I Could Have Been A Contender [Box set]

In a career that now spans twenty-six years in the music business, Wobble continues to mesmerise, surprise, and challenge his audience. His musical direction has always been completely independent, genuine and from the heart. The highly anticipated release of his 3-disc CD anthology album I Could Have Been A Contender will continue to feed the hunger of people who want their music to be real and spontaneous. Contender is the first true major retrospective that chronicles the entirety of the man's dazzling career.

Wobble's loping, earthy bass pulse is at the centre of everything he does, whoever he does it with. Fittingly it's the mighty "Public Image" that opens this set (which is otherwise compiled un-chronologically). With PiL, Wobble proved himself to be one of the few white musicians capable of assimilating the influence of reggae (witness the Clash'sfeeble efforts in comparison) and then doing something different with it. In turn, his low-end theories informed the work of a whole bunch of bands eager to start again after the punk rock wars.

Wobble's been one of the few veterans of those wars to carry on pushing himself (and occasionally the patience of his audiences). In the process he's engaged with ethnic musics of several persuasions, gone ambient with Bill Laswell, done a bit of cosmic jazzdub improv, remixed Eno and fashioned settings for William Blake's poetry. Unsurprisingly, not all of these experiments have come off, but even the woolier stuff Wobble comes up with sounds ok on this compilation. And though what was maybe revolutionary a couple of decades ago sounds a bit creaky now, no doubt there's some bunch of spotty youths lurking round the corner ready to recycle the dub-funk collisions of records like Snake Charmer to a new generation of hip young things.

As disc three drew to a close I was left with a renewed love of all things Wob. He might not hit the spot every time, but as a one man dubmachine, eccentric visionary and spiritual traveller, he's hard to beat.This compilation's as good a place to start as any, and anything that features the desolate beauties of Pil's "Poptones" alongside a song of praise to the A13 and a slice of meaty dub for bamboo mouth organ and french bagpipes has got to be worth a listen. --Peter Marsh

Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window