IN SPITE OF HARRY'S TOENAIL / LADY LAKE

The upside to buying these two albums together: convenience. It is much less expensive, and it is easier to acquire both with one purchase. Also, the extensive biography and liner notes here may not be accessible on the individual releases. However, the downsides are the fact that your collection will be one CD smaller (if that really bothers you) and having both albums on a single disc, as opposed to two separate discs, may be a bit annoying.

Musically, In Spite of Harry's Toenail is a lot more out-there, in a very experimental King Crimson sort of way, with Tullian folk allusions, and excellent playing. Lady Lake is a much more jazzy output, similar in many respects to King Crimson's jazz outputs. All the writing and playing is excellent. (If you'd like to read more about the individual albums, read my reviews of them.)

However, for someone who owns both albums, or one of them, for that matter, this is utterly superfluous, and the liner notes/bio isn't nearly interesting enough to be worth price alone. This is purely for people who cannot find either Harry's Toenail or Lady Lake on CD format. However, the music is so excellent that these two albums are a must, and if a faithful prog-lover cannot find these album, then he/she should immediately purchase this. (The three stars are not necessarily in respect merely to the quality of the music.)