For a ‘Greatest Hits’ type release, how can the original release be indicated?
I understand that a relationship can be created to the recording of the work that was released earlier, but how can the actual release be indicated - was it on a single or from an album ?
It can’t really - unless the version on that release is an edit, remix or otherwise variation on the recording which existed on the original release.
Otherwise that recording, if made, and matching 100% to an existing recording (say from the original release) will be ultimately merged anyway.
I have always wanted a way in a Work to identify the original recording, but that function/relationship doesn’t yet exist and can be tricky to estimate - the only current solution is a known source of when that recording was made, and the date to be entered alongside the work relationship to the recording.
even when the artwork says ‘originally released as a single’ or ‘on album x’…
Yes, so when that appears on any release that is a good indicator (but not a complete guarantee, you must always use a little bit of detective skills as record labels cannot be trusted) that you should use the recording on the release that is quoted.
For example, if it says “Track 2 is from their debut album released in 1979”, then I would find track two from that debut album and then confirm that it has similar properties to the one that appears on my compilation including:
- Duration
- AcoustID fingerprint (both should result in the same)
- Possibly ISRC (but not to be relied on, because again record companies cannot be trusted)
There is no general “relationship”, as there is no need for two identical recordings to exist in the database.
See the notes in the rear cover art for this release:
Then check the recordings, you’ll see that track 1 is mentioned to come from Palookaville - if you look at the recording:
This is the recording from Palookaville.
There is also an open edit (by me) to merge a duplicate (identified as identical) recording in the database:
https://musicbrainz.org/recording/b660f57f-f62c-4ca8-bea1-90394ec6c097/open_edits
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Understood, but I’m asking about how to indicate the album it came from… ignoring the fact that the two versions of the same track might be slightly different…
If a release states “originally released as a single or on album x”, that release should be using the same recording that is on said “single or album x” unless there is other information, i.e. different times, re-recordings, etc. availble to indicate it’s not the same recording. I hope this makes sense. Most of the time, it’ll already be the same recording when you look at the recording information that is on that release. If not, put in a merge and explain this cover art as a source, if they look identical in artist, times, etc.
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Now, if they are slightly different, maybe use a remix or edit (depending on what it actually is) relationship between the 2 recordings, if they shouldn’t be merged. But there are no track by track relationships unfurtunately. There are some tickets that request this, but it hasn’t been implemented. So, if you want that information, you can always add it in the annotation of the release.
Try and work out of those two recordings if it is an edit or a remix, and use the recording-to-recording relationship to build the link 
Seems so hard on MB just to get the basics correct. For example. look at
track 2 is correctly listed as a date of 1982 - because its from the title track from the Night Moves album.
But track 3 is incorrectly titled with the word ‘live’ in it and has the wrong date of 1994. It’s actually track 6 from the album
A live album.This is well known (see lots of other places like wikipedia) and is all I want to annotate…
It really seems like MB needs a ‘less precise’ mode… 
I’m surprised that those have never been merged. Just put in a merger for the 2 recordings and once that goes through, it’ll show the correct date on the recording for the original release.
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