A double set rounding up the Mode's singles from their post-pop period up to the present day.
A collection of 21 of the band's darkly-tinged pop (de)constructions, it's in chronological order, leading the listener through their musical and stylistic changes.
It's a pretty flawless collection, and one that definitely points as DM as more of a singles band than album. The opening triumvirate of 'Stripped', 'A Question Of Lust' and 'A Question Of Time' are prime slices of the Mode pie - menacing keyboards over which Dave Gahan's rich voice, alternately commanding or pleading, depending on the occasion.
The strident 'Never Let Me Down Again' leads into the gospel rush of 'Personal Jesus' and the spectral 'Enjoy The Silence', deservedly one of their biggest hits.
The second album opens with the band in grunge territory with the throbbing riffs of 'I Feel You', before returning to the more conventional territory of 'Walking On My Shoes'.
The industrially-tinged 'Barrel Of A Gun' - which sounds like a riposte aimed at the young pretenders to the dark'n'moody throne - and the memorably haunting keyboard riff of 'It's No Good' sit in the middle, displaying the twin axis of DM's sound.
New track 'Only When I Lose Myself' shows there's still life in the old machine yet, while a live version of anti-materialist anthem 'Everything Counts' proves the voracity of the band's live audience.
While one or two of the tracks are surplus to requirements, it's the one album anyone with a passing interest in Gahan and co should invest in. Is this what growing up in Basildon does you to?
