CAUTIONARY TALES

Released in 2009, this lavish box set gathers in pretty much everything Shadowland have released to date. The three studio albums are all present and correct, each with bonus tracks. As the reviews for the individual albums can be found elsewhere on this site, I will focus on those bonus tracks here.

"Ring of roses" includes three extra tracks. The first two of these, "Dorian Gray" and "I Judas" were originally only available on the Japanese release of the album. They have since been included on subsequent re-releases. The songs are very much in keeping with the content of the album, while perhaps lacking some of the instrumental magic which graces the chosen tracks. The final track is an advanced demo of "Jigsaw". This rendition may be a bit rough round the edges, and generally lacking in the lush instrumentation which characterises the finished product, but it is an accomplished work nonetheless. Interestingly, the track includes a reference to the aforementioned Dorian Gray.

Three bonus tracks are also added to "Through the looking glass". The first of these, "So the music stops" was included on the Japanese version of the album, then added as a bonus track when Verglas Records reissued the album in 1997. The two remaining bonus tracks are both demo versions The first of these, "Half moon street", was developed into a track which made it onto the album, while "Foreign lands" was discarded. The latter sounds as if it had the potential, with some fleshing out of he instrumentation, to fit well into the album.

There are two bonus tracks on "Mad as a hatter". "Phantoms" was the obligatory bonus track on the Japanese version of the original album. It is an interesting track though, with Clive singing in quite a different, almost operatic style with male voice choir like accompaniment. At just over three minutes though, it has the feel of being unfinished. The second bonus track, "Edge of night" is a brand new song recorded by the reformed band for the "A matter of perspective" compilation released in 2009. The song was written by Clive while he was working on his "She" project for Caamora. Incidentally, the lyrics of this are song are the source of the title of this box.

The "Edge of night" DVD was only released shortly before this set. It is contains a superb cross section of the band's work to date including, for the first time,live performances of songs from their third album. The extras include an interview with Clive and Karl and a recording of a concert in Holland a few days after the main one recorded for the DVD in Poland. The two live CDs simply extract the music from the main gig in full.

The box is completed by an informative booklet, with full lyrics.

In all, a superbly put together package which offers the definitive story Shadowland. The lack of availability of the original albums at present means that this is currently the best way to obtain them. That said, the box is not cheap by any means, so prospective investors should be sure they will appreciate the contents before venturing in. Personally, I cannot recommend the content highly enough.