Switched On Volumes 1 - 3

Audio Remasterer: . For any Stereolab fans who need a reminder that their singles were just as vital to their evolution and body of work as their albums, Switched On, Vols. 1-3 provides ample evidence. This remastered reissue of their '90s singles and rarities collections features some of their definitive songs and spans their earliest droning Velvet Underground homages to the more eclectic and sophisticated experimental pop they purveyed by the decade's end. On songs such as "Super-Electric" and "Au Grand Jour," 1992's Switched On reaffirms that Stereolab's essential sound -- Motorik lock-grooves, bubbling analog synths, fuzzed-out guitars, and angelic vocals -- arrived fully formed. "Doubt" and "Brittle" are among the group's most vibrant pop songs, while the eight-minute "Contact" is a warm-up for the epics the band soon mastered. "The Light That Will Cease to Fail" is another standout, with Laetitia Sadier and Gina Morris' entwining voices foreshadowing the beautiful vocal interplay that Mary Hansen soon added to the group. Where Switched On collects the songs from Stereolab's busy 1991, Refried Ectoplasm: Switched On, Vol. 2 covers the next two years of their career. As brilliant a debut album as Transient Random Noise-Bursts with Announcements was, several of the band's key songs from this time -- including "Lo Boob Oscillator," "French Disko," and "John Cage Bubblegum" -- were singles for labels such as Sub Pop, Slumberland, and their own Duophonic imprint. Considering how prolific the band was during the '90s, it's not surprising that 1998's Aluminum Tunes is a double-disc collection, especially since it features 1995's limited-edition Music for the Amorphous Body Center EP in its entirety. On songs such as their swinging duet with Herbie Mann on Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba," Wagon Christ's remix of "Metronomic Underground," the horn-spiked "Percolations," and the lively syncopation of "Cadriopo," the innovation Stereolab showed on Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and Dots and Loops manifests itself in more playful ways. Individually, each Switched On collection is essential for fans; combined, they make a fascinating, rewarding alternate history of Stereolab's music. ~ Heather Phares