Best of Lamb 1996-2004: Best Kept Secrets
Best Kept Secrets, a collection of songs from Lamb's first four records, is a reminder of how exhilarating and shockingly modern their music can be. It's also a crash course on the band's precarious balancing act. When they're in sync, the somber torch singing of Louise Rhodes and the twisted proto-jungle of producer Andrew Barlow make for a delicious combination. The band'sself-titled debuttrumped contemporaries likePortishead, who built songs around the vocals, while Barlow and Rhodes worked on playing up their stylistic contrasts. It's a tough dynamic to maintain though, as later records likeFear of Foursand especially 2003'sBetween Darkness and Wonderdon't quite get the formula right. Laid out in chronological order,Secretsis just like the band's career to this point: It starts off great, but tails off at the end. This being a "best of," however, you notice it less. "B Line" offFours, for instance, sounds just fine coming after new classics like "Cotton Wool," and even though tracks like "Angelica" are almost painfully safe, they still kick up a nice ruckus. --Matthew Cooke