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Please note that this is a review specifically for the 35th Anniversary Edition release of the album.
It has become common now for bands of a certain age to be the recipients of 'deluxe' editions of their earlier works, often measured by the financial success of the particular piece in question, and being of a certain age myself I have found that I am not immune to repurchasing old favourites of yesteryear. I have often been disappointed therefore by the 'kitchen sink' approach taken by these types of releases where despite the love one may have for a particular piece, it can be a real chore to sit through the various offcuts and alternative mixes subsequently presented.
This is not one of those albums. Rarely, if ever, have I been presented with a Deluxe edition which manifests such blatant love for its' source material, and which in consequence is such an absolute joy to spend a musical session with.
I will deal with the content first:
CD1 presents the original album itself, along with approximately 24 minutes of 'behind the scenes' material. The content of this disc is identical to the 2008 re-release, and thus features the same bonus material as that edition had.
CD2 can be fairly broken down into three distinct sections. Section 1 is described as Eric's Songwriting Diary and runs approximately 27 minutes. Section 2 is a variety of mixes and works-in-progress tracks and runs approximately 33 minutes. Section 3 is comprised of the three tracks released as single/radio edits and runs approximately 10 minutes, meaning that over the 2 discs there is something like 94 minutes of extra material.
To Disc 1 then: having bought the previously released 2008 edition, I wasn't expecting much difference, if any, between it and this new edition. However, I was advised in the booklet that the album had been remastered by Alan from the original 1/4" tapes and rebuilt from there, and in my view you can clearly hear the difference. I played the 2008 release straight after, to make sure I wasn't simply fooling myself, and I wasn't. Everything is sharper, cleaner and, if I may say, 'truer' than any release previously, by which I mean that the overall presentation is fresher than I think any other release previously. Somehow, it's flat-out more enjoyable, and on my admittedly excellent sound system it sounds really engaging in a way that I've never quite experienced the album before. The extra tracks too sound better also.
Disc 2: I have to admit, going into this one I was a little sceptical of what I was going to get - my expectations were of loads of really lo-fi burbling and snippety bits that you'd just politely sit through, but I'm pleased to say I was dead wrong.
Section 1, Eric's Songwriting Diary, has been compiled by Eric's daughters Sally and Lauren from around 10 hours of demo material for this album (they state that they have over 100 hours of demo material altogether across the various APP albums), and is presented in the same order that the tracks appear on the album, and I can honestly say that it's the best example of this presentation that I've ever heard. It's not simply that they've presented the album to us 'in the raw' so to speak, it's that the choices of cuts they've opted for give you just the best sense of being there with the artist during the creative process itself that I've ever been lucky enough to listen to. You get the rare opportunity of listening to the artist creating 'out loud' as he goes along, and gives us a a sense of immediacy and closeness to Eric the man than we've ever had before, and it's just outstanding. After listening to this section, I felt I knew Eric himself better than any bald facts or dry recitation of the APP history could ever provide me with. It's just terrific, and credit must go to the girls for their choices, because I can't believe that my understanding is simply a fluke. They've presented their dad to us, and not just the Artist Eric Woolfson, if you see what I mean. Note that all these tracks (there are 8 of them), were recorded by Eric at his piano on cassette, so don't expect hi-fidelity. Do expect a closeness that you'll have never before experienced though, and Alan's work on the sound quality is simply excellent to bring the material up to scratch as best I believe as could be done.
Section 2 is the band at work on the album and comprises 9 cuts. This section features some real gems, and could be said to focus in large part upon Alan's overall contribution to the band - specifically, the longer version of The Gold Bug featured, minus the sax solo, and also 2 alternative mixes of The Ace Of Swords. Having said that, guide vocal tracks from Eric feature strongly, as do extra contributions from Ian Bairnson on guitar and Chris Rainbow on vocals, plus of course Alan's outstanding production work.
Section 3 has the radio/single edits of 3 tracks, namely Games People Play at 31/2 minutes (from the 5 minute album version) and Snake Eyes at 2 1/2 minues (from 3 1/4). Special mention here for the version of The Turn Of A Friendly Card, which is the actual single version compiled from segments of both Part 1 and 2 of the album versions, and runs longer than either of those, and has never, I believe, featured on a release before except perhaps for some of the 'Best Of' albums before. But it's here, for the first time, with its' parent album.
Lastly, the packaging: you can see from the picture that it's a digipack, but the booklet itself features all-new contributions from Alan, Sally (Woolfson), Ian Bairnson, Stuart Elliot, Lenny Zakatek, David Paton, Eric's wife Hazel and finally Eric himself. Full lyrics are included, as well as full credits for the players.
This is a great release, put together with tangible love and honesty, and is a huge credit to everyone involved.
I am a fan, admittedly; this is why I bought the album. But I feel that if I wasn't before, I would be fan all-anew after listening to this complete set.
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