(Epic/Sony)

A hits collection that sometimes misses

Incubus’s last album was three years ago and there was the suggestion that this compilation was a contractual obligation to draw a line under their career. If that didn’t augur well for this retrospective, their ignoring two of their six albums here may raise a few eyebrows. There’s nothing from the first album, 1995’s Fungus Amongus (understandable, since Incubus seems to have disowned it ages ago). But more problematic is nothing from 1997’s S.C.I.E.N.C.E., with the exception of a live acoustic version of A Certain Shade Of Green. And already fans online are complaining about omissions like Vitamin, and serious rarities like Crowded Elevator. Why pass things like that over for a cover of Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy? For all that, though, this two-disc set is still reasonably representative on the band’s output, bolstered by a few surprises. The hour-long 15-track first disc, bookended by two new Brendan O’Brien-produced cuts Black Heart Inertia and Midnight Swim, focuses on key singles like Megalomania, Drive, Pardon Me and Wish You Were Here. But disc two may delight and frustrate in equal measure. Firstly, its 11 tracks in 47 minutes means much more could have fitted in here. But then, a lot of these songs, like the Chrissie Hynde-less version of Neither Of Us Can See and While All The Vultures Feed, are previously unavailable, which will whet fans’ appetites. Okay, it may not please everybody, but there’s enough here to keep most followers happy most of the time.         

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BILL HOLDSWORTH

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