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Disc 1 includes a number of BBC sessions from 1968 to 1970, none of which were present on the 1998 "Maida Vale" collection, yet the songs are performed with great power and arguably surpass the original album versions - "Darkness (9/11)" and "Refugees" are particularly good.
Disc 2 centres around the "Pawn Hearts" era with the remastered "Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" sounding particularly good. My only criticism of the set is that three songs from Disc 2 and one from Disc 3 are rare live versions. I personally would have preferred the album, or BBC session versions to be included.
Disc 3 canters through VDGG's prolific Godbluff/Still Life period in the mid 70's and, apart from the minor gripe that certain songs have been edited, produces a classic sequence of tracks.
Disc 4 wraps things up with a generous selection from the final album of the classic line up, "World Record" and various tracks/rarities from The Quiet Zone, an LP I believe was very much under rated at the time.
All in all a very good effort, helped enormously by generous liner notes from the band and a virtual day to day chronology of the band's existence including every session recorded and concert played.
The booklet is terrific, couldn't be improved, tho it wets the appetite for music I never knew existed and which isn't here: the bootleg Ian Laycock is apparantly listening to as he writes his piece, a John Peel session in which Chris Judge Smith rejoins the band for "an epidemic of father xmases", much more...
The first disc is mostly sessions, chosen so that none is the same as those on the Maida Vale cd, often better versions than those on The Least We Can Do, a young sounding band, tho a little in love with death, as the romantic young often are. Some rare tracks: People You were going to, but no Firebrand, however that goes, no Boat of Millions of Years, an evocative title for a song I've never actually heard; we do get w and Theme One.
... Read more ›For the relative novice, there are a good selection of remastered album tracks with all the eras of the band well represented. I might quibble the exclusion of "Pioneers Over c" and "The Emperor In His War Room" perhaps, but on the other hand you get almost the entirety of the excellent Still Life album and the magnificent "Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers" sounding better than ever before, so there's no better introduction to the VDGG experience than what you get here.
The longer term fans who already have all the albums will probably be more interested in the BBC sessions. It's mostly second pickings, many of the best tracks from these sessions having gone to the Maida Vale album a few years back, but the choice simply not to repeat the same selections is admirable. Also, there was obviously still plenty of quality material in the vaults to choose from as evidenced by songs like "Theme One" and "Cats Eye/Yellow Fever".
Finally, we're offered a brief glimpse of the band in action in a live setting in the four Rimini tracks. Being a progressive rock band, they add up to an impressive 50 minutes running time though. The sound quality is nothing to shout about, but for those prepared to put up with it, the sheer energy of the band will only impress.
The accompanying booklet is similarly impressive, with a chronology of the band interspered with gig list, anecdotes and photographs as well as a selection of articles from each of the band members and a few other interested parties.
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