DISTILLATION

First off I find it surprising that this release has not received any written reviews yet, after all it has been released originally some 20 yrs. ago! In my opinion it is the most complete (up to '97) compilation. It includes all the usual suspects, some interesting unreleased tracks on 4 CD's. A nice essay about the history of the band as well as a little history about each track, by Andy or Martin, which ads to it's appeal to someone who likes Ash. But the strongest point to me is the sound quality. The tracks sound as you remember them, but a lot cleaner. The separation is quite obvious on some of them. Nowadays the remastering is almost synonymous w/high recording levels, it is not necessarily the case here. It is more of the case of discovering sounds that you didn't hear on the same recordings all these years prior. All in all a very positive experience! I do however need to mention one important fact about this 4 Disc compilation. There are two versions of this release; the "long" book-binding looking - original issue, and the later more budget version with different artwork. Both issues contain the same 4 CD's. If the price is right, go for the long box version. It includes comments by Andy and Martin. They were removed from the small box. Both versions of Distillation are currently out of print so you'll have to rely on second hand versions.