well as "I Run for Life," a track for those who, like Etheridge, have been affected by breast cancer.

Kaesberg also points out another interesting type of greatest hits CD, that of overlooked artists.

"What I do think is funny," Kaesberg said, "is that sometimes bands that you never even realized had hits before are putting out these 'Best Ofs.'"

The Tulsa, Okla., trio, Hanson, fits nicely in this category with their release of Best of Hanson: Live and Electric. While the brothers are best remembered for their sugary, jibberish-sounding pop tune "MmmBop," they managed to arrange a 15-track disc of their quality work.

Aside from the apparent influx in the release of greatest hits CDs this time of year, Kaesberg says another trend is emerging among newly released multimedia.

"The thing that's starting to come out a lot now are things called dual discs, which have DVD content on the other side," Kaesberg said. "I think that those are something that labels are trying to put out to include stuff that's a bit harder to get online."

Destiny's Child chose this option on the Oct. 25 release of their album showcasing their greatest hits, #1's. Not only can fans hear the children of destiny belt out "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Survivor" on audio, they also can keep shaking their booties right along with the DVD's video clips of "No, No, No Pt. 2" and of course, "Bootilicious."

In Kaesberg's opinion, perhaps the most interesting way an artist can organize a greatest hits-style release is to get creative and craft themed collections. One that stands out in his mind is the 48-track Johnny Cash album Love, God, Murder, released back in May 2000. Instead of adhering to strictly to popular tracks, the album pieced together a more personal blend of songs to fit each theme.

"In a way, those are more interesting to actual fans than greatest hits," Kaesberg said of themed compilations. "They're still collections, but they're not based on best sellers, maybe more on content."

Substantial content or not, the pool of greatest hits albums continues to grow. Even Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Greatest Hits [Chopped and Screwed] is now on shelves — explicit stocking stuffer, anyone?