21 Singles puts all of this history on convenient display. The first three singles are still terrifying, almost as scary as the band's hairstyles from this time (as evinced in the CD booklet photos; cf the fuzzy b/w shot of Jim Reid on the cover); the sheer levels of noise and feedback are astonishing. The next two tracks, "Just Like Honey" and "Some Candy Talking", follow that sort of noise aesthetic albeit in more restrained form; the noise is turned down though the layers of echo still resonate. "Candy" even manages to find room for a small string section buried in the mix. At least that's what it sounds like. The next three tracks are prime Darklands material, immediately calmer than their predecessors. The double header from Honey's Dead, "Reverence" and "Far Gone and Out", neatly demonstrate between them the band's opposing tendencies to aggro noise and splendid guitar pop. The relative hit single "Sometimes Always", featuring Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star, further extends the latter side of the band. Finally we come to the concluding trio, "I Hate Rock N Roll", "Cracking Up" and "I Love Rock N Roll". The second of these is about the only track on the whole set that doesn't entirely convince me. It sounded a bit self-parodic to me when it came out and has improved with age only slightly. The other two, though, make a neatly contrasting pair: "Hate" a sarcastic, noisy outburst and "Love" a bright, uptempo tune with brass stabs and everything. It brilliantly undermines the whole decade and a half of miserable-Glaswegian-bastards-turned-sullen-rockers image the band had cultivated.

21 Singles, therefore, rocks. The band may be no more, and meanwhile we're left with bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club doing an admittedly not bad impression of them; but the music lives and has aged well. If you buy no other JAMC albums (though you really should), this is the one you should get. All it needs is a companion disc rounding up all the other B-sides, EP tracks, etc, not including on their previous odds & sods discs, and things will be just fine.