I Touch Roses: The Best Of
An AmericanHuman League?Abba? Book  of Love was that good, earning the comparisons while remaining a wholly  unique outfit. A handful of singles as good as the highlights of this  retrospective would improve current radio immeasurably.I Touch  Roses' 15 album cuts and remixes drawn from the California group's  Sire releases (1985-'93) reflect a love of pop as an art form and a wish to  communicate rather than merely sell. Though linked to the synth-pop era, Book  of Love was as much rooted in girl groups and other ostensibly throwaway stuff; in turn, cuts like the title track, "Boy," and "Sunny Day" remain as  vibrant as "Give Him a  Great Big Kiss" or "You  Keep Me Hangin' On." Only a post-new wave outfit such as this,  though, could've gotten away with an innocentExorcisttribute  such as "Tubular Bells," much less one that appears here adjacent to  the ultrasweet "Counting the Rosaries." It's hardly nostalgia that  makes this disc sound so fabulous: Book of Love's shouts and coos  should appeal to anyone under, say, 90--anyone, that is, whose heart  and tear ducts remain alive.--Rickey Wright