In between worrying about the second Sundays album or the departure of Brendon from Teenage Fanclub, the NME reader in the early '90s could often be found seeking solace from Belly. For four years, the group took tales of relationships and dying and told them with unceasingly flanging guitars.
Time and this compilation still look reasonably kindly upon them. As interested in country music as they were jerky-art rock (they were fronted by former Throwing Muse and Breeder, Tanya Donnelly), they now sound like the missing link between the Pixies, and, oddly enough, Starsailor. It's the singles - 'Feed The Tree', particularly - that come out best, and though datedness hangs comfortably around these songs like a long-sleeved tour shirt, to air them once again certainly does no harm.
John Robinson
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