SUMMER'S LEASE

Big Big Train's long-time collaborator Sarah Louise Ewing prepared some nice cover art, reflecting the collection's title, and just for this occasion the band commited to tape a new instrumental track written by Nick D'Virgilio, the fantastic "Don't Forget the Telescope", which, trust me, you don't want to miss. Also included here, we find "London Song", a nearly thirty-four minutes long unified song cycle, previously unreleased on CD. This version has been enriched with extensive (and truly superb) new instrumental embroidery, which perfectly fits with the notable upgrade in overall sound quality. There's also a new studio recording of "Wind Distorted Pioneers", and the keyboard original parts in "Expecting Snow" has been replaced with brand new ones.

As for the rest, I particularly enjoy the combination of good melody with tasty electric guitar chopping in "Victorian Brickwork", and the spark of irony on "Judas Unrepentant", chronicling the story of an infamous yet lovable paint forger. But it's all too good, and I gave this set only four (instead of five) stars only because it's not an original album, but a compilation.