Black Box Recorder are an English indie band; comprised of Luke Haines (of The Auteurs), John Moore (of the Jesus and Mary Chain) and vocalist Sarah Nixey (without whose sweet, pretty voice, the songs' bleakly jaded lyrics would undoubtedly have a lot less impact), they have made a name for themselves with their neat, blackly sardonic pop songs about life in modern England (one of their better-known songs, "Child Psychology", features the chorus "life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it"), drawing comparisons with the likes of The Smiths (though more philosophically than stylistically). They have released two albums and a number of singles, at one stage hitting the UK Top 40.

Worst Of, as the name suggests, is not a best-of compilation, but instead a compilation of B-sides from Black Box Recorder's many singles; and they've had enough to fill a CD, along with some remixes.

Given that the album starts with their version of Jacques Brel's suicide-note classic "Seasons In The Sun" and ends with a cover of David Bowie's "Rock'n'Roll Suicide", it is immediately obvious that this is not going to be a feel-good album. (And these two covers are pulled off quite admirably, and are very listenable in their own right.)

"Watch The Angel Not The Wire" is a dig at blind faith and passive credulity; "Jackie Sixty" is an edgy number about a celebrity or a stripper, with jagged riffs carrying an edge of cocaine paranoia. "Brutality" parodies reactionary nostalgia for the Good Old Days when everything was in its place, and for the familiar hypocrisies of an upper-middle-class England which no longer exists ("whatever happened to the fear of God, ... whatever happened to the velvet glove and the iron fist? Whatever happened to the social season?") "Start As You Mean To Go On", meanwhile, is a gleefully jaded romp through the unspoken plans of modern-day life, cheerfully talking about everything from growing up to starting a family ("let's get married, let's have children, split up when we're 22, ... get out while we're still young") to insurance fraud. This dovetails nicely with "Wonderful Life", a more bitterly sarcastic look at life and what it has to offer which showcases Black Box Recorder's deadpan cynicism at its sharpest. And "Lord Lucan Is Missing" is a piece of droning basslines and wailing riffs that would not be out of place in the early 1980s, next to Bauhaus or some early 4AD band.

There are two remixes of non-B-side tracks included: one of their dub/reggae cover "Uptown/Top Ranking", and one of their UK chart hit "The Facts of Life". The original of the latter was a piece of Spice Girl-like bubblegum-R&B saccharine which, despite its incisive lyrics about the pains of adolescence, I always found too sugary to be listenable. The Chocolate Layers remix (by none other than Jarvis Cocker, too) manages to get rid of some of the excess sweetness, also layers in samples from self-help tapes and film dialogue, to good effect.

The CD is topped off with a CD-ROM section containing MPEG videos of four of their songs (including "Child Psychology", "England Made Me", "The Art of Driving" and the original version of "The Facts of Life"). The quality of these is quite passable for MPEGs (better than some other titles with videos; the Stranglers best-of comes to mind), and they are a worthy addition to one's collection.

The Worst Of Black Box Recorder is currently only available on import from the US (in the UK, Black Box Recorder changed labels in between albums); however, good independent record shops should be able to get it. If you're a Black Box Recorder fan, it's well worth getting to complete your collection. If not, either this or England Made Me, their first album, would be a good place to start. This would also make a good Xmas present for any incurably jaded black-clad cynics you might know.