Singles 93-03

by

The Chemical Brothers

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I love electronic music, and as far as I'm concerned "The Chemical Brothers" are the absolute best in the genre. Few (if any) other electronic acts have consistently delivered outstanding material over such a great length of time (this collection spans 10 years). Their music never fails to get my ass shakin' and expand my consciousness. And yet the brothers always seem to maintain some kind of a signature sound that lets you know that you're listening to the Chemical Brothers and no one else.

As far as the first disk goes, which is the actual singles collection, I already had most of the tracks in my music library, although it's still cool to hear all the singles together in one CD. The two new tracks on the first CD are both really fresh: "Get Yourself High" is a hip-hop energy boost, and "The Golden Path" (a collaboration with the outstanding "Flaming Lips"), is a stream-of-consciousness spiritual trip. For the tried-and-true fans (like me), the biggest draw to owning this collection is the second CD, which is filled with unreleased and live tracks. "Not Another Drugstore", "The Duke" and "Morning Lemon" are just as inventive, unpredictable, and brilliant as anything on the Chemical Brothers' last few albums. The alternate mixes of "Galaxy Bounce" and "Under the Influence" are sweet too.

The ending vocals to the track "Morning Lemon" sum up my feelings for this collection of superb material perfectly: "Take that, mtherf*%kers!"

A lot of people have said in other reviews of this collection, that the Brothers have left the best tracks off of this collection. This is true. Also, there really aren't enough new tracks or remixes to get longtime fans interested in this collection. With that said, I think this is an excellent CD set for new listeners to hear what the Chemical Brothers are all about. This collection serves as nothing more, in my opinion, then as a way to get new listeners hooked on the Brothers and convince them to buy some of the old CDs.

The only thing I think longtime fans would dig about this collection is the very detailed history of the band in the CD's liner notes. The CD booklet is loaded with rare photos and info about this reclusive group.

The only track I haven't found on another Chemical Brothers disc is the Mix 2 of Under the Influence which is really cool. For this track, the Brothers combined some of the sounds from Out of Control and used them in a creative way during Under the Influence, not bad.

New fans will love this and will get an education on the greatest innovators of dance/techno music. However, longtime fans will find the collection lacking and will just keep playing the Chemical Brothers CDs they already have, but may find the CD booklet very interesting.

PS - I also agree with another reviewer here that recommended mr.deviant's "Techno Obsession", that's a killer disc and Chem' fans should dig his material too.