This 16-song compilation brings together an unchallenging but almost uniformly excellent roundup of 's 1970s output, opening (in chronological terms) with from 1973's still epochal LP and wrapping up with an unexpectedly joyful excerpt from his 1979 schedule. In between, it brushes all of the expected high points -- six further U.K. hit singles include the breakthrough and the edgy the less palatable and, because no collection would be complete without it, the chart-topping The real meat, however, lies among the excerpted album cuts, as the compilers treat all seven original / LPs with more or less equal respect -- many fans would have drawn a line after the first three. But and the like all deserve a fresh hearing, and emerges with almost unruffled consistency, and an overall impact that is all the more satisfying for being so unexpected. ~ Dave Thompson