Released in late 2003 to mark her tenth year as a professional musician, it would be easy to dismiss this a retrospective or greatest hits package, but closer inspection shows that of the 15 tracks, 9 are newly recorded, 2 are live, and only 4 have been taken from previous albums.
Picking her strongest material has produced an album that is of the highest quality from start to finsh, but it’s the 9 newly recorded songs that really stand out. All but 2 of these 9 are versions of tracks that have appeared on previous albums, but without exception they are superior to the originals. She’s still vocally striking, but everything just seems a little easier and smoother, and they’re musically a little more complete, they’ve improved over time and are often totally different in pace and feel to the original recordings. This is most noticeable on one of the many highlights, a fantastic reworking of ‘The Wild Goose’ which is slower and with a beautiful fiddle and accordion accompaniment from McCusker and Cutting.
A live version of ‘Drowned Lovers’ highlights the fact that these songs work as well (if not better) in the live setting, this song has more pace, drama and immediacy than the version on ‘Hourglass’.
Rather than a retrospective, this collection highlights the growth of Kate as an artist – it’s a superb collection that’s both the best introduction for anyone new to her music, and essential for those who already know her work. 

£13.49