BIG BIG TRAIN : ENGLISH BOY WONDERS

 

  1. Big Empty Skies
  2. Brushed Aside
  3. A Giddy Thing
  4. 28 Years
  5. Pretty Mom
  6. Out Of It
  7. Cloudless And Starry And Still
  8. Albion Perfide
  9. Right To The End Of The World Tra-La
  10. The Shipping Forecast
  11. Mr Boxgroveman
  12. Reaching For John Dowland
  13. Fell Asleep

Label : Giant Electric Pea

Release Date : 1997

Length : 71:41

Review (Discogs) : This is the original version with band-name and title sticker on the front cover. The album was originally released in 1997 in an incomplete state as the band ran out of money to finish the recordings. For the 2008 re-issue, the album was properly completed, much of the music was re-recorded and the CD was entirely remixed from the master tapes.

Review (Wikipedia) : Het album werd origineel in 1997 uitgebracht op het platenlabel Giant Electric Pea, het label van een van de geluidstechnici Rob Aubrey, en werd gedistribueerd door SPV GmbH. Het album werd opgenomen in de Parklands Studio in Denmead, Nomansland in New Forest en R.G. Jones Studios in Morden. Het album werd gestoken in een ontwerp van Michael Griffiths. Achteraf was de band niet tevreden met het resultaat, de band kon destijds de opnames wegens geldgebrek niet afmaken. Bovendien werden er maar weinig exemplaren geperst; het album was voor nieuwe fans niet meer te koop. In 2008 werd met behulp van de originele opnames het album grotendeels opnieuw opgenomen. De drum- en toetsenpartijen van Spawton bleven (weliswaar opnieuw gemixt) gehandhaafd, de rest werd grotendeels opnieuw opgenomen. Deze nieuwe opnamen leidden naar een gewijzigde trackvolgorde op het album, die meer in de opbouw van het album paste en ook een nieuw lied. De band had inmiddels een eigen platenlabel opgericht: English Electric Recordings. Er kwam een nieuwe platenhoes van Jim Trainer.

Review (ProgArchives) : "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. Itīs 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 bandīs 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 bandīs website the 2008 reissue version is closer to the bandīs 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. Thereīs 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. Itīs not the most innovative or the most original sounding release, but as mentioned above itīs another Big Big Train album showing progression from the last and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

Review (ProgArchives) : In its original incarnation, English Boy Wonders represented a bit of a stumbling block for Big Big Train - the first of many instances where it seemed like the Train would derail altogether. In this case, it was a combination of the infamous "difficult second album" syndrome combined with some rather adverse circumstances. Their debut, Goodbye To the Age of Steam, was a highly accomplished release which might not have set the world on fire at the time, but did at least get something of a decent reception. However, as the band tell it the critical positivity (and the Japanese release) somehow didn't translate to financial rewards for themselves; in the mid-1990s they were in a rather precarious place on the money front, and as a small label Giant Electric Pea were limited in the support they could offer (though label co-founder, Martin Orford of IQ fame, does appear as a guest on this album). English Boy Wonders was originally recorded over 1995 and 1996, a process prolonged by the fact that the band couldn't afford to give it their full attention. It would release in 1997 in a form that the band insist was incomplete - the budget just wasn't there to let them finish the thing. Lacklustre sales would see the band dropped by GEP at this point, and the patchy nature of the original release would result in lacklustre reviews. The most easily available version of the album these days, however, is not the original 1997 release: in 2008, the band would revisit the master tapes, remix them, switch up the running order, and rerecord some parts in order to yield a version of the release that better reflected their intentions. That's the version I've heard, and to my ears it really isn't that much of a step down from Goodbye To the Age of Steam, reflecting a similar mix of modern melodic indie rock and classic prog influences into a new fusion. Think of it as a neo-prog of the 1990s - just as Marillion and others presented prog palatable to a pastel 1980s playground, here Big Big Train present a style that balances the sounds of the 1990s and the prog of yesteryear, along with perhaps a pinch of 1960s influence - there's some absolutely gorgeous vocal harmonies here, and a touch of organ at the start of A Giddy Thing which feels rather reminiscent of early proto-prog and psychedelia. I'm not in a position to closely compare the reworked version of the album with the original, but I could certainly imagine this making a splash in 1997 had it only enjoyed better promotion and had it only been completed in its final form then. Whilst I don't think it's on the level of their debut album, English Boy Wonders certainly doesn't deserve to be an overlooked release in the band's discography, at least not when the 2008 tidy-up of the album has revealed such depths.