This album won the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in their Middle East/North Africa category, something of a surprise considering that all but one of the tracks here are old, previously released material, much of it iconic in the Arab world. An analogy would be the Beatles winning a Grammy for one of the anthologies. What most likely prompted the award, presented to Taha by Joe Strummer’s widow, was the legendary Franco-Algerian rocker’s cover of the Clash’s Rock the Casbah (with new Arabic lyrics that reputedly far surpass Strummer’s uncharacteristically inarticulate rail against third world dictators). Collecting the greatest work by the eminence grise of the rai-rock movement of the 80s and 90s would be a difficult task under any circumstances, further complicated by licensing issues. Sadly, there’s nothing here by Taha’s groundbreaking Arab punk band Carte de Sejour (Green Card), nor any tracks from his raucous, almost heavy metal live album. Nonetheless, this is far more interesting than most greatest-hits packages: in fact, it’s an excellent introduction to one of the Arabic-speaking world’s most popular and influential artists, packed with many of his most important songs, most of them set to Levantine dance melodies. The frequent whoomp-whoomp-whoomp of the drum machine and veteran British rock instrumentalist Steve Hillage’s slick production may be offputting to purists, but the hypnotic beauty of the melodies inevitably shines through (keep in mind that virtually everything here was written to rock the casbah in the purest sense of the phrase).

Predictably, the collection kicks off with his big crossover smash Ya Rayyeh (Let’s Party), the classic 1993 remake of the Dahmane el Harrachi Algerian exile anthem. Nokta (Point) builds intoxicatingly over an equally haunting Levantine vamp. Voila Viola (which translates here as Here We Go Again), dripping with punk sarcasm, is a signature anti-racist, pro-immigrant number set to an Egyptian pop tune.  Habina (We Love) is an uncharacteristically happy, upbeat cover of a composition by Farid El Atrache, the great Lebanese oud player, composer and film actor. Kelma (Thoughts) plays over a loop of the intro from the Smiths’ How Soon Is Now. The collection also includes a remake of Taha’s hilariously punked-out cover of Charles Trenet’s jingoiostic anthem Douce France (which made waves when it was banned from French radio in the 80s), as well as an Arab dance-rock remake of Misirlou (a Greek melody immortalized by Lebanese-American rocker Dick Dale AKA Richard Mansour, whose Mediterranean origins Taha picked up on instantly when he first heard it).

Now fifty years old, having just published an autobiography, Taha still commands a rabid following around the world and puts on a frequently riveting stage show. Despite its limitations, this album is worth owning if only for the fact that many of the songs here have until now only been available in the US as dubious-quality bootlegs. Fans with sufficient dedication and stamina to subject themselves to the frustrations of trying to enter Central Park Summerstage and then standing in the heat through two other bands (frequently hypnotic noiserockers Apollo Heights and the even more mesmerizing Cambodian psychedelic revivalists Dengue Fever) ought to be able to see Taha play there on July 5 at around 5 PM. Early arrival highly advised, i.e. 2:30 PM at the latest.