Feeling like the proverbial final nail in the coffin, the release of this double cd, “The Best Of The Beta Band – Music”, brings a premature end to a career that, while showing so much early promise, ultimately failed to make the required mainstream breakthrough. That, though, has more to do with the failings of the music-buying public, rather than the band themselves.
Refusing the music industry's current requirement to be manufactured, pigeon-holed (excuse the pun) or, generally, 'sold' to the public, THE BETA BAND stayed true to themselves and let their art do all the talking. It's just a pity that not many people spoke their intelligent Dada-esque language.
With record company debts of over a million pounds, the band were obliged to allow this collection to be released, probably against their better judgement, but, all the same, it is a nicely packaged little introduction to their music.
The first disc is a standard run-of-the-mill “Best Of...” selection, culled from the four studio recordings the band produced. Designed, ultimately, for the newcomer, as most of these ubiquitous compilations are, the track selection while, admittedly, still giving a superb snapshot of the band at the height of their powers, is ultimately let down with the wrong song selection and the uncomfortable running order.
Running chronologically (the first mistake), the opening four tracks from the fabled “3 E.P.'s” give the new listener an insight to what all the early fuss was about, though fans will, undoubtedly, ask how any Beta compilation can be complete without classics such as 'Dog's Got A Bone', 'The House Song' or 'Needles In My Eyes'.
The only non-album track to make an appearance is the trippy single 'To You Alone', although quite how they managed to miss out the majestic 'Won' remix is anybody's guess.
While the band's much derided, and eponymously titled, debut album is also somehow neglected by whoever chose the final tracklisting. No sign, then, of the catchy 'Round The Bend', the delightfully infectious 'Number 15', or the utterly sublime 'The Cow's Wrong'. I think 'criminal' is the word you're looking for.
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On the other hand, though, the cream of the band's third album “Hot Shots 11”, including the breakthrough single, that wasn't, 'Squares', the gentle acoustic strum of 'Human Being' and, in my humble opinion, quite possibly the band's musical peak, the utterly gorgeous 'Gone', does makes the final cut.
The final installment of the five tracks taken from final album “Heroes To Zeros” leaves this particular hack, to say the least, perplexed. Quite how the plodding strains of 'Wonderful', and the just plain dull 'Troubles' made it ahead of the under-rated 'Space, the stunning 'Out-Side' or the crashing sounds of 'Liquid Bird' is, well, er, beyond me.
The second disc, though, is much, much better. Recorded on their farewell tour at Shepherd's Bush Empire, this is the one the fans will appreciate most.
Stunning versions of 'Inner Meet Me', 'Dr Baker' and 'Assessment' are only usurped by the stupendous closing stramash of 'The House Song'.
The seven minute opus 'Dry The Rain', includes a glorious crowd sing-a-long, while tracks such as 'She's The One' and 'Quiet' show how powerful, and innovative, the band were as a live force.
There's not much more I can add really, other than, if you don't own a Beta Band album already (have you been living in a cave these past few years?), you should either;
a) go out immediately and purchase all four of them,
or;
b) settle for this. Even though it's, probably, the best “Best Of..” I've heard in a couple of years.
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