Very few good things have come out of my experiences in my current workplace. Sure getting money from them every month is a nice thing, and I've made a few friends, but on the whole, the hellhole that is my workplace seems to do nothing apart from suck my soul out, and not even in a cool Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat fashion, just slowing ebbing away and causing depression and suffering. It's a pretty evil place. However, one decidedly positive memory I will have of the place, is that it's where I bought my first Stranglers record. After being drip-fed the band via songs like Peaches and 5 Minutes via pub jukeboxes, compilation CDs and movie soundtracks, and not to mention the band's most famous song, Golden Brown being adopted for some reason by my friends in high school as an anthem of sorts, I decided that maybe I should look into the band more. Peaches, with it's sleazy reggae sound and lyrics about strolling down the beach for a perv, Golden Brown with it's more classy waltz sound, and infamous lyrics comparing a girl with heroin and 5 Minutes, a foot-stomping punk anthem, all left completely different tastes in my mouth, none of them negative, but it's hard to believe they were from the same band.

Initially, apart from the 3 songs I was accustommed to, I can't say I was really impressed with the band. As close-minded as this sounds, I think it was the concept of a keyboard that put me off. I was accustommed to punk bands, especially those of the 1970s, being down and dirty, bare bones outfits. That isn't The Stranglers. Slowly but surely, this collection of the band's work taken from the years 1977-1990, when Hugh Cornwell was the singer and guitarist of the band, helped lodge many of the band's songs in my brain, and I'm glad I didn't write the group off. Now I wonder what was wrong with me for not being immediately taken with classics like No More Heroes and Always The Sun, even if the latter is presented in it's remixed 'Sunny Side Up Mix' format.

Touring intensively, to little success, Warmling eventually grew tired of the band, now going by the name The Guildford Stranglers, and returned to Sweden. After placing an ad in the British Music magazine Melody Maker, a replacement was found in the form of keyboard player Dave Greenfield. Somewhere along the line, the group shortened it's name to simply be 'The Stranglers', and managed to get caught up in the uprising of the musical movement fast becoming known as 'punk'. Hugh had long been friends with The Clash's frontman Joe Strummer, from his days in the pub-rock band The 101'ers, and the band were the support act for The Ramones first UK tour, the last night of which lead to an incident that alienated them from the other punk acts, when John Burnell, now going by the name Jean Jacques Burnell, got into a fight with The Clash's Paul Simonon and The Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and Paul Cook.

Seeking to rectify this immediately, the band released La Folie, another concept album, this time tackling love songs, but not always of the usual kind. After the first single, Let Me Introduce You To The Family, flopped, EMI informed the band that they were unwanted, and this would be their last album. However, something happened that changed the entire world's perception of the group. A song called Golden Brown was released as a single, and it took off all accross Europe, taking the number two spot in the UK singles charts. Despite their attempts to keep the band tied to their contract, the band escaped EMI, and found themselves at CBS, where their next album, another ambitious project featuring accoustic guitars and basses, Feline was released, to a tame reception. Returning a few years later, the group's next two albums, Aural Sculpture and Dreamtime saw a return to very solid form, but the latter was marred by the poor sales response to the single Always The Sun, which was easily one of the group's best songs. By this time, fed up with a lack of success, especially in the USA, where the band had never achieved any higher than cult status. When the group's tenth album, 10 was initially rejected by CBS, forcing the band to re-record all of the songs, the band fell apart, and on the last day of the tour to promote the record, Hugh decided to leave the band.

In the 2001/2002, on the back of Peaches being used in an Adidas TV ad, all of the band's albums were re-issued on CD, along with a rarities collection, two singles reproduction box sets, and this compilation, geared to snare in all the people who caught the song on the advert, and even possibly in the movie Sexy Beast.

It captures them at all their points, from the days where it was all about JJ's bass, like Something Better Change and Nice 'N' Sleazy to the haunting piano's of Don't Bring Harry, or the farfisa organ powered cover of ? & The Mysterians 96 Tears, which closes the compilation. The band were very good at changing their sound, and even the singing voices of Hugh, JJ and Dave(who sadly doesn't see any of his songs on the compilation) could vary. JJ could do 'in yer face' aggression, on songs like Something Better Change, but also give a husky and tender vocalisation to tracks like Don't Bring Harry and The European Female, whereas Hugh could go from almost spoken word deliveries, like on (Get A)Grip(On Yourself), to punk snarling on No More Heroes, to emotional singing on Always The Sun, via sleazy pseudo-rapping on Peaches.

The only problem is that really, in cutting the band's career down to 20 songs, you are missing out on a lot of quality music. Personal favourites of mine like London Lady, Curfew, Too Many Teardrops,Sweet Smell of Success,Never To Look Back, Princess of The Street and The Raven are all excluded from the compilation, and, unforgivabley, two of the band's classic tracks, Toiler On The Sea and Down In The Sewer are missing.

When I think about all of the other Stranglers compilations that have come out over the years, most of them have either limited themselves to a timescale, or been box-sets. Peaches tried an ambitious move, to condense the band's career onto a single CD, perfect for personal CD players or car CD players, and while it ain't perfect, it's a spirited effort, and probably the best way to get used to the band, before embarking on a quest for their albums. If there is one flaw that could have been adressed better, it's the sleeve notes, which feature one picture of the band, not even offering any real notes as such, just copyright details. Still, as a budget release to adjust to the bands sound(s), or even for fans to take in situations where dragging 10 albums would be impractical, Peaches: The Very Best of The Stranglers is a good compilation. It's not perfect, but good, and probably the best single-disc collection available.