The Chemical Brother are one of the most important British dance acts of the last 15 years and this best of set is proof of the duo’s (they aren’t really brothers) ability to produce dance music with soul and intelligence.  

The Grammy award winning twosome of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons were along with The Prodigy, The Crystal Method and Fatboy Slim pioneers of the Big Beat genre of dance music that gained mainstream popularity in the late 90’s. Staring out in 1992 as the Dust Brothers, in homage to the New York Hip hop production team of the same name who produced for The Beastie Boys, but by 1995 their increasing popularity and the threat of legal action from the original Dust Brothers, Ed and Tom re-christened themselves The Chemical Brothers. 

Disc one comprises 14 singles, including new track Keep My Composure featuring Spank Rock and there’s a bonus track with the digital download version of the album. All your favourites are present and correct including: Chemical Beats, Leave Home, Block Rockin’ Beats, Galvanize and Hey Boy Hey Girl. This collection demonstrates The Chemical Brothers breadth of sound, from the psychedelic electronica of Setting Sun and Let Forever Be to the hands in the air anthems of Saturate and Believe.  Disc two is made up of all ten Electronic Battle Weapons, which are a series of promo 12’s that The Chemical Brothers started to release in between albums as a way to test new material in the club.  So if you’ve never heard of The Chemical Brothers, which frankly would be a disgrace, or you’re a big fan (in which case you probably have most of these tracks already) it’s still worth the price of the cd/download for the bonus tracks and the never before released 10^th Electronic Battle Weapon.