Sleeve: Arty cardboard case with mini-sized Gabriel and his white wizard beard standing on chair; inner sleeve picture of Gabriel's bald bonce in close-up.

Sleevenotes: No fawning essay, merely track by track details and Gabriel pictures through the years, fading to grey.

Content: "The Definitive Two CD Collection", drawn from 14 albums in 25 solo years of this multi-media innovator. Post-Genesis eclectic collection of Gabriel hits from Peter Gabriel 1,2 3,4 albums and later works So, Up and Us, plus soundtrack album selections, previously unreleased material and new re-mixes. Not chronological.

High points: Don't Give Up, duet heaven with Kate Bush; Biko, a leap forward for protest songs

Low point: Ten-year hiatus between studio albums, Us, in 1992, and Up, last year.

Any glaring omissions?: Shaking The Tree.

Anything new?: Plenty! Robbie Robertson/Gabriel re-mix of I Have The Touch; Steve Osborne's radio mix of The Tower That Ate People; live version of Downside Up from Growing Up Tour; single Burn You Up, Burn You Down, co-written with World Party's Karl Wallinger; alternative edit of Blood Of Eden.

Justified or feeble excuse for release?: Hit does exactly what it says in the title.

Where might this end up at Christmas?: Present sent from angel Gabriel to replace outmoded 1990 compilation, Shaking The Tree.

Updated: 16:09 Wednesday, December 17, 2003