Surely this has been some kind of mistake, Feeder haven’t been around long enough for the ‘best of’ treatment, oh, maybe they have… What we have here is a 20-track compilation of some of the best alternative rock songs delivered by any band in the last 10years or so, sure there are the obligatory ‘new’ songs that pepper any album of this kind these days, but for the most part you have the collected ‘singles’ from the band, hence the title, no shit!

Opening with ‘Come Back Around’, one of the bands mid-tempo groovers, you are instantly drawn in, then track two is their ‘anthem’ – the song everybody knows, even your mum! I’m talking about being stuck in the 25th century, beedly beedly! ‘Buck Rogers’ is one of those songs that has become a rock club classic and it sounds just as good today as it did first time around, always the sign of a great song!

Night Watch is a Russian ‘Matrix’ style movie that if you see on DVD, simply buy! Its connection with Feeder is that they did the main song from the film, the video was especially good, the song ‘Shatter’ is very Pumpkin-esque which is no bad thing because Billy C ain’t done fuck all this good for years. What follows is the first ‘lighter’ song of the collection, and I mean ‘hold it up in the air, until your finger burns’ Feeder have a knack of touching all the right nerves, and on this evidence they could be an ‘emo’ band, and that’s something this band capture so well. We on track five meet the first new track and current ‘single’ and it’s a fuckin’ stormer. ‘Lost & Found’ just out-Policed The Police. I bet ‘A’ wish they could write a song this good, it’s a drivetime special, the sort of song that you hear on the radio and you turn the fucker up loud while your foot seems to press a little harder on the accelerator - 70 just turns to 80, and the blue light beckons!

The scene I guess is set by these opening five songs, for what follows is more of the same, sometimes better, sometimes not as good, but always excellent. They can also deliver in a live arena, and I have seen them perform from early days when we put them on in front of 50 people through to Arena shows. The band just really works on everything being just as good, and this collection is testament to just how many quality songs they have written. They sound just as good in that live setting or loud as fuck in a club, on the radio, and on your car stereo. How many bands can you say that about? I always look forward to a new album from the band and I still look forward to seeing them live; they have adapted, they have evolved. If they were American the would be revered like R.E.M., they could be the Welsh U2, but they are neither, they should be respected as much as both…

I think everyone has a favouriteFeeder song, and a story to tell. So I will. For me, it’s ‘High’ for the simple reason that on NYE 1999, I was working, as usual, Resident DJ in a Liverpool Alternative club, the dawn of a new century was looming, apparently it was all about to end, planes would fall from the sky, computers crash, all at 12:01 Jan 1, 2000. It never happened of course, but at the end of my set, I packed up, walked out into the clear night sky, got in my car, with a few friends who had come over to the ‘Big City’ to celebrate. It was heading towards daylight, so I drove to the Welsh coast, Llandudno, to be precise, where you can go to the top of the ‘Great Orme’ and look out for miles across the Irish sea. On a clear day, you can see the Irish coast. So I parked up, grabbed my i-pod, which had ‘the best welsh songs in the world ever’ including The Stereophonics, The Alarm, Manic Street Preachers, Lost Prophets, and of course, Feeder. I hooked it into the car stereo and sat on the roof of my car with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a can of Coke, poured one shot into the glass, then I rolled a fat one! I waited, and as dawn was breaking for the first time into a new century, I pressed play, and Feeder’s ‘High’ came blasting out, just as the sun broke over the horizon and onto my face, into my homeland. I kicked back and let the rays and the song wash over me, like a blazing fire. The words just seemed so apt, “I’m going out for a while, so I can get high with my friends, lying back on the floor, reaching high into space.” This was a moment in time, that could never be repeated for another 1,000 years, it was seminal, and every time I hear that song now, I think of the ‘moment.’ Music should always give you moments or it ain’t worth shit!

So I got to track five, the next fifteen you need to discover for yourself by buying this album. The new songs are as good as anything the band has previously done and bode well for the future. Feeder are one of the very best Welsh bands. I’m proud to say that being a Son of Glyndwr, but they are also one of the best UK bands, they can stand head-to-toe with any act from anywhere in the world. A worldwide band is always hard to find, anywhere, but this band can make you laugh, dance, cry, sigh, sing, wonder; they tell of love, loss; they make you stop and look around, they ask the question. They are multi-facetted, they cover many emotions, that is what makes them worldwide, for no matter where you are from, you can easily associate with any song on this record. “Feeling the moment, slipping away, cause I’m just like you,” prophetic words indeed.

You really need to own this record!

Btw: There is a double disc version which has a DVD with it, which has to be worth the money, you can listen and watch some of the best songs from the past 10 years - boss!

5/5

Track Listing

1. Come Back Around

2. Buck Rogers

3. Shatter

4. Just The Way I’m Feeling

5. Lost And Found

6. Just A Day

7. High

8. Comfort In Sound

9. Feeling A Moment

10. Burn The Bridges

11. Tumble And Fall

12. Forget About Tomorrow

13. Tender

14. Pushing The Senses

15. Save Us

16. Seven Days In The Sun

17. Insomnia

18. Turn

19. Yesterday Went Too Soon

20. Suffocate