Kirsty MacColl
Album: New England:The Very Best Of
Label: Salvo
Tracks: 21
Website: http://www.kirstymaccoll.com

Following closely on the heels of the remastered expanded reissues of four of Kirsty's albums, comes a further hefty salvo, a veritable blockbuster with all the extra boost of a TV ad campaign and thus a significantly high profile. And if it's a one-size-fits-all, genuinely all-encompassing and decidedly best-of collection you're after, then you really can't go wrong with this purchase. It gathers together on one ultra-generously-filled 77-minute disc no fewer than 21 of Kirsty's most well-loved recordings, in the versions/mixes with which we're most familiar. In that respect it scores over (actually I'd rather say complements) the earlier, intentionally all-embracing compilation The One And Only, which boasted a few comparative rarities among its 14 tracks (only four of which are actually duplicated on this new compilation).

Here the focus is fairly and squarely on the many facets of Kirsty's own individual talent, from her exceptional voice, her stylish songwriting with its special brand of wit (Don't Come The Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim) and keen sense of social responsibility (Walking Down Madison), her adept takes on the pure pop idiom (They Don't Know, Terry), her empathy with world music styles, and her unique skill for personally owning other writers' songs (Days, You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby and the collection's title number). This is a glorious hour-and-a-quarter of unadulterated Kirsty, a veritable parade of hit singles and favourite album tracks. OK, so there's none of the stuff she recorded with her dad, or with Billy Bragg, but at least we do get her priceless rendition of Miss Otis Regrets (with the Pogues) included as compensation.

From a personal-taste viewpoint, I could quibble mildly with some of the sequencing (the over-arranged Cuban extravaganza In Your Shoes? arguably doesn't provide an ideal lead-in track, for example), and England 2 Colombia 0 has never been one of my own favourite Kirsty moments, but the overall vibe of the collection is commendably feelgood and let's face it, whether you like its slightly overblown theatricality or not, Fairytale Of New York just has to be included and is really the only possible way to close the disc. Finally, fans will need to note that there's also a special (Amazon) limited-edition variant of this release which sports an extra disc - a dvd containing 10 promo videos - and five art cards featuring rare photos and some extracts from her lyrics.

David Kidman