EARLY PLAGUE YEARS

As THINKING PLAGUE became more and more an established force to be reckoned with in the world of avant-prog, the band continued to attract more adventurous music lovers which naturally resulted in fans wanting to hear the earlier albums that preceded the powerhouse masterpieces like "In Extremis." Mike Johnson, the band's only continuous member throughout its existence mistakenly thought the master tapes for the first two albums "A Thinking Plague" and "Moonsongs" had gone missing but somewhere along the line emerged and offered a chance for long awaited re-releases.

The two early albums underwent a complete remastering which included original member Bob Drake in the process. Instead of re-releasing each album individually, both albums have been included in their entirety on the compilation EARLY PLAGUE YEARS which was released in the year 2000 on Cuneiform Records. While i have never had the pleasure of listening to the original vinyl editions, the tracks on EARLY PLAGUE YEARS have an amazingly powerful production that sounds as if they were recorded in the modern era. At long last the early albums were available and by all means should not be missed by THINKING PLAGUE fans. Reviews for each album are on their respective pages.

If you're at all curious as to how Mike Johnson and Bob Drake took a handful of crazy basement recording experiments and developed them into the avant-garde grandioseness of THINKING PLAGUE, this combo pack not only gives a historical context as to how this came to be but also hosts some equally captivating art rock / avant-prog in the midst of the pop rich 80s straight out of the deepest recesses of the underground. The only head scratcher i have with this one is that it presents the two albums out of order. "Moonsongs" comes first followed by "A Thinking Plague." A minor quip but a curiosity nonetheless. Personally i find these early recordings to be ever bit as exciting as their latest ones.