When it was originally released in 1978, was a succinct, ten-track collection of the group's best and biggest singles up to that point. The excellent a brand-new song, soon became a hit in its own right, and the non-LP cover recorded for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film, also makes its first appearance on an album here, as does the track 's commercial prime hadn't yet ended when this collection appeared; thus, it's missing several crucial latter-day hits, including the slinky of the and the smashes and But even if it's an incomplete hits collection, still ranks as a strong encapsulation of innovators. The singles gathered here constitute some of the richest, most sophisticated music the movement ever produced; when the absolute cream of the group's catalog is heard in such a concentrated fashion, the effect is dazzling. That's why was remastered and reissued along with the rest of 's catalog, even though it's been supplanted by more extensive single-disc ( ), double-disc ( ), and triple-disc ( ) anthologies. 1998's now stands as the definitive single-disc overview, but for the budget-minded and the -phobic, this still makes for an excellent listen. ~ Steve Huey