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....