The Teardrop Explodes - The Collection (2002)

Less than a year after the U.K. wing of Mercury issued The Greatest Hit, the Spectrum label followed up with The Collection, yet another overview of the Teardrop Explodes' brief lifespan. The greatest (albeit shoddy) advantage this mid-line disc holds over The Greatest Hit is the track count, as it has three more songs. The overlap between the two -- five songs -- is surprisingly unsubstantial when considering that the band only released two studio albums during its existence. As a result, the two compilations provide rather different looks at the band, so if you're deciding between them for a beginning route into the band, it's a crapshoot. The Collection misfires with the exclusion of "Ha Ha I'm Drowning," "Reward," "Sleeping Gas," and "You Disappear From View." However, it does include the incredibly bizarre and bizarrely incredible "Bouncing Babies," which Mercury failed to include on The Greatest Hit. Still, the best place to go first with the band is either Mercury's great 2001 remaster of Kilimanjaro or the U.S.-distributed Kilimanjaro/Wilder two-fer.