WIDE OPEN N-WAY / THE NEIGHBOUR'S SON

"Wide Open N-Way / The Neighbour's Son" is a compilation album by Danish heavy psychadelic rock act Day of Phoenix. The compilation features the material from their first and second full-length studio albums "Wide Open N-Way (1970)" and "The Neighbour's Son (1972)". The compilation was originally released in 1979 as a double LP on Sonet Records and it was re-released on CD in 2000 through Universal Music.

The "Wide Open N-Way (1970)" album is a great heavy psychadelic and at times semi-progressive rock album with long jam-like compositions featuring lots of guitar solos and inventive playing by the two guitarists in the band. the rhythm section is adventurous and tight playing and the vocals are pretty decent too. It´s widely regarded as a classic Danish heavy psychadelic/progressive rock album from the 70s. "The Neighbour's Son (1972)", which featured three members of the, at the time, recently disbanded Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe, is on the other hand widely regarded as a disappointment with it´s more regular vers/chorus structured radio friendly rock tracks.

The idea to release the compilation is great as the two original LP versions of the albums were out of print at the time and as there was still a demand for the albums the decision made sense. The same can be said about the decision to release the compilation on CD in 2000. Quality wise it´s the material from "Wide Open N-Way (1970)" that takes the prize while most of the material from "The Neighbour's Son (1972)" are decent but nothing special. But overall it´s a good quality product and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.