Luscious Jackson Greatest Hits CD

Released in February 2007, seven years after the group's breakup and on the very day Jill Cunniff released her debut solo album, City Beach, Greatest Hits is a good basic overview of Luscious Jackson's career, weighing in with 15 songs, plus four remixes and a brief intro. This downplays their beginnings as bohemian hipsters, selecting only "Let Yourself Get Down" from their still-startling debut EP, In Search of Manny (the near-theme song "Daughters of the Kaos" should have made the cut), in favor of representing their three Capitol LPs -- 1994's Natural Ingredients, 1996's Fever In Fever Out, and 1999's Electric Honey -- in nearly equal measures. All the singles are here, beginning with the radio hits -- the sleek, sultry "Naked Eye" (present in its radio mix), the dense, slyly funky "Citysong," and the streamlined but charming "Ladyfingers" -- but also encompassing the U.K. singles "Deep Shag," "Here," and "Under Your Skin." When distilled to their singles and key album tracks, Luscious Jackson winds up sounding more consistent than they often did over the course of a full album, and if their blend of hip-hop, alt-rock, and pop eclecticism is very much a sound that's instantly evocative of the '90s, it has lost none of its appeal a decade later. If anything, their relaxed funkiness, off-hand hooks, and casual style sounds better than it did in their peak, as this charming, listenable Greatest Hits proves. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine