This album comprises a survey of the band's output during their second period of commercial success after their early hits of the mid-1960s, this success predominantly in the United States. After four moderately successful
concept albums for their previous label,
RCA Records, their contract was not renewed. In 1976 they signed with a company recently launched by ex-
Columbia Records head
Clive Davis, Arista, making one live and six studio albums for the label during a stay of a decade. In an effort to reverse diminishing cash flow, the band jettisoned the horn players, back-up singers, and the theatricality of the mid-1970s work and embraced the
arena rock styles of the period. Ray Davies decamped to
New York and worked to write songs with the commercial American market in mind: I started working with Clive. I think
Sleepwalker was an attempt to make it more palatable to radio and that's why Clive wanted to get involved. I was working with him very closely in those days. I rented an apartment in New York, and I would take my demo tapes into his office, he'd play the songs and make comments, and I would go back and work on them. Of the songs on the album, "
A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy", "
Come Dancing", and "
Don't Forget to Dance" made the top 40 on the
Billboard Hot 100, with two just missing at number 41: "
(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" and "
Do It Again". Six consecutive albums covered by this compilation—
Sleepwalker,
Misfits,
Low Budget,
One for the Road,
Give the People What They Want, and
State of Confusion—all placed in the top 15 on the
Billboard 200. Their final studio album for the label,
Word of Mouth is also represented in this collection. The band left the label by 1986 for their next album,
Think Visual. ==Release==