OK- So the cd is 12 tracks long, and for that you get six tracks of 'real' Zero7 and six tracks of remixes. Lets start with the first six. The obvious ones are in there, Destiny and Waiting line (they had to be), but are joined by a further four which are far from 'Their best moments' in my opinion. Possibly desperate to draw attention to their latest effort 'Yeah Ghost' the band chuck in two meaningless tracks from that album, which could be considered as their weakest album to date. I'm glad to see Futures in their though, although I'm not sure if it would feature in my top six. You also get the perfectly fine 'I Have Seen'; great track in the context of the album but pretty thin on it's own two feet. Choosing six classic Zero7 tracks was always going to be difficult, but if they consider these six to be their best, then maybe we're not on the same page after all. They also completely omit their wonderful and oft oversighted second album 'When It Falls', failing to find a single track on that album worthy of this collection. Not even Somersault? Really? I may be biased as it's my favorite of their albums, but I can't understand for a second why they'd plump for a track like 'Mr McGee' over anything from When It Falls. I was slightly alienated by Yeah Ghost, thinking maybe the band had regressed to Basement Jaxxx-type radio friendly club music, but of the couple of tracks that stood out to me- Everything Up(zizou) and Pop Art Blue, only the former is represented by a very odd and very thin remix. Which brings me neatly to the six remixes. Chucking in alt versions of their best tracks is a wonderful idea, and a fresh approach to what is essentially a 'best of', but do we really need six of them? There are as many remixes as there are originals and unfortunately they are all virtually unrecognisable from the originals. All six remixes are much in the same format- generic club beats with the occasional sampled (sometimes mangled) vocal from the original track, but leaving out all the texture and subtlety that made the track so great in the first place. To put it bluntly, they could have put any dance track in there and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. You also end up with two versions of You're My Flame- neither of which are as good as the original, which isn't on this collection. Like I've said above- I believe in the concept of throwing in remixes or different concepts of their songs, but this is a completely wasted opportunity. Why not throw in an acoustic version of one of their great tracks? Imagine if you will a reimagined 'Destiny' or 'In The Waiting Line' with only a lush acoustic guitar and Sophie Barker's vocals..... An orchestral version of 'Give It Away' or 'Look Up'...... Or why not use 'Crosses', Zero7's own interpretation of Jose Gonzales touching track? Whoever pulls the strings at Zero7 HQ obviously couldn't see this far and as it is, we have an album that I for one will not be passing on as an introduction to the band to anyone that may not have heard of them.
Disappointing.