Amongst the notable absences are monster hits It's Oh So Quiet, There's More To Life Than This and Violently Happy, while early success Big Time Sensuality gets a remix treatment to bring it up to date with Björk's current sounds. It loses some of its charm, but the the almost monotone bass does give the track a whole new sheen.

There's also no sign of the Dancer In The Dark soundtrack or her pre-Debut material, when she used to call herself Björk Godmansdottir rather than simply by her forename. That these are missing is no surprise - they were hardly hits after all - but it is harder to explain away the absence of some of her greatest hits on an album called Greatest Hits. But then, it is Björk we're discussing here, and normal rules just don't apply.

Stranger still, though, is the inclusion of It's In Our Hands, the weakest track the endearingly bonkers star has ever unleashed as a single. It was tedious live and it's worse on CD - what can she be thinking of?

But gems from her albums Vespertine, Debut, Post and Homogenic make this an off-beat early Christmas present for anyone still unsure why this lady continues to be worth a thousand Kylies. One listen to Army Of Me, Human Behavior or Hidden Place shows why Björk is one of the most important musicians around.

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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees