MISPLACED CHILDHOOD

This fancypants 2017 reissue of Misplaced Childhood combines an inessential new remaster of the album with some demos and B-Sides you may well already have (especially if you got the 2CD version of the previous remaster) and a rather inessential Steven Wilson mix of the album. (Seriously, can we get over this weird urge to have Steven Wilson mix every prog album ever? Misplaced Childhood's original mix is perfectly fine.)

Still, there's one major draw here which I found made the package worth my while, even if the new remaster won't oust my existing edition of the album - it's an absolutely dynamite live show from Utrecht, including a full runthrough of the album.

It's notable for coming from 1985, substantially earlier in the tour than the other officially-released live performances of the full album - both those from The Thieving Magpie and the rare Curtain Call boxed set hail from the 1986 leg of the tour, when the band were beginning to feel the burnout which would characterise the deliciously bleak Clutching At Straws.

On top of that, on The Thieving Magpie you don't get a full concert (you get the Misplaced Childhood performance on one disc and on the other disc a range of live odds and sods from different gigs), and the Curtain Call recording quality is not what it could be; conversely, here the recording quality is crystal-clear, the energy of the band is superb, and you get the full gig including encores and Fish's stage patter. It may well be the definitive live recording from the Misplaced Childhood era, and as a result is an extremely apt inclusion to this boxed set.