John Otway’s third hits collection, released in the wake of his second hit, is a career spanning behemoth that, more than either of its predecessors, illustrates precisely why he remains one of Britain’s best-loved (if horrifically unknown) musical institutions. Thirty-plus years of music is wrapped up here, opening — of course — with the “Really Free”/”Beware of the Flowers” pairing that brought him his first Top 30 smash, but continuing on to deliver an almost peerless summary of his career-so-far. Yes, we could probably have lived without the somewhat forced silliness of “Body Talk”; yes, we do mourn the unforgivable absence of “The Highwayman.” But the backwards-masking of “DK 50-80,” the maniacal renderings of “Green Green Grass of Home,” “Delilah” and, of course, “Cheryl’s Going Home,” the still-painful-to-contemplate “Headbutts” and the soaring “Poetry and Jazz” are all essential Otway, while “Best Dream” and “The Middle of Winter” join the latter in challenging “Josephine” and “Geneve” for the crown of John Otway’s best ballad. “Bunsen Burner” is here, together with its B-side, an absurdly ambitious live take on “House of the Rising Sun,” and they might well be the first point of entry for many younger listeners. The journey those neophytes will take to reach them, though, will certainly make them fans for life. The best of Otway has always had that effect on people, and Greatest Hits is very nearly the best he’s ever done. – Dave Thompson