Bent – Best Of

Bent, over the course of four albums, has helped define the shape and mood of downtempo music. With BEST OF, they show their stand-out singles, albeit in truncated versions. All their hits are here, from the moody "Swollen" to the cheeky "Magic Love." Although there's a bias towards their first album with 5 five representative tracks, the distribution between the albums seems balanced otherwise. Any 'best of' that missed "As You Fall" and "Comin' Back" (from ARIELS) would have been terribly remiss. Thankfully, that's not the case here. Better yet, the delicate "Bewtiched As I Am" (from the download-only DOWNLOADED FOR LOVE album) makes an appearance -- let's hope we see a physical format release of that album soon! The second disc of b-sides and unreleased tracks is also a treat, from the dreamy "K.I.S.S.E.S." to the mellow "Non Perrier!" and the perky "Exercise 6." Some pedal steel guitar, possibly part of their collaboration with BJ Cole on ARIELS, turns up on "Far Behind," but the atmospheric joy of "Harlequin Bitch" is even better, calling to mind the lovely "On the Lake" from that album. But "Bone Idol' ends the second disc with that Bent cheekiness that we just can't get enough of. More, please!