Good, but not the best way to sum up Gabriel's career

Review Score: (8/10)
I cannot make my mind up about this album. My instant reaction is to advise people to ignore it -- except as a cheap way of collecting together the best from Gabriel's first three albums -- and to buy each of 'Security', 'So' and 'Passion', because in my view, Gabriel hit his best patch in that period. All are 5-star masterpieces.

But I have to admit to a partial ignorance of Gabriel's work. Though I have all his subsequent output, I don't own the first three albums. Some reviewers say that the first two are flawed, but I have had friends who swore by his early stuff.

The best compilations are the ones you make for yourself!

More Reviews:

• Pumped to Please
• Good in the car
• For the passing fan, get 'Hit' instead
• better than the new greatest hits
• Almost as good as his 2-disc collection.
• Nice compilation
• Great Gabriel Collection
• Turn Up The Voice
• Flaws are Noticable, But Still an Entertaining Retrospecitve
• A portrait of Gabriel's solo career
• True audiophile sound.
• Missing an important song
• a must have
• Only sixteen greats?
• Why no "In Your Eyes"? Well...
• Unbelievably great CD!
• a solid heads up to you, the consumer
• Sounds much better remastered
• Only for the most casual fans (and, ironically, completists)
• Lots of treasures grow on this tree
• Great Place to Start
• Has Some Minor Flaws But It's Still Magnificent!
• This Is The Picture.
• Shaking The Tree / A great ethnic piece...
• One track short of 5 stars
• Where the HELL is 'In Your Eyes'
• Not bad.
• A Great Retrospective -- well worth it.
• Gabriel's Best on one CD
• Fairly Accurate Solo Career Representation
• A Nice Starting Place
• Essential Listening
• Sixteen of Peter Gabriels's Seventeen Golden Greats
• Peter Gabriel on a Budget
• Good anthology album
• I like about half the songs on this one.
• Not a "Greatest Hits" Compilation
• INCREDIBLE
• Only if you already know you love Peter Gabriel!
• Absolutely essential listening
• It sure was a good decision to buy this one!
• Too Many Unlistenable Songs
• Better than So
• Shaking The Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats
• This album is a satisfactory.
• Start With This One
• Almost perfect..
• Very Good Collection
• Good Stuff!
• Peter Gabriel is a musical god
• Great Collection, but why leave out "In Your Eyes"?
• Good representation of Peter's albums
• If you're looking for an overview of Gabriel, start here.
• A great compilation from a long career.
• A summation of greatness
• Excellent Peter Gabriel
• Great, all the good ones
• Great CD