diff --git a/block.go b/block.go
index 2ecc7687c..4939ee5d3 100644
--- a/block.go
+++ b/block.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package tsdb
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -174,6 +175,10 @@ func (pb *persistedBlock) Close() error {
 	return merr.Err()
 }
 
+func (pb *persistedBlock) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("(%d, %s)", pb.meta.Sequence, pb.meta.ULID)
+}
+
 func (pb *persistedBlock) Querier(mint, maxt int64) Querier {
 	return &blockQuerier{
 		mint:   mint,
diff --git a/compact.go b/compact.go
index a1d7b1e5c..a1720605a 100644
--- a/compact.go
+++ b/compact.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package tsdb
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/fileutil"
 	"github.com/fabxc/tsdb/labels"
+	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
 	"github.com/oklog/ulid"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@ type Compactor interface {
 // compactor implements the Compactor interface.
 type compactor struct {
 	metrics *compactorMetrics
+	logger  log.Logger
 	opts    *compactorOptions
 }
 
@@ -71,9 +74,10 @@ type compactorOptions struct {
 	maxBlockRange uint64
 }
 
-func newCompactor(r prometheus.Registerer, opts *compactorOptions) *compactor {
+func newCompactor(r prometheus.Registerer, l log.Logger, opts *compactorOptions) *compactor {
 	return &compactor{
 		opts:    opts,
+		logger:  l,
 		metrics: newCompactorMetrics(r),
 	}
 }
@@ -178,6 +182,8 @@ func (c *compactor) Write(dir string, b Block) error {
 // write creates a new block that is the union of the provided blocks into dir.
 // It cleans up all files of the old blocks after completing successfully.
 func (c *compactor) write(dir string, blocks ...Block) (err error) {
+	c.logger.Log("msg", "compact blocks", "blocks", fmt.Sprintf("%v", blocks))
+
 	defer func(t time.Time) {
 		if err != nil {
 			c.metrics.failed.Inc()
diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index 6955477cd..2c00b7d79 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ func Open(dir string, l log.Logger, r prometheus.Registerer, opts *Options) (db
 		donec:    make(chan struct{}),
 		stopc:    make(chan struct{}),
 	}
-	db.compactor = newCompactor(r, &compactorOptions{
+	db.compactor = newCompactor(r, l, &compactorOptions{
 		maxBlockRange: opts.MaxBlockDuration,
 	})
 
@@ -269,14 +269,10 @@ func (db *DB) compact() (changes bool, err error) {
 
 	db.headmtx.RUnlock()
 
-	db.logger.Log("msg", "picked singles", "singles", fmt.Sprintf("%v", singles))
-Loop:
 	for _, h := range singles {
-		db.logger.Log("msg", "write head", "seq", h.Meta().Sequence, "dir", h.Dir(), "ulid", h.Meta().ULID)
-
 		select {
 		case <-db.stopc:
-			break Loop
+			return changes, nil
 		default:
 		}
 
@@ -295,16 +291,15 @@ Loop:
 
 		select {
 		case <-db.stopc:
-			return false, nil
+			return changes, nil
 		default:
 		}
+
 		// We just execute compactions sequentially to not cause too extreme
 		// CPU and memory spikes.
 		// TODO(fabxc): return more descriptive plans in the future that allow
 		// estimation of resource usage and conditional parallelization?
 		for _, p := range plans {
-			db.logger.Log("msg", "compact blocks", "seq", fmt.Sprintf("%v", p))
-
 			if err := db.compactor.Compact(p...); err != nil {
 				return changes, errors.Wrapf(err, "compact %s", p)
 			}
diff --git a/head.go b/head.go
index 61a131360..4864276f9 100644
--- a/head.go
+++ b/head.go
@@ -135,6 +135,10 @@ func (h *headBlock) inBounds(t int64) bool {
 	return t >= h.meta.MinTime && t <= h.meta.MaxTime
 }
 
+func (h *headBlock) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("(%d, %s)", h.meta.Sequence, h.meta.ULID)
+}
+
 // Close syncs all data and closes underlying resources of the head block.
 func (h *headBlock) Close() error {
 	h.mtx.Lock()