"Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd" by PINK FLOYD – Tracks from 1967 to 1994 on Parlophone and Harvest Records featuring Syd Barrett (60ts Only), Dave Gilmour, Richard Wright, Roger Waters and Dave Mason (1970 to 1994) with Guests Clare Torry, Dick Parry, The Children Of Islington Green School, Michael Kamen, Guy Pratt, Sam Brown, Jon Carin, Tony Levin, Sampled Voice of Stephen Hawking and many more (Nov 2001 UK EMI 2CD Compilation with 26-Tracks Housed in A Card Slipcase - Transfers by Robert Hadley and Mastering/Remasters by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

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"...Learning To Fly..."

A very cleverly sequenced twofer that feels like it's always been there.

 

"Echoes..." takes it title from the side-2-long opus "Echoes" on their 1971 album "Meddle". The genius of this carefully correlated 2CD/4LP beast is that different periods segue into each other as if it was the most natural thing in the world and with the scrupulously transferred muscular Remasters (James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax at Abbey Road) - it sounds the business too. Much to shine on, let's get to the crazy diamonds...

 

UK released 5 November 2001 - "Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd" by PINK FLOYD on EMI Records 5361112 – 7243 5 36111 2 5 (Barcode 724353611125) is a 2CD/4LP compilation with 26-Tracks. Original copies are housed in an outer Card Slipcase with a 'Peel Me' Sticker, have a 32-Page Colour Booklet and Audio Transfers from original tapes done by Robert Hadley with - Mastering/Remasters done by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax (Tracks segue into the next). It plays out as follows (all tracks in Stereo):

 

CD1 (76:50 minutes):

1. Astronomy Domine (1967 Debut LP, from "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn")

2. See Emily Play (1967 UK 45-single)

3. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

4. Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

5. Echoes (1971, from "Meddle")

6. Hey You (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

7. Marooned (1994, from "The Division Bell")

8. The Great Gig In The Gig (1973, "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

9. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (1968 2nd LP, "A Saucerful Of Secrets")

10. Money (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

11. Keep Talking (1994, from "The Division Bell")

12. Sheep (1977, from "Animals")

13. Sorrow (1987, from "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason")

 

CD2 (78:36 minutes):

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7) (1975, from "Wish You Were Here")

2. Time (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

3. The Fletcher Memorial Home (1983, from "The Final Cut")

4. Comfortably Numb (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

5. When The Tigers Broke Free (1982, from "The Wall (Music From The Film)"

6. One Of These Days (1971, from "Meddle"

7. Us And Them (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

8. Learning To Fly (1987, "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason")

9. Arnold Layne (1967, 45-single)

10. Wish You Were Here (1975, from "Wish You Were Here")

11. Jugband Blues (1968, from "A Saucerful Of Secrets")

12. High Hopes (1994, "The Division Bell")

13. Bike (1967, from "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn")

 

PINK FLOYD was

DAVE GILMOUR - Guitars and Vocals

ROGER WATERS - Bass and Vocals

ROGER WRIGHT - Keyboards and Vocals

NICK MASON - Drums and Vocals 

SYD BARRETT - Vocals and Guitars (60ts Only)

 

GUESTS: 

John Carin - Piano on "High Hopes", Keyboards on "Learning To Fly" and "Marooned"

The Children of Islington Green School - Child Choir on "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)"

Michael Kamen - Piano, Arrangements and Conducting Orchestra on "The Fletcher Memorial Home" - Orchestration on "Comfortably Numb" 

Tony Levin - Bass on "Learning To Fly" 

Dick Parry - Saxophone of "Us And Them", "Money" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-7"

Guy Pratt - Bass on "Marooned" and "Keep Talking"

Clare Torry - Lead Vocals on "The Great Gig In The Sky"

Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, Liza Strike and Barry St. John - Backing Vocals on "Time" and "Us And Them" 

Stephen Hawking - Voice sampled for "Keep Talking" 

Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyan, Jackie Sheridan and Rebecca Leigh-White - Backing Vocals on "Keep Talking"

 

Original issues of "Echoes..." come in a card slipcase with what's become known as the 'Peel Me' sticker and the windows within windows artwork is a masterclass in references - the cow and pig on the windowsill ("Animals"), the two steel faces barely visible on the inner room for "The Division Bell", the swimming man and blowing scarf for "Wish You Were Here", the bicycle and axe up by the wall on the inner booklet depicted Syd Barrett's period with Floyd in the 60ts (careful with that Axe Eugene), the patient on the steel-framed bed for "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" - the white-brick facia of the building for "The Wall" and on it goes. 

 

CD1 in the 36-page booklet takes up the first half of the inlay, you then have to turn it upside down and read the second half for CD2 from it's first page. All the lyrics are there, basic album references and guests highlighted - Clare Torry's voice-shredding turn in the beautiful "The Great Gig In The Sky" or Dick Parry's classy Sax contributions on both the "Dark Side" and "Wish You Were Here" albums. New and cleverly placed images fill up gaps in-between - again all of it referencing their back catalogue in some way. And the read is horizontal for the words of the songs, sideways for the LP references and so on - it's a masterpiece of typesetting for damn sure. All of it of course everything carrying the artwork of STORM THORGERSON - the designer so associated with the band and the HIPGNOSIS album artwork which are an iconic as the records.

Compiled by James Guthrie and Pink Floyd, transfers from 1/4-inch original master tapes were carried out at Abbey Road by ROBERT HADLEY with the Mastering done by a team of three - JAMES GUTHRIE, JOEL PLANTE and DOUG SAX. They have even played the tapes back on old machines with all manner of EQ corrections done - in short these tracks sound amazing.

 

It won't take hardcore fans (or even the casually curious) more than 10-seconds to realize that huge swathes of their catalogue is missing from this twofer - the "More" Soundtrack from June 1969, the erratic but frankly rubbishy double-album "Ummagumma" from November 1969, their first real steps into Prog Rock with October 1970's "Atom Heart Mother" (holy cow) and more inexplicable for me - the wildly underrated June 1972 album "Obscured By Clouds" with the hit "Four Sails" on it. I'm amazed that say the lead-in big-synths title track "Obscured By Clouds" or "Wot's Uh The Deal" weren't used - but naught. 

 

On the upside - and for a band so closely associated with the Seventies - you might think Floyd songs from the trio of 80s and 90s LPs would stick out like a sore thumb - but three from "The Division Bell" (1994) and three from "The Final Cut" (1983) and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" (1987) sit rather well alongside their more celebrated earlier pals. This is also the very best I've ever heard them on CD anyway.

 

Hardly surprising to find that they begin and end the vault's trawl with two from the Syd Barrett line-up of Pink Floyd - both culled from the mighty-psychy 1967 debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". But as you can imagine its the Seventies and to a lesser extend the Eighties that dominate both CDs. Clever segues include the World War II spoken diatribe of "When The Tigers Broke Free" from the movie version of "The Wall" (Roger Waters fronting a Michael Kamen conducted orchestra and choir) which then wind-intro swishes into the opening track of 1971's Meddle album - "One Of These Days" - it's a brilliant mishmash. And that Gilmour guitar solo in "Days" accompanied by the piano and band is fantastic (I remember you could never get any oomph out of the 1971 Harvest LP). That in turn effortlessly slithers into Dark Side's big ballad "Us And Them" from 1973 - that sexy saxophone still shimmering after all these years. 

 

Astonishing moments abound, but none more so that the brilliant sequencing of Parts 1 to 7 of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from 1975's "Wish you Were Here" - an album I am sure often eclipses the mighty 'Dark Side' in the hearts of Seventies Floyd fans. Straddling  - that unbelievable Dick Parry Saxophone solo wailing away alongside Gilmour's beautiful guitar part. And a compilation like this allows punters to revisit the better cuts on "The Division Bell" like the piano-plinking string-laden "High Hopes" that makes for a weird-but-it-works strange bedfellow with Saucerful's "Jugband Blues" that preceded it.

 

Floyd are a peculiar band - for me a roller-coaster ride of genius and cack in inharmonious tandem with each other - yet as I said earlier - the sequencing here makes you enjoy it all but in a fresh way - no mean feat for a 'Best Of'. 

 

"I'm not afraid of dying...I don't mind dying..." says the mad Irishman during "The Great Gig In The Sky". And after hearing much of this (and enjoying it) - I think even he would stick around for the audio improvement on offer on here. Well done to all the lunatics in the Pink Floyd park... 

"Ummagumma" by PINK FLOYD – 7 November 1969 USA Half-Live, Half-Studio 2LP set on Harvest Records (8 November 1969 in the UK also on Harvest Records) featuring David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason (26 September 2011 and 15 January 2016 UK 2CD Reissues – 2011 on EMI Records and 2016 on Warner Music Group/Pink Floyd Records – Both Using The 2011 James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Grooving With A Pict..."

CD-wise - what we have here is a reissue of a reissue.

26 September 2011 saw the JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE CD Remasters of the Pink Floyd catalogue hit the shops to pretty much universal praise (they were transferred at Das Boot Studios and all single issues were known as 'Discovery Editions'). These have been superseded by the 15 January 2016 'Pink Floyd Records' Reissues – in most cases featuring upgraded artwork but still using the 2011 Remaster.

The August 1967 debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is PFR1, June 1968's second album "A Saucerful Of Secrets" is PFR2 while June 1969's Soundtrack From The Film "More" is PFR3 (all Stereo) and so on. Their fourth release, the half-live, half-studio October 1969 double-album "Ummagumma" is PFR4.

So what's new (if anything)? The 2011 2CD set had specially commissioned artwork for the CDs (most of which I personally thought were meaningless rubbish images) - these 2016 replacements have swapped out those with a picture CD for each – usually always album artwork. PRF4 also has a tri-gatefold card sleeve, title sticker (on the shrink-warp) and although the colour booklet is still 16-pages long, it is newly laid out. You get the striking and iconic original Hipgnosis gatefold artwork (the equipment shot on the back cover is the past page of the booklet in near perfect quality), lyrics to all the songs (including live) and new band images from the period. A very cool inclusion is a proof set of photographs of each band member - going some way towards showing how they were spliced to make that 'window within a window' effect. I'd call it more coherent even if it does lack an essay enlightening the listener as to the history of the band and these new 1969 studio tracks.

But the real deal here is the AUDIO - and for those of us who remember our crackly SHDW 1/2 vinyls all too well - the sonic upgrade in the 2011 Remasters is massive. The Live Set is fantastically clear - the trippy drums and keyboard sound stage so much more centered - and that scream during "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" launches out of your speakers with frightening reality (as it was no doubt originally intended to do). Same too on the studio side - big improvements. Let's get to the Grantchester Meadows...

UK re-released 15 January 2016 - "Ummagumma" by PINK FLOYD on Warner Music Group/Pink Floyd Records PFR4 (Barcode 5099902893723) is a 2CD Remaster of the October 1969 double-album. This 2016 reissue has the same Barcode and International Catalogue Number as the 26 September 2011 'Discovery Edition' on EMI 50999 028937 2 3 but has the addition of 'Pink Floyd Records' catalogue numbers (PRF1, PRF2 etc) and upgraded artwork. As both releases have the same barcode, if you want 2011 rather than 2016, then you may have to specify this when purchasing. It plays out as follows:

CD1 "Live Album" (39:40 minutes):

1. Astronomy Domine [Side 1]

2. Careful With That Axe, Eugene

3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun [Side 2]

4. A Saucerful Of Secrets

Recorded at Mothers Club, Birmingham, 27 April 1969 and Manchester College Of Commerce, 2 May 1969

CD2 "Studio Album" (47:02 minutes):

1. Sysyphus - Part One [Side 3]

2. Sysyphus - Part Two

3. Sysyphus - Part Three

4. Sysyphus - Part Four

5. Grantchester Meadows

6. Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

7. The Narrow Way - Part One [Side 4]

8. The Narrow Way - Part Two

9. The Narrow Way - Part Three

10. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part One - Entrance

11. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part Two - Entertainment

12. The Grand Vizier's Garden Party - Part Three – Exit

The double-album "Ummagumma" was released 7 November 1969 in the UK on Harvest SHDW 1 / 2 and in the USA on Harvest SKBB 388 (8 November 1969). Produced by PINK FLOYD (Live) and NORMAN SMITH (Studio) – it peaked at No. 5 in the UK LP charts and No. 74 in the USA. On CD2 - Richard Wright wrote all of "Sysyphus", Roger Waters wrote "Grantchester Meadows" and "Several Species..." - David Gilmour wrote all of "The Narrow Way" and Nick Mason wrote all of "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party".

The Live Set was a clever way (in some respects) for the four piece Pink Floyd to close the Syd Barrett chapter while the studio set showed they were moving on. And I'm amazed at how good the transfer is - "A Saucerful Of Secrets" giving it some Sixties Psych. The crescendo Part One of "Sysyphus" sounds good but not as clean as the piano solo Part Two. And those organ notes that lead in Part Four give way to vibes and bird noises that used to sound so far away they were irritating. Can't say I'm a fan of the doomy organ later on - hasn't aged well.

But if I was to pick out one track that astonishes - it's the Waters written "Grantchester Meadows" where bird tweeting slips the song in - the acoustic guitar and kingfisher lyrics clear as a bell - such an amazing clarity to the solo too. The five-minute "Several Species..." once again features percussion noises mixed up with animal tweets and chirps and by the time the indecipherable echoed lyrics come in - it may sound good but it's insufferable.

Guitarist David Gilmour's "The Narrow Way" comes as a Roy Harper-type blessed relief - gorgeous acoustic guitars swirling around your speakers as they mix with way-up-the-fretboard slide guitar notes - all of it filling up an ethereal vibe. It's one of my fave tracks on the album and to hear it sound this good is an absolute blast (I can also sequence fade-out that crude segue into Part Two at the end). The heavy-heavy grunge guitars of Part Two just sounds like period noodle to me now - but its rescued by the seven minutes of lyrics and very-Floyd Part Three.

Mason chooses a flute to open his three-parter "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" but it’s soon abandoned for experimental drum sounds and percussion noises – again great audio – but noodle that may have been interesting then but only feels ludicrously self-indulgent now. And it ends on fifty seconds or so of flute.

My problem with "Ummagumma" is that even when I struggled with it back in the day, I liked Pink Floyd. But five decades haven't been kind to the worst early excesses of the band - this sort of Experimental knob constantly pawned off on us as some kind of genius because it bears the PF moniker.

Fans will adore it for sure and Hell, probably bought it back in September 2011 (especially given the fantastic Das Boot Studios audio upgrade). But the uninitiated need to hear first, because 1970's "Atom Heart Mother", 1971's "Meddle" and 1972's "Obscured By Clouds" were so much better musically...

"The Other Sides" by KATE BUSH (8 March 2019 UK Fish People 4CD Book Set - 2018 Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Be Kind To My Mistakes..." 

As a lifetime KB fan and having waded through all 4CDs of this odd caveat addition to last years two Remastered Box Sets – in all honesty I can't quite work out if "The Other Sides" is genius, exploitive knob or somewhere firmly in-between. But like so many of the devoted who've waited far too long for this kind of anthology - I'm probably going to settle for door number three - somewhere in-between. Unfortunately like last year's much-anticipated Kate Bush Remasters – it also has some niggling let downs too...

First up the hardback book is disappointingly slight and from the playing times I've provided below it doesn't take a Mensa Membership Card to work out that the music could easily have been put onto 2CDs without ruining the play lists and thereby halving its rather nasty overpriced cost.

It also seems that despite the review I did for the "Remastered Part 1" Box Set of seven albums (and many others too have said the same thing) - no one in camp KB or Fish People (her label) has picked up on the 'packaging' thing. This dullard looking release has four CD pouches in-between the hard-card book sleeve each with a photo we've seen before (two are the same) and the barest discography info on the rear of each slot. This is NO BOOKLET and absolutely no history as to where the tracks came from - across 4 discs! Bluntly you'll learn more from this review than you will from this pricey release. Then there are the typos - "Organon Mix" is misspelled as 'Orgonon' - "Experiment IV" was released in October 1986 and not a year earlier in 1985 - even the sticker on the front cover has the wrong reference number on it - type in its 0190295920173 supposed catalogue number and you'll be brought to the 2016 "Before The Dawn" live set (the correct number is 0190295568887) - making you wonder who proof-reads these releases.

Those moans aside, what does save things is the overall musical quality - 12" Mixes, B-sides and Cover Versions - some ordinary flipside fodder for sure, but others that are utterly magical and there's even one unreleased cut from her first recording sessions in 1975 with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour watching over proceedings - "Humming" on Disc 3. And the discs are themed too and very cleverly so, the 34-tracks running together as if they were four individual album plays that mostly work. Shame this retrospective is also missing those 'instrumental' B-side versions of "Running Up That Hill" and "The Sensual World" that fans have been after on digital for decades. But on the upside it has the tasty 2018 James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remasters (the duo of Audio Engineers who handled the Pink Floyd reissues) - very clean and fulsome. And musically, even die-hard KB space cadets will have forgotten just how good some of these soft-underbelly stragglers are. Let's get to the Experiments (XXX) IV...

UK released Friday, 8 March 2019 (15 March 2019 in the USA) - "The Other Sides" by KATE BUSH on Fish People 0190295568887 (Barcode 0190295568887) is a 4CD, 34-Track Themed Book Set of Rarities compiled from and using the 2018 James Guthrie and Joel Plante Remasters. It plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - 12" Mixes (30:43 minutes):

1. Running up That Hill (A Deal With God) (12" Mix) - August 1985 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 1, A-side

2. The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix) - April 1986 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 4, A-side

3. Cloudbusting (The Organon Mix) - October 1985 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 2, A-side

4. Hounds Of Love (Alternative Mix) - February 1986 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 3, A-side

5. Experiment IV (Extended Mix) - October 1986 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 5, A-side

Disc 2 - The Other Side 1 (36:57 minutes):

1. Walk Straight Down The Middle - September 1989 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 102, Non-Album B-side to "The Sensual World"

2. You Want Alchemy - April 1994 UK CD single on EMI CDEMS 316, Non-Album B-side to "The Red Shoes"

3. Be Kind To My Mistakes - November 1989 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 119, Non-Album B-side to "This Woman's Work"

4. Lyra - Exclusive to the 2007 Soundtrack Album to the film "The Golden Compass", UK Decca 478 0207, features the Choristers of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford

5. Under The Ivy - August 1985 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 1, one of two Non-Album B-sides on "Running Up That Hill..."

6. Experiment IV - Exclusive track from the October 1986 Best Of compilation LP "The Whole Story" on EMI KBTV 1 (Nigel Kennedy plays Violin) - was also a UK 7" single in October 1986 on EMI KB 5, A-side

7. Ne T'Enfuis Pas - November 1982 UK 7" single on EMI 5350, Non-Album B-side to "There Goes A Tenner"

8. Un Baiser D'Enfant - July 1983 French 7" single on EMI 50999 1 65152 7, Non-Album B-side to "Ne T'Enfuis Pas (Remix)"

9. Burning Bridge - October 1985 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 2, one of two Non-Album B-sides on "Cloudbusting (The Organon Mix") - the other is "My Lagan Love" which is Track 4 on Disc 4

10. Running up That Hill (A Deal With God) 2012 Remix - Originally Promo-Only CD-R for the London 2012 Olympics, officially issued April 2013 as a UK/Europe 10" Picture Disc on Fish People FPSPD004 with "Walk Straight Down The Middle" (Track 1 on this Disc) as its B-side

Disc 3 - The Other Side 2 (32:28 minutes):

1. Home For Christmas - November 1993 UK 12" single on EMI 12EMP 297, Non-Album B-side to "Moments Of Pleasure"

2. One Last Look Around The House Before We Go - February 1990 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 134, Non-Album Instrumental B-side to "Love And Anger"

3. I'm Still Waiting - November 1989 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 119, one of two Non-Album B-sides to "This Woman's Work" - the other is "Be Kind To My Mistakes" - Track 3 on Disc 2

4. Warm And Soothing - November 1980 UK 7" single on EMI EMI 5121, Non-Album B-side to "December Will Be Magic Again" - for A-side see Track 9 on this disc

5. Show A Little Devotion - November 1993 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 297, Non-Album B-side to "Moments Of Pleasure"

6. Passing Through Air - recorded 1975 and Produced by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, first released September 1980 as a UK 7" single on EMI EMI 5106, Non-Album B-side to "Army Dreamers"

7. Humming - recorded 1975, Previously Unreleased

8. Ran Tan Waltz - June 1980 UK 7" single on EMI EMI 5085, Non-Album B-side to "Babooshka"

9. December Will Be Magic Again - November 1980 UK 7" single on EMI EMI 5121, Non-Album B-side to "December Will Be Magic Again" - for A-side see Track 9 on this disc

10. Wuthering Heights (New Vocal) - Second Exclusive track from the October 1986 Best Of compilation LP "The Whole Story" on EMI KBTV 1 (the other is Track 6 on Disc 2) - was also one of the B-sides to "Experiment IV" UK 12" single released October 1986 on EMI 12KB 5

Disc 4 - In Others' Words (32:28 minutes):

1. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time) - Elton John cover, December 1991 UK CD single on Mercury TRICD 2 (Davey Spillane on the Uilleann Pipes), paired with "Candle In The Wind" as a double A-side, "Rocket Man" was also featured on the 1991 "Two Rooms" EJ tribute compilation album on Mercury Records

2. Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye cover, October 2009 UK CD single on EMI CDEM 674, Non-Album B-side to "King Of The Mountain"

3. Mna na hEireann - Traditional Irish ballad, translated as 'Women of Ireland', the track is exclusive to the May 1996 CD compilation "Common Ground - Voices Of Modern Irish Music" on EMI Premier PRMTVCD 1

4. My Lagan Love - Traditional Irish ballad, October 1985 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 2, one of two Non-Album B-sides on "Cloudbusting (The Organon Mix)" - the other is "Burning Bridge" which is Track 9 on Disc 2

5. The Man I Love - Gershwin cover

6. Brazil (Sam Lowry's First Dream) - recorded 1985 for the Terry Gilliam movie "Brazil", released February 1993

7. The Handsome Cabin Boy - Traditional Irish ballad, February 1986 UK 12" single on EMI 12KB 3, one of two Non-Album B-sides, the other "Jig Of Life" is not featured here

8. Lord Of The Reedy River - Donovan cover, June 1981 UK 7" single on EMI EMI 5201, Non-Album B-side to "Sat In Your Lap"

9. Candle In The Wind – Elton John cover - see Track 1 on Disc 4

AUDIO - it could just be me but the sound on Disc 1 (which is essentially a "Hounds Of Love" extravaganza plus one) is weirdly off - like it lacks oomph - not like the album remasters which I reviewed in 2018. It could just be aging lugs, but there's a slightly muffled feel to them and I can't hear that Guthrie or Plante have improved much here. Not the same for the other 3 discs which sound just glorious - beautifully done and really clean. You wouldn't think the covers disc "In Others' Words" would make much of a listen but the combo of the EJ tracks and the Irish/Scottish ballads beside that Gershwin tune make for such a gorgeous listen - even if I never want to hear that "Sexual Healing" abomination ever again.

The new 1975 unreleased recording of "Humming" with Kate at a piano is professionally recorded (not dodgy demo quality), but is only mildly interesting in my opinion. I'd forgotten how moving songs like "I'm Still Waiting" and "Burning Bridge" are - and those early 7" single B-sides too. It's interesting that they've used the 1983 remix of the French language song "Un Baiser D'Enfant" (The Infant Kiss) rather than the untouched 1982 version. And absolutely everything around the magical "Hounds Of Love" album just reeks of brilliance – 12” mixes, B-sides etc.

To sum up - fans will have to own it and the uninitiated will have much to discover. Just wish it had a stronger impact for an artist of such import.

"Be Kind To My Mistakes" - Kate Bush asked of us in 1989. And if these are her throwaways, her lesser efforts, her brawler bits and bobs - well damn they’re good - and the fab lady's in my prayers with a wallop...