ENGLISH BOY WONDERS

"English Boy Wonders" is the fourth full-length studio album by US progressive rock act Big Big Train. The album was released through Giant Electric Pea in 1997. It´s the successor to "Goodbye to the Age of Steam" from 1994. As the band endured some financial hardships during the recording process of "English Boy Wonders" the original 1997 version of the album was released in an incomplete state, which the band were never satisfied with. The original version was only released in a very limited number of copies and Giant Electric Pea soon withdrew the album. Big Big Train however opted to reissue the album in 2008 through English Electric Recordings (the band´s own label) in a compeletely remixed version featuring a lot of re-recorded guitar, bass and keyboard parts and also with some additional recorded parts. The tracklist on the 2008 reissue version has also been altered and according to the band´s website the 2008 reissue version is closer to the band´s original vision of the album than the incomplete 1997 version, which today is almost impossible to find (probably to the great joy of Big Big Train).

Stylistically the material on "English Boy Wonders" is a continuation of the melodic and melancholic progressive rock sound of "Goodbye to the Age of Steam". The band have moved forward in terms of more memorable songwriting, stronger musicianship, and (at least on the 2008 version) relatively well sounding production values. There´s been one lineup change since "Goodbye to the Age of Steam" as original keyboard player Tony Müller has returned, replacing Ian Cooper. Overall "English Boy Wonders" is a good quality progressive rock release and fans of late 70s/early 80s progressive rock/neo-progressive rock should be able to find a lot of intriguing material here. It´s not the most innovative or the most original sounding release, but as mentioned above it´s another Big Big Train album showing progression from the last and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.