Ready, Steady Go! - Generation X

This EMI release is the UK version of the 3-disc Generation X retrospective issued domestically by Capitol in April 2003. Like its US counterpart, the collection features a greatest hits disc, some rarities, and a live date from Osaka, Japan in 1978. The set has drawn criticism for not being the comprehensive history Generation X its title suggests. With only a brief essay by Alan Parker and detailed, if non-essential song credits, the set's liner notes have been criticized as lacking. Meanwhile, the packaging of a perfunctory hits collection with the mediocre live recording and the Sweet Revenge rarites album confuses the line between avid collector and casual fan. The former might be interested in the live and rare material, if only to complete gaps in a collection. But he will certainly already have the greatest hits, making that disc unnecessary and unwanted. At the same time, a casual Gen X listener who only wants the original version of "Dancing With Myself" will have no interest in the band's live set or housecleaning castoffs. All of this makes Anthology a pretty problematic set, no matter which label it's released on. ~ Johnny Loftus , All Music Guide