's work doesn't lend itself easily to compilations -- not because he didn't cut singles, since he made many terrific stand-alone singles, but because his body of work is so idiosyncratic, even contradictory, that it's possible to have perfectly valid differing perspectives on his catalog. This results in differing opinions among fans, so it's perfectly logical that and his associates would have a unique view of his own work, as captured on . Billed on its slipcase as "The Definitive Two CD Collection," spans 29 tracks culled from his entire solo career, from 1977's to 2002's , plus the previously unreleased It certainly is a generous compilation, and it does contain the basics: and But the devil is in the details, and in this particular case, the details push away from the broad-based appeal of and closer to the dense, subtle territory of . This is achieved, of course, through the track selection, which is heavy on recent material (note: none of the edit details are present on the back cover, hence their presence here): from , there's which amounts to half the entire album; the previously unreleased 2003 live track ; from the to the 2002 from the 1994 from ; the 1990 remake of ; from , the album track plus the singles That's a grand total of 16 tracks dating after the career high watermark of -- 16 tracks covering two full albums, plus a lot of odds and ends. There's unquestionably good material here -- not just the singles, but much of was quite excellent, even if it requires several listens to appreciate -- but the heavy emphasis on this post- work skews too much to the new (nine of the 14 tracks on disc two are of relatively recent vintage), at least if the yardstick is either an evenhanded appreciation of 's entire solo work or a portrait of his best-known, best-loved work. After all, there are many singles missing -- among them -- plus other worthy uncollected rarities (his deliriously paranoid from the 1984 needs to finally get a CD issue) and many, many terrific album tracks that would have had given this compilation greater breadth and depth, including and the tremendous pair of the two best cuts on the underrated (which is once again consciously ignored by , with this exhaustive collection featuring nothing from the record). If some of these 12 songs had managed to get on , it truly would have been definitive, capturing the entire scope of his solo career. As it stands, it's a very good collection, one that delivers most of what is expected, even as it presents a relatively up-to-date self-portrait of the artist. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine