Late last year, Scottish musical misanthropes Arab Strap called it quits, putting an end to 10 years of sardonic lyrics, sly arrangements and indelible melodies -- not a bad run, considering the band was named after a sex prop. The band's dissolution is being marked with the release of the retrospective odds and sods collection, "Ten Years of Tears." "Dream Sequence" is taken from Arab Strap's final proper album, "The Last Romance," and shows them to have retired at the top of their game. Aidan Moffat's voice has the same appealing huskiness of Bono at his least bombastic and, as always, finds itself couched against a sophisticated, shifting musical backing.
-- D.M.
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