Red Hot Chili Peppers: Greatest Hits

(Herald rating: * * * *)

If it's remarkable that the band that started out as a punk-funk freakshow is still with us, it's even more remarkable that the Californian quartet are still regularly hoisting tunes into the charts and albums, like last year's By The Way that are among their best work.

This 16-track hits collection picks the eyes out of their past 15 years or so, jumping from the breakthrough cuts from Blood Sugar Sex Magik — Under the Bridge and Give It Away — which first showed they were capable of bittersweet balladry as well as fiery rap-rock. It includes just one cut from their patchy 80s output (their cover of Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground) and just one from the time Jane's Addictions' Dave Navarro replaced John Frusciante on guitar for a time which altered the band's chemistry for the worse. The two new tracks add little, but the cuts from the most recent albums show the reason for this compilation isn't a case of diminishing returns, musically anyway.

Label: Warners