"Since Beginning: The Albums 1974-1976" by BAKER GURVITZ ARMY – Including Their Albums "The Baker Gurvitz Army" (1975 Debut, Recorded 1974), "Elysian Encounter" (1975) and "Hearts On Fire" (1976) – featuring Ginger Baker (ex Cream) and Adrian and Paul Gurvitz (ex Gun and Three Man Army) with guest Vocalists Snips, Madeline Bell, Ann O’Dell (of Blue Mink and Chopyn), Liza Strike and Barry St. John (April 2019 UK Esoteric Recordings 3CD Clamshell Box Set with Three Albums and Four Bonus Tracks – Mark Powell Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

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"...Mad Jack and Space Machine..."

The BAKER GURVITZ ARMY was a strange one - started out well but tapered off quickly and then died fast.

Cream's mouthy drummer Ginger Baker and his collaboration with brothers Adrian and Paul Gurvitz (ex Gun and Three Man Army, Guitar, Bass and Principal Vocals) set Prog Rock pulses racing with their rather good self-titled UK debut album (recorded in 1974) on Vertigo Records. Eventually released in January 1975 - "The Baker Gurvitz Army" even charted in February 1975 in Blighty and went up to No. 22 (a more modest No 140 in the USA on Janus Records).

But as is aurally evidenced by this cute 2019 Mini Clamshell Box Set from those decent chappies over at Esoteric Recordings UK (it gathers all three of their albums together in one place and adds on four live bonus tracks, card sleeves with a foldout photographs/details poster) - the music took something of a steady nosedive with album's two and three from September 1975 and May 1976 - as did any further bothering of the British LP charts until their demise in late 1976. Still, there is stuff here to love. Back to memory lane...

UK released 26 April 2019 - "Since Beginning: The Albums 1974-1976" by BAKER GURVITZ ARMY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 32669 (Barcode 5013929476943) is a 3CD Mini Clamshell Box Set of Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD One (51:50 minutes):

1. Help Me [Side 1]

2. Love Is

3. Memory Lane

4. Inside Of Me

5. I Wanna Live Again

6. Mad Jack [Side 2]

7. 4 Phil

8. Since Beginning

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "The Baker Gurvitz Army" - released January 1975 in the UK on Vertigo 9103 201 and January 1975 in the USA on Janus JXS 7015. Produced by GINGER BAKER with PAUL and ADRIAN GURVITZ - it peaked at No. 22 in the UK and No. 140 in the USA (February 1975). Adrian and Paul Gurvitz on Vocals (Ginger Baker on "Mad Jack") with Backing Vocals by Barry St. John, Liza Strike, Madeline Bell and Rosetta Hightower on "I Wanna Live Again".

BONUS TRACK (Previously Unreleased):

9. Memory Lane (Live)

CD Two (53:41 minutes):

1. People [Side 1]

2. The Key

3. Time

4. The Gambler

5. The Dreamer [Side 2]

6. Remember

7. The Artist

8. The Hustler

Tracks 1 to 8 are their second studio album "Elysian Encounter" - released September 1975 in the UK on Mountain Records TOPS 101 and November 1975 in the USA on Atco Records SD 36-123. Produced by GINGER BAKER with ADRIAN and PAUL GURVITZ - it peaked at No. 185 in the USA but didn't chart in the UK. Steve Parsons (credited as Mr. Snips or just Snips) on Lead Vocals with Adrian Gurvitz Lead Vocals on "Remember" and "Time" (Snips is also Lead Vocals on the bonus live cut of "Memory Lane" on CD1).

BONUS TRACKS (Previously Unreleased):

9. People (Live)

10. Freedom (Live)

CD Three (43:48 minutes):

1. Hearts On Fire [Side 1]

2. Neon Lights

3. Smiling

4. Tracks Of My Life

5. Flying In And Out Of Stardom

6. Dancing The Night Away [Side 2]

7. My Mind Is Healing

8. Thirsty For The Blues

9. Night People

10. Mystery

Tracks 1 to 10 are their third and final studio album "Hearts On Fire" - released May 1976 in the UK on Mountain Records TOPS 111 and June 1976 in the USA on Atco Records SD 36-137 - didn't chart in either country. Guests include Ann O'Dell (ex Blue Mink and Chopyn) laying Hammond Organ on "Smiling" and "My Mind Is Healing" and Piano on "Tracks Of My Life", Brian Chatton (ex Jackson Heights) plays Clavinet on "Smiling" and Ken Freeman plays Synth on "Neon Lights" and "Dancing The Night Away"

