Well I just burned a copy of the 15 track 50th Anniversary in chronological order and already plan to do so with the 50 from 50 when I get it.
Whoever wrote this piece probably doesn't even remember, but the Voice published the only rave review that "Under Wraps" ever got.
Well here's what I came up with for "50 for 50" three CD set in chronological order. Total time of 219 minutes divided by three discs is about 73 minutes a disc so there is some room to play with. Disc 2 and 3 were pretty easy to do chronologically, but I am still a little iffy about the first disc. Take a look at the playing order of Disc 1, especially tracks 1 through 11. Some early singles not on early albums or released prior to or even during the release of an album that a single was not on. Maybe tracks 10 and 11 should be switched order? Maybe others changed? Disc 2 starts with TAAB and ends with SW. Disc 3 starts with A then ends with the Christmas Album. It's the tracks on Disc 1 that may need a little fine tuning to be in chronological order. Suggestions or comments? What say ye? Disc 1 - about 67 minutes 1.A Song For Jeffrey (3.18) 2.Love Story (3.00) 3.Beggar’s Farm (4:15) 4.Living In The Past (3.20) 5.Bouree (3:44) 6.Sweet Dream (4.05) 7 A New Day Yesterday (4.07) 8.Nothing Is Easy (4.22) 9.The Witch’s Promise (3.51) 10.Teacher (3.56) 11.With You There To Help Me (6.20) 12.Aqualung (6.38) 13.Cross-Eyed Mary (4.12) 14.Mother Goose (3.53) 15.Locomotive Breath (4.26) 16.Life Is A Long Song (3.18) Disc 2 - about 78 minutes 1.Really Don’t Mind/See There A Son Is Born (5.00) 2.Critique Oblique (4.35) 3.Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day (4.08) 4.Bungle In The Jungle (3.33) 5.Minstrel In The Gallery (3.52) 6.One White Duck* / 0¹º = Nothing At All** (4.37) 7.Salamander (2.49) 8.Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die! (5.38) 9.Songs From The Wood (4.52) 10.Cup Of Wonder (4.30) 11.Hunting Girl (5.11) 12.The Whistler (3.30) 13.Moths (3.19) 14.One Brown Mouse (3.19) 15.Heavy Horses (8.53) 16.Weathercock (4.16) 17.North Sea Oil (3.09) 18.Dun Ringill (2.38) Disc 3 - about 75 minutes 35.Fylingdale Flyer (4.27) 36.Black Sunday (6.33) 37.Broadsword (5.02) 38.P-Willow (3.52) (forum censored the P word!) 39.European Legacy (3.22) 40.Paparazzi (3.47) 41.Steel Monkey (3.37) 42.Farm On The Freeway (6.28) 43.Budapest (10.02) 44.Kissing Willie (3.33) 45.This Is Not Love (4:00) 46.Rocks On The Road (5.33) 47.Rare And Precious Chain (3.35) 48.Dot Com (4.26) 49.A Christmas Song (2.47) 50.Ring Out Solstice Bells (4.04)
Thanks for assembling a chronological running order - something I've pondered but haven't yet acted on. The division of eras works too, because the sound of the band changed radically in 1980. Your disc 1 chronology looks pretty good apart from some slightly misplaced singles. This Was went on sale a few weeks before "Love Story" was recorded in October 1968, and "Sweet Dream" doesn't quite belong with the Stand Up tracks, because it was actually recorded during the early Benefit sessions, a few days before "With You There..."; "Witch's Promise" and "Teacher," along with most of Benefit, followed a few months later. (The WP/T single was released before the album, but "With You There..." was one of a few tracks recorded several months before the single sides.) Suggested revision, going by order of release: Disc 1 - about 67 minutes 1.A Song For Jeffrey (3.18) 2.Beggar’s Farm (4:15) 3.Love Story (3.00) 4.Living In The Past (3.20) 5.A New Day Yesterday (4.07) 6.Bouree (3:44) 7.Nothing Is Easy (4.22) 8.Sweet Dream (4.05) 9.The Witch’s Promise (3.51) 10.Teacher (3.56) 11.With You There To Help Me (6.20) 12.Aqualung (6.38) 13.Cross-Eyed Mary (4.12) 14.Mother Goose (3.53) 15.Locomotive Breath (4.26) 16.Life Is A Long Song (3.18)
"Thanks for assembling a chronological running order - something I've pondered but haven't yet acted on. The division of eras works too, because the sound of the band changed radically in 1980. Your disc 1 chronology looks pretty good apart from some slightly misplaced singles. This Was went on sale a few weeks before "Love Story" was recorded in October 1968..." Re: 50 for 50, I agree completely with your re-assessment for Disc 1. How do you think Disc 2 and Disc 3 of mine look chronologically? Those two were a lot easier to do I think.
The other two discs look fine, the band was no longer putting out many non-album singles so the discography is much more straightforward. If you're going chronologically by recording date rather than release date, you can tinker a little. As I mentioned before, "With You There to Help Me" was one of the first tracks recorded for Benefit, a few months before "Witch's Promise" and "Teacher," and if you really want to go deep, "Skating Away..." was recorded at the 1972 Chateau d'Herouville sessions before A Passion Play. I'm sure there were additional overdubs during the WarChild sessions, though.
There’s a nice smattering of the latter day stuff. It’s not a perfect set by any means but it makes a nice post Christmas gift, and a nice excuse to listen to Jethro
While it would look nice, all the songs that made up that collection can be assembled from the existing Steven Wilson mixes (though you'd have the extended "Wondering Aloud, Again" and a long version of By Kind Permission Of). There'd be no other behind the scenes info because it was already covered in the Stand Up, Benefit and Aqualung books.
