Act – Laughter, Tears And Rage - The Anthology

I just bought a used near mint copy of this CD set and all the CDs played perfect no issues whatsoever

A long time on from buying this at the time of release, I'm finding that Disc 1 and Disc 3 have some issues, maybe due to whatever method was used to print the disc surface. Disc 1 will not play the last 2 tracks, and Disc 3 is no longer readable. You can see the design on the disc label from the playing surface which is not normal. So, if buying this used, be careful.

A solid and long-awaited collection containing a handful of surprises and a similar quantity of unfortunate disappointments.

Longtime followers of the band or their label will be overjoyed to discover that virtually all of Act's commercially-released output appears in this single package -- one of the advantages of the duo's relatively shallow back catalog. The casual fan need no longer haunt the dark corners of the '12" Vinyl: Misc A' bins in hopes of stumbling across a stray TIMM, VIMM, ZACT or XACT; their contents are all represented within.

But alas, a few holes in the plot: the rare remixes of "Chance", nicked on charges of Unauthorized Incorporation Of An ABBA Sample immediately after their original release, do not resurface here. Neither do the four otherwise-unavailable tracks from the "Snobbery & Decay" promo (possibly for similarly legalistic reasons), or the alternate single version of "Poison" (whose mix bears no distinguishing title and may therefore have simply been overlooked). There is an attempt at balance: new mixes of "Chance" and "Absolutely Immune" ease the pain somewhat. The same cannot be said of the samey-sounding flurry of previously-unavailable instrumentals that dominates disc three.

All told, it's a worthy effort; if you've ever heard an Act track you liked, it's almost certainly here to be enjoyed again. Only the most desparate of the die-hard anoraks -- this reviewer sadly among them -- will shelve the set unsatisfied.