I’ve been a long time fan of the Chemical Brothers. I got into them through Triple J, back when it used to be the place to hear good new music. I remember being astounded by the squeltchy squawks of the guitar and the fat assed beat that crashes in as the “brother is gonna work it out” in Leave Home. I rushed out and got the CD ‘Exit Planet Dust’ immediately. When the second album ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ was released two years later, I got that too. During years of sharing in a “party” house, my CDs have mysteriously disappeared, much to my annoyance. How thankful am I that, after 10 years in the business, the Chems have decided to put out a collection of their singles, a greatest hits if you will, with all my favourite tunes on it! Not only that, there’s also a second disc with an amazing selection of rarities and hard to find Chemical Brother tunes.

CD 1 has a chronological listing of the major hits, starting with Song to the Siren, the tune that got them noticed not only through the magnificence of the tune, but also the fact they had stolen their name from the producers from the Beastie Boys “Love American Style” LP, the Dust Brothers. After releasing Chemical Beats, they changed their name to the Chemical Brothers, and simply blew up. Not only were their tunes and remixes suited to cranking the dance floor, they could be played on the radio, in the car, and chilling in your room with the lights turned down. No other song suits the latter more aptly than The Private Psychedelic Reel which is simply awesome, and still gives me tingles after seeing it performed live at the Big Day Out.

Their third album featured more excellent tunes such as Hey Girl, Hey Boy, and Out of Control featuring New Order’s vocalist Bernard Sumner, which tore up clubs everywhere when remixed by Sasha. Their fourth album ‘Come With Us’ wasn’t so well received amidst the backlash of “bigbeat”, to which the Chems were inappropriately associated, but hearing the beautiful melodies of Star Guitar and the intelligence behind using Richard Ashcroft on The Test make you realise how good the Chems really are. Of their new tunes, Get Yourself High is going to be another club rocker, with its phat basslines and excellent rapping by Canadian K-OS, whist The Golden Path with Chicken Lips, sounding a lot like a Talking Heads tune, is another in a long line of excellent collaborations by the extraordinarily talented duo.

The second CD contains gems such as Not Another Drug Store (Planet Nine Mix) featuring Justin Warfield, the rapper from Bomb the Bass’s Bug Powder Dust, as well as The Duke, Otter Rock, Electrobank Live, and Mix 2 of Under the Influence, all previously unreleased. The inclusion of Early B-sides like If you Kling to Me I’ll Klong to You, Loops of Fury (which is featured in the wipeout 2097 videogame), and my personal favourite Morning Lemon will have fans jumping for joy.

This two CD pack is a must for any fan, and shows just how influential the Chemicals Brothers have been over the last 10 years, and that they’re one of the groups that have truly defined the sound of the 1990s. My only disappointment with it is that there are none of their excellent remixes, such as the aforementioned Bug Powder Dust, the incredible remix of the Prodigy’s Voodoo People, or Leftfield’s Open Up.