BONUS TRACK (Previously Unreleased):

11. Wotever It Is (Live)

While the clamshell box is nice to look at and hold, fans will probably find the six-leaf foldout poster not enough in terms of actual info. The tracks lists and musician credits (guest stuff too) is all here abutted by four rare European picture sleeves of singles on the credits side of the poster. The other side offers a collage of live photos of the band meshed into the debut album's great artwork. But there are no liner notes, no history and apart from Mark Powell's 'master preparation' - not even a Remaster credit. The card sleeves are cute with "Elysian Encounter" awarded a gatefold sleeve like its 1975 vinyl original on Mountain Records. This is one of those occasions when an interview/liner notes would have not gone amiss. The Audio is great throughout as they are on these Cherry Red reissues.

After the debut album's late January 1975 release and its chart placing in February, Vertigo figured a single might help. So they threw out Side 1's big drums and synth rolling "Help Me" b/w "I Wanna Live Again" as a 45 in early March 1975 - but Vertigo 6078 211 didn't do any business and was the only 7" single flourish from the album. The playing on the tight "Love Is" is amazing as is the Production values - orchestration by John Bell and Martyn Ford giving the short Proggy instrumental an epic feel - rather like some chop-show theme. The near five minutes of "Memory Lane" features Adrian's geetar skills even though you wish it left out his hammy echoed vocals. "Inside Of Me" and its five and half minutes is probably one of the LP's better cuts - a mixture of doubled-up slide guitar, amplified drum rolls and building Prog flourishes (love it). They end Side 1 with "I Wanna Live Again" - a bizarre mixture of sickly sweet pleading with great harmony vocals from Barry St. John, Madeline Bell, Liza Strike and Rosetta Hightower and strings. You loves it or hates it - personally I think it’s a melodrama too far.

Side 2 goes back to business with nearly eight minutes of "Mad Jack" where Baker tells us what we're about to hear is a true story before Gurvitz takes over singing. There's great playing and ideas sans The Sensational Alex Harvey Band but soon it overstays its welcome. Some lazily tasteful Peter Green-type Blues guitar opens "4 Phil" and it pretty much stays that way throughout - another one of this patchy LP's better moments.  We close with nearly eight minutes of floating Prog Rock "Since Beginning" where they sound closer to Gentle Giant and Yes than they've done on the rest of the LP. The Previously Unreleased live version of "Memory Lane" clocks in at a whopping 10:20 minutes and there's no doubt that the riffage sounds exciting and the band alive (well recorded too).

I remember "Elysian Encounter" so looking the part with its gorgeous gatefold sleeve art courtesy of Petagno - but material like "Elysian Encounter" and "The Hustler" felt old and tired by 1976. The last album hardly registered with me, and re-hearing stuff like "Tracks Of My Life" only makes me think of the kind of stodgy Rock riffage that Punk was just about to blow away and ridicule from a height. Didn't help either that in 1976, "Hearts On Fire" had that awful mid 70ts artwork and cheesy title too. 

BAKER and GURVITZ fans will probably already own "Since Beginning: The Albums 1974-1976" and welcome the threesome of albums in one place with those excellently recorded live additions as bonuses. Others would be advised to nab a listen to the debut first (get a lay of the Prog Rock land so to speak) and thereafter decide if they want more, albeit in a lesser vein as it progresses...

"Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics" by MAN (November 2007 and August 2013 Esoteric Recordings 'Expanded Edition' 2CD Reissue - Mark Powell and Paschal Byrne Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Folk, Folk Rock, Country Rock, Reggae, Punk and New Wave

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"…Thunder And Lightning Kids…"

I remember buying this album in 1974 and thinking MAN had been bubbling under for what seemed like years. And with seven albums and six line-ups under their belts - by the time the band’s second chart placing came with the zippily titled “Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics” – they’d served their rocking dues and were finally receiving the public attention these Welsh rockers deserved. It wasn’t perfect by any means but the good stuff kept me coming back for years. Time to revisit…

This 2007 Expanded 2CD Remaster comes from the superb reissue label Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red) giving the album a proper overhaul and with Deke Leonard’s involvement too. Here are the California Silks and Satins from the valleys of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales…

UK released November 2007 (reissued August 2013) – "Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics" by MAN on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2020 (Barcode 5013929712027) is an 'Expanded Edition' 2CD Reissue and Remaster that breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 (41:25 minutes):

1. Taking The Easy Way Out Again

2. The Thunder And Lightning Kid

3. California Silks And Satins

4. Four Day Louise

5. Intro [Side 2]

6. Kerosene

7. Scotch Corner

8. Outro

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album “Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics” released May 1974 in the UK on United Artists UAG 29631 and in the USA on United Artists UA-LA247-G. It peaked at 24 on the UK charts.

