SONGS FOR SHIPS AND IRONS

3.5 stars. I'm usually harder on compilation albums but this is more than meets the eye. It was released in 1991 yet not one song from those three studio albums released prior to that date are on here. What we have here is a compilation of two Eps both originally released in 1987 and four unreleased tracks. For fans only for sure but there's a couple of gems on here I'm glad I got to hear. The opener "Big Ship" from the Ep "Big Ship" is one of those. I like how it builds then we get this determined sound including the vocals. I like the calm 3 minutes in then it becomes anthem like before 4 minutes with multi-vocals. The closer which was previously unreleased called "All His Geese Are Swans" is my favourite. Yes it's an instrumental covering 7 minutes. The guitar is most prominent here and the sax has it's share of the spotlight as well. It's a restrained track until around 3 1/2 minutes when they crank it up a notch. Great sound after 5 1/2 minutes then it starts to wind down. Most interesting is "Burn Your House Down" while my least favourite is "Tarred And Feathered". "All Spectacular" would make my top three along with the opener and closer.

If your a fan you probably already own this but if you don't you need to track this down.