release date: Feb. 22, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: diverse
label: Beggars Banquet - nationality: England, UK
Compilation by Peter Murphy released on Beggars Banquet after he had left the label with which he had been associated since the first release with Bauhaus in 1980, and it's Murphy's first compilation album.
As the subtitle indicates, it's not necessarily a best of album, but instead a selection of songs from his solo career spanning five studio albums over a decade with a total of sixteen compositions and a total running time at just under 75 minutes.
It's quite a fine selection - mainly songs written together with Murphy's regular composer (from his second album and onwards) guitarist Paul Stratham, and which generally shows his somewhat narrow musical style where music always contains elements from gothic rock with various hints of art pop and glam rock. The biggest stylistic detours are probably his influence from Turkish music, which is particularly evident on his most recent two albums: Holy Smoke from '92 and Cascade from '95.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
