4 out of 5

Label: WEA

Producer: Various, Aztec Camera

Well, you’ve got most of the big Camera singles on here, plus a few well-known gems, like the ‘Jump’ cover, and if there’s anything awesomely apparent when all of this is put together, it’s how remarkably consistently quality Frame’s writing has been, and how it can make for a cohesive album even when strung from the reaches of his folkier album – ‘High Land’ – the poppier ‘Love,’ the brash ‘Stray’, or the, eh, dreamier ‘Dreamland’.  There’s no real filler in Roddy’s career, and I’m surprised to read a criticism of his lyrics on a wiki page (for ‘Stray’) because from the start, while he’s always approached the regular topics of love and loss and people, he’s always found an evocative way to approach the topics, making what could be silly sentiments into wry ones, or common things a bit more colorful.  And again, with a lot of strong songs grouped together, that’s easier to see.  The same goes for the compositions and production.  Yes, the drums are more notably ’80s’ on the ‘High Land’ material, and the Sakamoto produced ‘Dreamland’ stretches the sonic palette to a noisy range of twinkling sounds over the flush ‘Love’, but fade-outs and ad nauseum repeats were rare in the Camera career – Roddy would carry a chorus only as long as needed to establish his song, and there was almost always a new or interesting strum or bridge to carry us through to a surprising key change.

Still, this probably plays better for existing fans, since the sequencing is a little off.  The ‘High Land’ tracks are scattered throughout, jumping around between ‘Love’ and ‘Strays’ track in a way that doesn’t really link themes or sounds.  Compilations don’t have to be chronological, but there didn’t seem to be too much thought into how this was put together beyond, y’know, put the big single near the front (‘Oblivious’) and ‘Somewhere in My Heart’ has a horn blast right at the intro to get our attention.  And though it’s not all singles, it mostly is.  So calling it a ‘Best of’ is a bit misleading (though they do that with a lot of singles collections), and it would’ve been nice to see a bit more balanced selection (only one ‘Dreamland’ track here, no ‘Frestonia,’ and the avoidance of lesser known songs) to get a full range of the Aztec Camera sound.