Therapy? 'So Much for the Ten Year Plan. A Retrospective 1990-2000' (Ark 21)

As evidenced by the name of this CD, this is a sort of 'Best of' album, which band was forced to release under the pressure from their former label A&M Records. In this particular case instead of letting A&M handle this compilation themselves, Therapists decided to be cooperative and included tracks from all of their albums as well as two new songs ('Bad Karma Follows You Around' and 'Fat Camp'). What can I say? Certainly this Therapy? 'So Much for the Ten Year Plan. A Retrospective 1990-2000' CD does not offer a whole lot of interesting material for true Therapy? fans, even if you are able to track down a limited edition pressing of this compilation, which includes a bonus CD with some quite rare songs such as one of their very first demo recordings in the form of a 1990's version of 'Bloody Blue'. However, as a true fan you just can not afford not to buy this package, both because there is some exclusive material included, and also because we just have to have everything that has T?

logo on it, right? :-) If you are not sure who these Irish guys are or heard the name but never bothered to investigate any further, well, this is a genuine opportunity for you to enter the world of one of the best hard-hitting (even though not Metal) bands in the world. As you move from the earlier and almost industrial sounding 'Meat Abstract' and 'Teethgrinder' to much more metallic 'Nowhere', to softer although still dark "Diane', to punkier material from the 'Semi-Detached' album, and, finally, to quite chaotic stuff from their latest recording 'Suicide Pact...', you will probably understand why they have been my favorite band for a number of years now. Throughout their ten-year history you won't be able to find two albums that sound exactly the same, but they have always managed to keep their unique sound right there, so I have never had a problem distinguishing T? from some other band. Well, maybe you will eventually be able to do the same thing if you buy this compilation and dig what they do. Wanna bet? :-) Andy.