Ultimate Collection is the second greatest hits compilation album by the British pop duo Eurythmics, and was released in November 2005. This set preceded (by one week) the re-issuing of all eight Eurythmics back-catalogue albums originally released on the RCA/BMG label. These re-issues include remastered tracks and bonus material. The fact that the Ultimate Collection was closely connected to these re-issues is also the chief reason for the omission of "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)". While that song gave Eurythmics a #4 hit in the UK in 1984 and was later featured on the previous Greatest Hits album released in 1991, it is actually taken from the 1984 Virgin Records soundtrack album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother), Eurythmics' only album to date not to be released through RCA/BMG.
Preceding the elaborate 2005 reissues of Eurythmics' eight proper albums by a month, The Ultimate Collection narrowly trumps 1991's Greatest Hits since it features remastered sound and a more extensive track list. While it does not contain "Don't Ask Me Again," opting to instead select a couple merely decent highlights from 1999's Peace, two new (unplanned) recordings add value for any kind of fan. Bookending the disc, "I've Got a Life" is powerful disco-pop with Annie Lennox strongly present over a bursting multi-tiered arrangement, while the relatively low-key "Was It Just Another Affair" has more in common with late-period Everything But the Girl.
Recorded live between March 1983 and September 1989 in Manchester, Los Angeles, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Austin, Stockholm, Nuremberg, Rome, Houston, London, Brighton, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne, Paris, Dublin, Edinburgh. It's a nice collection of live music, which scales the duo's entire career as "Eurythmics" up to 1990. Some songs were never hits, but should have been, had they been redone on another totally new Eurythmics cd. A nice addition to your collection of their music.