The gloriously syrupy drones of Gene Loves Jezebel's frontmen (twin brothers Jay and Micheal Aston) rose in the afterglow of such pop doomsayers as Bauhuas and Siouxsie & The Banshees. And it all worked together swimmingly. This set collects everything great the band did between the years 1983 and 1999, from their broody dance-club hurts (“Bruises,” “Influenza," and “The Cow”) to the stuff recorded after former Gen X guitarist James Stevenson had joined the fold (the big-lunged hits “Desire,” “The Motion of Love," and “Jealous”). Stevenson’s muscular modal riffs brought pop energy and concise songcraft; this helped the band’s fortunes rise, especially in the United States, throughout the mid- and late '80s. By 1993’s should’ve-been-big “Josephina,” the band were all but done—but not before they released the truly beautiful “Who Wants to Go to Heaven” in 1999, a tune that fittingly closes this set.

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