Having expended this band's tragically short, criminally underappreciated discography, I turned to this, a double-album posthumous retrospective/rarities collection/best of/hodgepodge.
This is kind of a mess, featuring album tracks (reminding me Tin Soldier is a glorious, lost gem), assorted non-album singles (My Mind's Eye and The Universal are the highlights), a smattering of live tracks, and some random B-Sides and oddities. Those latter two categories account for some pretty jarring changes in sound quality, and this even the album stuff has some weird, raw stereo moves here and there.
On one hand, it provides a certain lofi GBV charm. On the other hand, its kind of a scattered listen, only occasionally gaining any kind of flow. And I like flow. Plus, most of these songs are readily available elsewhere, in better context. This is certainly not the place to start, and I can't see putting it on as an album over either of the previous two releases.
But...back on that first hand, there are some great bits hidden in this 20+ song mess. And I'm reminded how good this band is; they're up their with The Kinks as far as bands with a mastery of hooks, prettiness, and raw rock energy. Compilations are funny. This would be a high-scorer if the other albums didn't exist, but they, you know, do. As far as my impression walking away? I really value overall album flow, and the live bits in particular kill it here. Despite the good songs, lets say 3.5/5
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