9. Taking The Easy Way Out Again – the edited UK 7” single version at 3:19 minutes (album is 4:23 minutes) released June 1974 on United Artists UP 35703 with album track “California Silks And Satins” as its B-side

Disc 2 BONUS DISC (69:17 minutes):

1. American Mother [Live]

2. 7171 551 [Live]

3. A Hard Way To Live [Live]

4. Romain [Live]

5. Bananas [Live]

Tracks 1 to 5 were recorded live at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles, 12 March 1974 and are Previously Unreleased. The band featured is MICKY JONES on Guitar and Vocals, DEKE LEONARD on Guitar, Piano and Vocals, MALCOLM MORLEY on Keyboards, Guitars and Vocals, KEN WHALEY on Bass, TERRY WILLIAMS on Drums with JIM HORN guesting on Saxophone.

The 16-page booklet is really good – new liner notes from Lead Guitarist Deke Leonard with some witty remembrances of UA executives digging the album and the dressing-room graffiti in the seedy and famous Whiskey A Go Go where words of wisdom by everyone who ever played there can be found on the grotty toilet walls. There’s repro of a NME article from February 1974, a facsimile of the Hawkwind/Man tour program, a repro of the inner gatefold’s crazy liner notes and best of all - MARK POWELL and PASCHAL BYRNE preparation and remastering of the original tapes. This duo has been involved in hundreds of reissues in the UK handling many of the superb Universal 3CD Box Set Retrospectives like “Spirit Of Joy” (Polydor), “Time Machine” (Vertigo) and “Legend Of A Mind” (Deram/Decca) (see reviews for them all). The Audio Quality on the album disc is top notch.

Their 8th album opens with a stab at commerciality “Taking The Easy Way Out” - and I can see why UA picked it as a lead off single (though personally I’ve always loved its swirling and brilliant B-side more – the gorgeous “California Silks And Satins”). United Artists Germany put out a famous Promo-Only single in a titled sleeve that is pictured in the booklet on Page 3 titling it “Break!” It placed “California…” on the A with the equally brill synth and funky guitar jaunt of “The Thunder And Lightning Kid” on the B-side (United Artists UA 001). Side One ends with the Proggy “Four Day Louise” which even at six minutes seems to overstay its welcome.

Side 2 has two principal tracks “Kerosene” and “Scotch Corner” bookended by an “Intro” and “Outro” and has always divided fans – some loving it – some thinking it disappointing. I’m somewhere in between. Although musically the slinky “Kerosene” is my poison – I hate the lyrics about ladies of the night while there’s no denying the fantastic guitar battles between Jones and Leonard in the nine-minute “Scotch Corner” – as MAN a tune as they’ve made. Famously a band more alive on stage than in the studio – the CD has a fantastic line-up of songs and even if it does sound a tad bootleg at times - it doesn’t disappoint with its extended guitar fests. It opens with a nervous song announcement and the band goes all Doors on “American Mother” lasting a full fourteen minutes. Fans of the “Maximum Darkness” live album will appreciate another stab at the excellent rocker “7171 551” and perennial favourite “Bananas” – both here in rollicking form. But for me one of their greatest tracks has always been “Romain” from their self-titled third album on Liberty Records in 1970. It gets a near 20-minute workout here with a slow guitar-build from the boys – wicked stuff.

Deke Leonard put out three Solo LPs in 1973, 1974 and 1981 (also on UA), Terry Williams later joined Dire Straits and Guitarist Micky Jones passed away in 2010.

