Linda wrote:
Geff, is there anything unique or rare in this compilation?
Linda, I'd say it's 90%+ released stuff at minimum, but it's a cool collection. Based solely on the track listing,
Disc 1 appears to be his early period solo, from 1971-79. All good stuff, but for a box set, that period imo deserves 2 discs, not 1. They then skip Shook, Spot Of Interference (his 2 hard rock/new wave solo albums) & the 2 Hi-Fi albums. Disc 2 appears to start with 1990's Pure & Crooked - through at least 2006's Zumbach's Coat & then APPEARS to move into Netherlands only releases & previously unreleased stuff. He has also released a TON of rarities comps, so any number of these tracks in the entire set COULD be alt versions; I have no way to know.
"Randolph Scott", as an example is from a 2008 Netherlands only release I've never heard of until now, "Joy Mining". Still on D2, several of the later songs from #8 on COULD be from 2007's Acoustic Contact. or they could be from the original late period. I don't own contact, so don't remember if it's live or re-recordings. One of the tracks on this disc "Trial Of The Survivor" doesn't come up at all on AMG, & another track (Sorry, I can't remember which) only showed up on AMG as being on a promo compilation; though we know AMG is sometimes inaccurate.
D3 is interesting. Most of this is guesses:
I SUSPECT D3 is a compilation of stuff he did in groups. 1-5 is almost certainly Matthews Southern Comfort. It also includes tracks from the Plainsong albums, his Sandy Denny tribute Secrets All Told, Duo recordings with Ad Vanderveen, Elliot Murphey & probably the God Looked Down project.
Without knowing for sure the sources of the tracks, this is kind of an odd duck. Too much (& missing too many key tracks) for a casual fan, & not even close to being a definitive box set.
I think this would be best for someone who has 1 or 2 IM albums & wants to check out more.
Though for that person I'd probably recommend Discreet Repeat if they can cope with the awful Muddy sound quality (yes I actually said muddy is bad!), The Spectrum MSC Best Of I mentioned the other day, Stealin' Home/Siamese Friends 2fer on BGO, a cheap used Pure & Criooked & 1 of the early Fairport Convention cd's or best of's.
For rockers, the albums to get are Spot Of Interference, Shook & The Hi-Fi (a hard rock/new wave band he had with David Surkamp of Pavlov's Dog) Netherlands only set
Sorry I couldn't answer your original question more definitively. IM probably has over 20 official rarities & limited edition cd's, all official which makes it complicated. He also sells many of the recent releases only from the Netherlands on his website which also makes it complicated.
IM's website mentions this release, but gives no details. "Iain's first career anthology. 57 tracks, on 3 discs. Taking us from 1967 Fairport to the new Matthews Southern Comfort album. All the songs chosen with Iain's involvement." I also checked IM's Yahoo group where again it's mentioned but he gives no details.
I've spent about an hour on this (you got my curiosity going) & my final GUESS is that some of the tracks are going to be hard to find for people who don't live in the Netherlands, but likely most or all are previously released.
There are 5 cd's & 1 dvd on the site from the last few years I had never before heard of!!
On a related note,
I suspect this would be likely to interest icers more then the 3 cd set. I just bought it!
Kind of New - Matthews Southern Comfort
Track Listings
1. Letting the mad dogs lie
2. These days
3. Road to Ronderlin
4. Perfect love
5. The way things are
6. Seven hours
7. Woodstock
8. Locomotive
9. O'Donnel Street
10. Dear Richard
11. Kingfish
12. Blood red roses
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003XU863M/?tag=imwan-21There is also a related live ep that is not on Amazon at this time.
