A judiciously-selected two-CD compendium of Peter Gabriel's finest moments, Hit offers a farmore generous windfall than can be found on the only previous Peter Gabriel best-of selection,the 1990 Shaking the Tree. The devil, after all, is in the detail, particularly on the seconddisc (self-deprecatingly entitled Miss), which really traverses the whole gamut of Peter Gabrielsglobally-visioned artistry. It includes recent soundtrack work (the haunting "Cloudless" fromLong Walk Home: Music from the Rabbit-Proof Fence), material from 2002's sterling Up("Signal To Noise", featuring a compelling vocal from the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and someominous string arrangements, really does sound like a thinking man's Massive Attack) and goesright back to that fourth album when marrying the reticence of cold, synthesised new wave withinsistent African percussion seemed like a good idea (it was). The first disc--including theMTV smash "Sledgehammer", anti-apartheid war cry "Biko", "Big Time" (interesting how thestyles of Gabriel and his former group Genesis seem to converge at this time) and "Games WithoutFrontiers"--really speaks for itself, although with hindsight it seems the single-buyingpublic-at-large had a particular taste for a certain kind of Peter Gabriel record.Universally excellent throughout, the collection is rendered even more desirable by theinclusion of three previously unreleased tracks: a live rendition of "Downside Up", a shorterversion of "Blood of Eden" and "Burn You Up, Burn You Down", latterly included on a video gameand initially earmarked for the Up album but jettisoned at the last minute. --Kevin Maidment

Tracklist:

CD 1: Hit
01. Solsbury Hill
02. Shock The Monkey
03. Sledgehammer
04. Don't Give Up
05. Games Without Frontiers
06. Big Time
07. Burn You Up, Burn You Down
08. Growing Up (Tom Lord-Alge Remix)
09. Digging In The Dirt
10. Blood Of Eden (Radio Edit)
11. More Than This (Radio Edit)
12. Biko
13. Steam
14. Red Rain
15. Here Comes The Flood

CD 2: Miss
01. San Jacinto
02. No Self-Control
03. Cloudless
04. The Rhythm Of The Heat
05. I Have The Touch (Remix)
06. I Grieve
07. D.I.Y.
08. A Different Drum
09. The Drop
10. The Tower That Ate People (Radio Edit Mix)
11. Lovetown
12. Father, Son
13. Signal To Noise
14. Downside Up (Live)
15. Washing Of The Water