From their humble beginnings in the late Sixties - Esoteric have remastered their entire catalogue up to the late Seventies in real style. And like this forgotten album from 1974 – there’s much here to get misty-eyed about…

MAN Reissue CDs on Esoteric Recordings of the UK 

(Released 2007 to 2014)

1. Revelation (January 1969) – Esoteric ECLEC 2127 (2009 Remaster with 4 Bonus Tracks)

2. 2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle (September 1969) – Esoteric ECLEC 2128 (2009 Remaster with 3 Bonus Tracks)

3. Man (March 1971) – Esoteric ECLEC 2012 (2007 Remaster with 2 Bonus Tracks)

4. Do You Like It Here Now, Are You Settling In? (November 1971) – Esoteric ECLEC 2013 (2007 Remaster with 3 Bonus Tracks)

5. Live at The Padget Rooms, Penarth (September 1972) – Esoteric ECLEC 2014 (2007 Remaster with the original 3-track album expanded onto 6 tracks across 2CDs)

6. Be Good To Yourself A Least Once A Day (October 1972) – Esoteric ECLEC 2019 (2007 Remaster In Card Digipak with ‘Map Of Wales’ insert and 2 Bonus Tracks)

7. Christmas At The Patti by MAN and FRIENDS (July 1973) – Esoteric ECLEC 2018 (2007 Remaster. The original vinyl was a live double 10” record which featured FLYING ACES, DUCKS DELUXE, THE JETS, PLUM CRAZY with DAVE EDMUNDS, HELP YOURSELF with DEKE LEONARD and B.J. COLE and finally MAN with DAVE EDMUNDS and STAN PHIFER. The CD contains the full double with no extras)

8. Back Into The Future (September 1973 – Half Live/Half Studio Double-Album) – Esoteric ECLEC 2060 (2008 3CD Remaster with the 2LP set on CD1 whilst CD2 (June 1973) and CD3 (August 1973) have 10 Bonus Tracks)

9. Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics (May 1974) – Esoteric ECLEC 2020 (2007 Remaster with a Bonus 7” single cut on Disc 1 and a Previously Unreleased 5-Track Live Concert at The Whiskey A Go Go in LA on Disc 2)

10. Slow Motion (November 1974) – Esoteric ECLEC 2062 (2008 Remaster 6 Bonus Tracks)

11. Maximum Darkness [Live] (September 1975) – Esoteric ECLEC 2061 (2008 Remaster with two Live Bonus tracks)

12. The Welsh Connection (March 1976) – Esoteric ECLEC 22403 (2013 Remaster with a Bonus 7” single B-side ad 5 live tracks on CD1 and a 2nd CD of 9 tracks)

13. All’s Well That Ends Well [Live] (November 1977) – Esoteric ECLEC 32431 (2014 Remaster of the album on CD1 with 2 Previously Unreleased CDs of the entire show from December 1976 and a repro of the “History Of Man” insert that came with the first 5000 copies of the original vinyl album)

"Lancashire Hustler" by KEEF HARTLEY (January 2009 Esoteric Recordings CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Got To Be Happy…"

Despite his natty leather hat and Cherokee jacket look on the front cover of "Lancashire Hustler" - and Deram's reputation as a Hard Progressive Rock label - this obscure Seventies album is essentially a Soul-Rock LP - and Esoteric's wonderful new remaster of it only hammers that home.

Originally released on vinyl in May 1973 on Deram SDL 13 and featuring 8-tracks - the UK vinyl album has always been hard to find (as has much of his output). So it's nice to see this January 2009 CD reissue do it proud...

1. Circles

2. You And Me

3. Shovel A Minor

4. Australian Lady

5. Action

6. Something About You

7. Dance To The Music

Remastered for CD from the original analogue tapes by Mark Powell and Paschal Byrne - "Lancashire Hustler" by KEEF HARTLEY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC2101 (Barcode 5013929720121) is a straightforward transfer of the album (38:43 minutes). I've raved about these sound engineers before - both have huge numbers of reissues under their belts and they've done their usual bang up job here - great presence and clarity. The 8-page booklet reproduces the inner gatefold on its centre-pages and has short but informative liner notes by Keef Hartley himself.

All tracks excepting the instrumental "Shovel A Minor" feature ELKIE BROOKS and ROBERT PALMER (then with VINEGAR JOE) on backing vocals with the mighty JESS RODEN on Lead Vocals. Other band members include Junior Keer on Guitar and Vocal, Jean Rouselle on Keyboards, Mick Weaver on Organ/Moog, Phillip Chen on Bass and Hartley on Drums.

It opens with the slow "Circles" sounding not unlike a Soulful Robin Trower with James Dewar on Vocals. The separation of the instruments and vocals is a bit harsh but amazingly clear - especially Jean Rouselle's lovely piano playing. Things get even more funky for "You And Me" where there's almost as Ashford & Simpson feel to the moog and brass jabs - while I've always loved the chipper instrumental "Shovel A Minor" sounding not unlike Greenslade going into boogie mode if you can imagine such a thing. It has brass pumps - guitar flicks that go all B.B. King - it's almost fusion too in places - hard to pin down but a blast nonetheless.

Things slow down again considerably for "Australian Lady" where again the brass accompanies a moody vocal and a floating keyboard note complimenting lovely guitar flicks floating over it all. It's unbelievably mellow and given the Deram Label rep for Progressive Rock almost wildly out of place (it even has a witty Take 3 piano interlude at the end). "Action" is probably one of the best `rawk' tracks on the album - featuring fantastic guitar work and a raspy Robert Palmer adding real muscle from behind to Roden's lead vocals. It's near six minutes sounds at times like Free or Humble Pie with its drum and bass breaks.

Back to Trower funky with the choppy fazed guitars of "Something About You" and its mellow keyboard breaks. It ends on the massively upbeat Motown feel of "Dance To The Music" (a cover of the Sly & The Family Stone classic) that finally lets Elkie Brooks loose on the vocals and features great Steve Winwood Spencer David Group keyboards. It last over six minutes and despite its frantic need to sound like everyone's having fun - I'm not sure it works though I think Sly would approve of the odd-sounding Moog solo.

You wouldn't call "Lancashire Hustler" a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination and those looking for Hard Rock or Prog should look elsewhere. But if you like your guitars Soulful and Funky like Robin Trower or Free or Humble can be on a good day - then hustle this little forgotten nugget into your life real soon...

"Gone To Earth: Deluxe Edition" by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST (September 2016 Esoteric Recordings 3-Disc Remasters and Remixes) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters  

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"...Sea Of Tranquility..."

Like Spooky Tooth and to a lesser degree Mott The Hoople (especially their first four albums on Island Records before they hit success with CBS) – Britain's Barclay James Harvest and their wildly prolific Sixties and Seventies catalogue (first on Harvest and then on Polydor) remain something of an enigma for most oldies-but-goldies in 2017. Even though we were there and probably bought a few of those albums – they’re forgotten now...

BJH’s brand of Harmony Rock was never as cool as say Supertramp or as edge-bending and ear-catching as Yes or as commercially clued-in as say The Moody Blues or even The Hollies - but they put out some gorgeous albums nonetheless. I remember vividly watching their latest chapters being released and each slowly improving their market/chart share - records like "Time Honoured Ghosts" from 1975, "Octoberon" from 1976 and this - 1977's "Gone To Earth". The specially priced double-album "Live" from December 1974 that itself followed on from the well-received "Everyone Is Everybody Else" in June of that year - brought in a huge number of new admirers too.

But all was not well in Britain's musical Camelot. Fuelled by a frustrated Press and a socially battered out-of-work population - Punk and New Wave were busy obliterating all old-fart Rock during 1976 and 1977 with a snarling vengeance. And yet there stood the BJ's - long-haired, be-speckled and earnest multi-instrumentalists gamely pumping out album and album with sophisticated melodies and beautifully ornate die-cut album sleeves like it was still 1972 and Johnny Rotten hadn't picked his nose in public yet. In a moment of melodic-Prog self-parody our heroes even called one of their 1977 "Gone To Earth" songs "Poor Man's Moody Blues". The lovely "Hymn" was a hit in many territories too (especially Germany) in early 1978 - but in truth – who remembers BJH now when everyone remembers The Pistols (and rightly so)...

Well along comes Cherry Red's 'Esoteric Recordings' label with their British penchant for all things Proggy, Avant Garde and just downright doolally and they seem determined to have us ignoramuses re-examine the error of our thumb-twiddling ways. They've been steadily releasing a slew of triple-disc 'Deluxe Editions' for Barclay James Harvest (1974's "Everyone Is Everybody Else" and 1976's "Octoberon" are also included). Which brings us to this lovingly restored reissue. Here are the hymnal details...

UK released 2 September 2016 (9 September 2016 in the USA) - "Gone To Earth: Deluxe Edition" by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 32544 (Barcode 5013929464445) is a 3-Disc 'Expanded Edition' of Remasters and Remixes. 2CDs and 1DVD offer an Original 1977 Mix, a New Stereo Mix and a 5.1 Surround Sound Mix as well as an Outtake and Single Sides and it plays out as follows:

Disc 1 – CD "Gone To Earth" - Original Stereo Mix (57:37 minutes):

1. Hymn [Side 1]

2. Love Is Like A Violin

3. Friend Of Mine

4. Poor Man's Moody Blues

5. Hard Hearted Woman [Side 2]

6. Sea Of Tranquility

7. Leper's Song

8. Taking Me Higher

Tracks 1 to 8 are their album "Gone To Earth" - released September 1977 in the UK on Polydor 2442 138 and in the USA on MCA Records MCA-2302. Produced by Barclay James Harvest and Davey Rohl - it peaked at No. 30 in the UK (didn't chart USA).

