Very Best of
Deee-Lite were the happiest of accidents. The cuddly,  mainstream-pop version of New York drag culture (frontwoman Lady Miss  Kier was essentially a female drag queen) and deep club music, they  stayed faithful to their pancultural, pansexual, musically omnivorous  dance-utopian roots throughout their too-brief career. Even their  biggest hit, the agelessly potent suite "Groove Is in the Heart,"  sounds like a bunch of unrelated ideas (aHerbie Hancockriff, aQ-Tiprap, cartoonP-Funkcameos,  and a cutup diva-house vocal) that bumped into each other and decided  to have a party. They were never less than sweet, and rarely less than  kittenish--or, as Kier put it, "De-groovy!" Compiled by the band  themselves,Very Bestis a curious cross section of their  career, omitting a couple of singles fromInfinity Withinand  including more songs from their uneven farewellDewdrops in the  Gardenthan from their hit debutWorld Clique. They do get  points, though, for rescuing the kickingMasters at Workcollaboration "Bittersweet Loving," whose straightforward  four-on-the-floor points out how eccentric their beats and production  usually were.--Douglas Wolk