so completely thrived off a sentiment of "if boxed in or defined, immediately leave" that the idea of an all-encompassing box set that covers their truly cryptic recording career is almost impossible to contemplate. But provides exactly that, pulling together both of their formal albums, and , the odds-and-sods compilation , and their Italian-only EP -- plus even more obscure moments -- into one convenient spot. If anything, their resistance to summary makes further sense in a new century; while acts like and practically every last part of the family tree are only two similarly inclined agglomerations of across-the-map artistic impulses, set a particular tone even earlier. Perhaps even more so than the three longer releases, captures just what is so hard to easily say -- whether it's the twisted, naive bursts of reverbed steel guitar (or steel guitar-like) on "Untitled," the sweet bitterness of "Summertime (Childhood's Impossible Now)," or the apparently live recording chaos of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arm," the sense is of putting things together just because, a curiosity that constantly shifts ground, as much roots work as futuristic oddity. The fact that the one definitely live track, "Harmonic Convergence," begins with a member asking the audience "Does anyone want to play drums with us?" sums up the spirit of the band as well as anything else, the wryly voiced request seeming to elicit little more initially than bar chatter and snippets of background butt rock. The further five cuts on the disc include both sides of their only stand-alone single, "Sky Puddle," and the creepy guitar-as-music-box feeling into murky jam of "Country of Nuns." Then there's "Careful with That Axe, Steve," presumably referring to member ; if the result isn't as psychotic as the it references, it's still a quick, wiggy blast of demi-space rock jamming. The remaining full-length efforts sound as enjoyable and strange as ever, including the group's one sort-of hit, "Jack Smith" (courtesy of 's cover version on their EP), and the whole is a portrait of a collective creative spirit that sounds as unsettled and fascinating as when the original recordings were made. ~ Ned Raggett