Customer Reviews
an organ solo too far! - By: rod, 06 Jul 2007 
fantastic album but only 4 stars due to a lack of a couple of essential stranglers songs, eg. waltzin black, bear cage & i'd liked to have had a few more songs from their masterpiece, "the raven" included.
still a really cool compilation though from a very underrated piece of british musical history. some of the organ solo's will make your head spin, & i have seen it make people nauseous & lunge for the stereo to turn it off, so beware!
you might want to get "the collection 77-88" instead & give the later stuff a miss. it's just a bit tame compared to the older stuff.
"The Very Best"? How can this be? - By: Mr. A. S. T. Bateman, 27 Jun 2006 
The Stranglers are a great group who have prouduced some fine songs but the manufactureres of this CD need their heads examining. Are they really trying to suggest that the shorter version of the classic "Walk On By" which misses out most of the mind blowing organ solo & which is includedin this collection is actually better than the longer version with the soloin all its glory? They must be having a laugh? If you plan to buy this CD, look elsewhere for one with the full version of this outstanding song & ask yourself how a shorter, edited, abridged, censored, clipped, cropped or reduced version of anything can ever be better than the original???
Best of the best ofs - By: Beardy Pete, 09 Jun 2006 The thing about bands like the Stranglers is that they are a bit of a compilers nightmare. A prodigious output, coupled with a long career & a couple of label-changes make for a difficult all-encompassing best of, as evidenced by a few of the others on the market (No '5 Minutes' or 'Golden Brown? WHAT?!). But this is certainly the best available, with all the crowd-pleasers you would want jammed onto one disc. Ok, so the 1989 version of Get a Grip on Yourself is a bit naff but they had to slip up somewhere. Bottom line is, if you have a Stranglers shaped holein your CD collection, this is the album to putin it.
Excellent - every song is superb - By: , 04 Dec 2004 
This is one of my favourite albums, it's absolute class. I would recommend this to anyone.
The best of a very talented band. - By: , 25 Sep 2003 No greater band of their era. A very good stab at the best of aswell, certainly the earlier stuff anyway. I defy anyone to purchase this album & not continue playing it for years to come. With all this talk of the 25 year anniversary of punk, do yourself a favour & buy this from a band that could & still do know how to play, & who went on to better & stronger thingsin the 80's & through to the next century. Enjoy, & don't forget to thank me for leading you on the right path. Bez
