Pitchfork

The early catalog of the always under-appreciated Tindersticks has recently been getting the royal spa treatment in the UK, with each of their first five albums receiving a full re-mastering overhaul, complete with oodles of added bonus tracks and rarities. While the title Working for the Man: The Island Years might imply a more comprehensive retrospective, what we have here is instead something of a sampler platter covering the years 1992-1999, and intended to whet our appetites for the day these lavish reissues finally see domestic release.

One of the most brilliant and idiosyncratic (and now longest-lived) bands to emerge from Britain in the early 90s, the Tindersticks' timing was such that they quickly found themselves caught up in the wash of music press hype and Britpop bluster, and as an unfortunate result it seems their early records are far more often discussed than actually heard. Nevertheless, I don't think it's too outlandish to suggest that their luxuriant, melancholic orchestrations have exerted some degree of influence on acts such as Crooked Fingers, The Black Heart Procession, and Belle and Sebastian.

With their blankets of violin and keyboard organized cozily around Stuart Staples' weathered baritone, some critics have suggested that Tindersticks simply comprise the lite version of Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave's literate romanticism. In fact, I was put off the group for a brief time after my mother mentioned that she enjoyed them because Staples' voice reminded her of easy-listening giant Roger Whittaker. (Although, who knows-- with his songbird whistling and pipe-tobacco warmth-- perhaps Whittaker is overdue for a Burt Bacharach-style career reappraisal.) But the uniformly excellent songs collected on Working for the Man amply illustrate that Tindersticks possess the inventiveness and compositional muscle to be considered the peers of bands like the Bad Seeds rather than mere imitators.

Though the group has yet to release a bad record, most of Tindersticks' best ideas can be traced back to one of their first two albums (confusingly both are self-titled), so it's not surprising that each are well represented on this 11-song collection. Included here are such highlights as the galloping spaghetti western twang of "Her", the archetypal "Tiny Tears", which once served as a backdrop while a bathrobe-clad Tony Soprano gobbled Prozac, and "Traveling Light", Staples' debonair duet with The Walkabouts' Carla Torgerson. The main quibble about this set is its brevity-- for a band renowned for its expansive grandeur, a mere 11 tracks feels awfully skimpy. The tremendous Island-era album Curtains is only represented by one lonesome track, while the group's 1996 soundtrack for the film Nenette et Boni is ignored entirely.

Early pressings of Working for the Man include a second disc of B-sides and rarities that greatly enhances the collection's appeal. Though several of these rare songs prove to be pleasant but unremarkable piffle, this disc does contain crucial tracks like the group's impeccable covers of Pavement's "Here" (which arguably trumps the original Slanted and Enchanted version) and Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen". Reportedly these tracks will not be included as extras on any other of the album reissues, so if you want 'em, you'd better hop to. And if you've waited until now to get your first glimpse of Tindersticks' verdant landscapes, Working for the Man may just be the porthole you've been seeking.