China Crisis – Collection (The Very Best Of China Crisis)

In terms of "ultimate", look no further than "Collection" - a double CD treat of odds and ends; while disc one's featuring many of the group's ace singles (although many are standard album versions), it is the second disc that should especially grab your attention, offering some insight into CC's experimentally challenging self (although, again, this is not a complete picture - considering their b-sides catalogue is a vast collection in itself)...

To start with, the entire "Scream Down At Me" single is available here - a great, powerful dance track with stabbing bassline and pastoral synths melting in the background plus the awesome, mechanically charged, synthetically tribal b-side - "Cucumber Garden". Following tracks continue in predominantly more calm, ambient tone, until "This Occupation" slams like a hammer with its almost "industrial" feel - the extended version that is, which gives the impression nothing in the mix quite connects entirely, but that's the raw beauty of it. From its menacing, rotating synth-bass and rumbling percussion, "This Occupation" should be revisited on the dancefloor - a bit untypical one among CC tracks, that except Gary Daly's trademark vocals, bears little resemblance to CC's trademark sound.

Of course there's also the stunning synth-classic, "Watching Over Burning Fields" and the closing, somewhat-confusingly long "A Day At the Zoo Mix" version of "Animalistic", which is clocked just over 11 minutes, although gives the impression there's actually a hidden, unlisted piece of music attached to its tail-end.

From their early synthesizer-led hits to pop maturity, this is truly a fine overview of the group's earlier career.