A LITTLE NONSENSE NOW AND THEN - BOXED SET

A part of me wants to give this 5 stars, merely for the fact that this band deserves more recognition then it has recieved. They have gone through so much as individuals and suffered as a group at the hands of Sony who gave them a contract and then failed to support the album 'As the World." Shattered dreams...

A Little Nonsense (Derived from Willie Wonka...) is a 3 CD collection of those works which are out of print or have been re-recorded by the band, because.... according to the liner notes, "they could."

Disc One is the first release titled "Echolyn." A strong debut, which contains many influences and promise of a band on the rise. Again, this album, on it's own, is no longer available and after a year and a half of searching, nearly impossible to get used. On Any Given Night is my favorite track here and Carpe Diem is one of their stronger tracks.

Disc Two contains the EP ... which was a follow up to Suffocating the Bloom (Arguably the best Echolyn release) and When the Sweet Turns to Sour (a rewording of the title of the Genesis classic; When the Sour Turns to Sweet, which is covered by Echolyn on the disc). The latter is an angry slap at Sony. WTSTTS contains The Currents of Me, one of Echolyn's best tracks and Live versions of A Little Nonsense and As the World.

Disc 3 is a wonderful mix of live in the studio recordings and an original 1989 track which was never before released, The Edge of Wonder. The Studio Live tracks of three Cowboy Poems Free tunes are fresh and more powerful then those on the original release. The band also re-recorded some of their more popular numbers in the same fashion with Ray Weston playing bass and simplifying Tom Hyatt's bass lines. The songs come off well, especially As the World, which I feel sounds better then the original. Jordan Perlson's addition on percussions also brings some needed spark to the bands flavor. Chris Buzby's Wurlitzer sounds bigger and more "in the groove."

The disc sells for around $33.00, which makes each disc an $11.00 investment. Not bad at all considering most of this music is OOP (out of print). It's cheaper than buying three single CD's and ....... it's Echolyn....

An extraordinary box set witnessing such a great season of progressive rock for Echolyn, in the vein of Gentle Giant and Yes at the beginning (but according to a fusion style of their own), passing through so many changes and different styles as well, finally completely modern and "diverse" in the following steps of their brilliant career...so all these features are contained within the present box, event though probably the Genesis cover of "When The Sweet Turns Sour" is not essential here, but nevermind!! The origin of the songs is well explained inside the booklet and the commentary by Ray Winston is very interesting after all! As a matter of fact the production is always good and the sound clear as well; then you can find also the rare material and three different versions concerning their live stuff recorded in the Studio at the time of "Cowboy Poems Free", which is not bad, despite my choices, which turn soon to "Suffocating the Bloom" and "As the world". Of course my first approach with this important band was in the nineties, but for me this US ensemble has been always exceptional during their important career and sometimes the music suspenseful too. So, even though not all the songs included here are completely essential, I think that it could be a good place for a new listener to start discovering (or rediscovering, in the role of an old fan) the most interesting and exciting progressive music in the USA, since the issue e.g. of Myrthrandir's "For you the old women" (regardless, even though in a different style, a few unforgettable US albums like for instance "Leftoverture" by Kansas, just to mention only one essential work...!!).

Choose Echolyn anyway!!