The (English) Beat “What Is Beat? The Best of the Beat” 1983. Go Feet Records. 2 LP comp, one of Beat singles, album tracks and the other a “free album of extended remixes” called Frebe. While I might argue that their debut album I Just Can’t Stop It is the real best of the Beat album (from 1980, it went to #3 in the UK), this comp does pull several tracks: “Tears of a Clown” (originally by Smokey Robinson), “Mirror in the Bathroom” (one of my alltime faves), a different, a non-album version of “Stand Down Margaret,” “Best Friend,” “Rankin’ Full Stop” and “Twist and Crawl” (another top top track). There are two songs from 1981′s Wha’ppen?: “Doors of Your Heart” and “Drowning.”  The single-only track “Too Nice To Talk To” from that era is also included (and that song appears on the Wha’ppen? CD reissue). There are a few from their third album Special Beat Service (1982, #21 UK, #39 US) like the amazing “Save It For Later” as well as “I Confess” and “Ackee 1-2-3″ plus the ‘83 single, a cover “Can’t Get Used To Losing You” (originally a hit for Andy Williams in ‘63) which was also on I Just Can’t Stop It in a slightly different arrangement.

Frebe remixes and bonus tracks: “Twist and Crawl,” “Save It For Later,” “Psychedelic Rockers,” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” “Mirror in the Bathroom,” “Hands Off…She’s Mine,” “Tears of a Clown,” “Too Nice to Talk To,” “March of the Swivel Heads” (probably most recognized from the final scene of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), “Drowning,” “I Confess” and “Doors of Your Heart.”