In this age of streaming, best-of compilations are something of a dying breed, and while Collide probably warrant one (although as always with a band with dedicated fans, ask fifty fans and you’d probably get fifty-one tracklists, or more), they’ve sidestepped the idea a bit by revisiting songs from across their career and giving them new mixes for the most part. There is a second volume coming in September, apparently, so if there’s a song you particularly love omitted this time around, you’ve got a good chance next time. There’s newer songs here, the odd rarity (After Dark was unknown to all but the most hardcore fan when it dropped recently), there’s three covers (Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum feeling somewhat on the nose right now), some old favourites (particularly the single edit of Euphoria), and then there’s a couple of revelations. Particularly Wings of Steel.
Where has all this detail been? Statik dug into the mix on this one, with a whole bunch of elements that I’d never even heard before on this new take, that otherwise wisely leaves what was always one of Collide’s greatest songs as is. The mix is so much more expansive, with guitars streaking across the mix as well as providing deeper texture, the various samples weaving through and a general feeling that this is what they were aiming for in the first place. A revelation.