In a world currently going ape over all things art-punk, the time for Polysics to make a worldwide splash couldn't be better. As prime movers in the 1998 Tokyo New Wave Of New Wave scene, they made a name for themselves by wedding The Boredoms' willfully annoying hyper-speed screeching to a pop sensibility shamelessly nicked from Neu!, Eno, XTC, and that's just their record titles. Their imagery and vocal style is pure Devo but while they have always worn their influences on their sleeves, the finished product is unquestionably their own.

This "Best Of..." album, like The Hives' "Your New Favourite Band", is the Polysics primer that the Western world needs. "Making Sense", taken from major label debut album "NEU", is the most obvious pop song on the album and has "UK hit single!" written all over it in gaudy day-glo orange, whereas "each life each end" is the sound of Morning Musume engaged in a vicious bout of cyber-S&M with Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Elsewhere, as on "Buggie Technica", "Kaja Kaja Goo" and "New Wave Jacket", the scarily over-chirpy synthesizers battle it out with thundering surf guitars in what has become Polysics' defining sound.

Long time fans may be annoyed at the re-recording of all the songs from their indie label days, and the new version of "Black Out Fall Out", from 2002's "For Young Electric Pop" is toothless and unnecessary. Nevertheless, on the whole, the new versions beef up the originals and give a sense of consistency and cohesion to the album that it might otherwise have lacked. The release of a "Best Of..." compilation at this stage in their career is a little worrying but here's hoping it signifies more of a semicolon than a full stop. It should go without saying that everyone should own this album. -Ian Martin, June.06.04

Polysics Or Die