Listening to this embarrassingly deluxe box-set, it’s hard not to lament on what an incredible band Arab Strap really were. Five LPs, three CDs, a cassette, a poster, liner notes and a certificate of authenticity hand signed by Aidan and Malcolm, there is literally nothing else out there that will slate the thirst of the 1,000 lucky Arab Strap fans to get their hands on this.
Covering 1996-1998 there are the Philophobia and The Week Never Starts Around Here albums on heavyweight vinyl, two live sets, Peel sessions, an early singles collection and rarities.
Most interestingly of all is rarity ‘Daughters of Darkness’. Never completed before their split, they’ve finally completed it and released it within this collection and what a track it is. Up there with the very best things that the band has ever done, it takes the atmospherics and paranoid haze of ‘Fucking Little Bastards’ and plays around with it in the most thrilling manner.
As a matter of fact, you can’t help but hope that there’s something within Aidan and Malcolm that values the nostalgia felt towards the band, for the probable last bit of new(ish) material it’s just too much of a tease of what a new album from them could well amount to. It’s cruelty of the highest order from an utterly essential period from one of the best bands Scotland has ever produced.
NB: we’ve included our usual Amazon link, but you might well try the Chemikal Underground shop for this hard-to-get item…