Monsters of Love

Though it's a singles collection, Monsters of Love: Singles 1985-90 doesn't offer a complete portrait of Momus' work on Creation, excluding as it does material from his two best albums, Tender Pervert and Hippopotamomus (the latter of which was released after this collection). Apart from three tracks included on The Poison Boyfriend, most of what's here was originally released on EPs (including 1985's The Beast With Three Backs) or non-LP singles. The latter category includes the Dave Ball/Richard Norris remix of Don't Stop the Night's "The Hairstyle of the Devil" — the version that became a surprise underground hit in the U.K. — but overall, the collection skews heavily toward his earlier years. That means there's a lot of melancholy, obsessively intellectual folk-pop, and not as much of the witty, misanthropic synth-pop that came to represent his later work. If you're looking for an introduction to Momus' singer/songwriter phase, Monsters of Love is a very good place to start, but while most of its songs are unavailable elsewhere, newcomers should be warned that it doesn't add up to the comprehensive overview they might expect from a singles compilation.