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Lied - outtake from the "Gone To Earth" sessions in 1977

10. Our Kid's Kid - Non-album B-side to "Hymn" released July 1977 in Germany on Polydor 2058 904

11. Hymn (Single Edit)

12.  Friend Of Mine (Single version) - Tracks 11 and 12 are the A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released March 1978 on Polydor 2059 002

Disc 2 - CD "Gone To Earth" – New Stereo Mix (49:08 minutes):

1. Hymn [Side 1]

2. Love Is Like A Violin

3. Friend Of Mine

4. Poor Man's Moody Blues

5. Hard Hearted Woman [Side 2]

6. Sea Of Tranquility

7. Leper's Song

8. Taking Me Higher

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Loving Is Easy (1977 Version)

10. Our Kid's Kid

Disc 3 – DVD-A "Gone To Earth"

New 5.1 Surround Sound Mix

96 kHz/24-Bit New Stereo Mix

96 kHz/24-Bit Remastered Original Mix

1. Hymn [Side 1]

2. Love Is Like A Violin

3. Friend Of Mine

4. Poor Man's Moody Blues

5. Hard Hearted Woman [Side 2]

6. Sea Of Tranquility

7. Leper's Song

8. Taking Me Higher

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Loving Is Easy (1977 Version)

10. Our Kid's Kid

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST was:

JOHN LEES – Guitars and Vocals

LES HOLROYD – Guitars and Vocals

WOOLLY WOLSTENHOLME – Keyboards and Vocals

MEL PRITCHARD – Drums and Vocals

As it is with all of these triple-disc sets - the three-flap foldout card digipak is a bit of a lumbering heffalump actually - although you have to say that Esoteric have done a sweet job at presenting the whole thing. All three are picture discs with different photos beneath the see-through trays once you lift them off - there are colour repros of rare foreign pictures sleeves for the two big singles "Hymn" and "Friend Of Mine" on the innermost flaps - whilst their digipak pouches contain a fold-out poster on one side and a booklet on the other. The poster offers you the lyrics on one side (originally on the inner sleeve of the vinyl LP) and an advert for the album on the flip (it looks beautiful). The very nicely presented 16-page booklet features Tour Posters (Hanover 1977), Trade Adverts (Melody Maker September 1977), photos of the band and their entourage including a Polydor promo shot of the four-piece taken by Lord Lichfield - as well as the usual detailed reissue credits. There are superb liner notes (Mark Powell) that include new interviews with band members and even has reminiscences from Maldwyn Reece Tootill who designed the album sleeve.

Researched, compiled and co-ordinated by Esoteric's own MARK POWELL - the big news is new 2016 Remasters and Remixes from original tapes. PASCHAL BYRNE handled the Original Stereo Mix and CRAIG FLETCHER and MARK POWELL did the 5.1 Surround Sound and New Stereo Mixes. I'm going to be biased here and say that I actually prefer the 'New Stereo Mix' on Disc 2 to the original album's sound in that Disc 1 sounds ever so slightly thinny to me. To the music...

"Gone To Earth" opens strongly with the five-minute "Hymn" - an obvious single that at first appears to be a religious song but on closer examination of the lyrics turns out to be a warming on drug-addiction - fly too high and you might not ever come down. "Love Like A Violin" and "Friend Of Mine" are essentially smoochers too and you're immediately reminded of the band in the next song's title - "Poor Man's Moody Blues". Musically BJH are closest to the Moodies in 1977 and that's more than evident on songs like "Spirit On The Water" and "Taking Me Higher". There's a touch of Gordon Giltrap to "Leper's Song". Of the extras "Loving Is Easy" and the jaunty guitar-layered B-side "Our Kid's Kid" impress - as does the outtake "Lied".

I don’t think "Gone To Earth" is the masterpiece some fans seem to think it and cold harsh truth-be-told (unfair or not) - BJH are still musical shadows to most 40 years after the event. But hopefully this rather lovely Esoteric Recordings Deluxe Edition reissue will rectify that...