Released three years after their final album,
Statues, a
Moloko best-of was long overdue. Fortunately, the straightforwardly named
Catalogue delivers an impeccably edited collection of the duo's eclectic, ahead-of-the-curve music, gathering their biggest hits and key album tracks. Gorgeous romanticism, drop-dead style, and a funky sense of humor -- not to mention
Roisin Murphy's charismatic vocals and
Mark Brydon's forward-thinking production skills -- were the key ingredients in
Moloko's freewheeling mix of dance, pop, and rock, all of which are on display throughout
Catalogue and especially on its first five tracks, which are, not coincidentally, the duo's most popular singles. "Fun for Me" and "Pure Pleasure Seeker" are quintessential examples of
Moloko's sexy, mischievous take on dance anthems; "The Time Is Now" and "Familiar Feeling" are searching-but-glamorous ballads; and of course, the pair's breakthrough single "Sing It Back" is as alluring as it is inventive. Unlike some best-ofs, which have to stretch to fill out an album's worth of tracks,
Catalogue is a welcome reminder of how strong
Moloko's overall body of work is. From
Do You Like My Tight Sweater?'s "Day for Night" and "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" to the title track of
Statues, each song on the collection holds up.
Catalogue's only flaw -- if it can be called that -- is that it doesn't include many of the flights of fancy that made
Moloko's albums so distinctive. The closest the collection gets to the duo's deeply kooky side is the cryptic but irresistible shuffle of "Indigo" and the playful pop of "The Flipside." This is a minor drawback though --
Catalogue is a great
Moloko primer, and any newcomers charmed by the songs here have even more to discover on the full-length albums. ~ Heather Phares