Voiceprint VP6018CD (2007)

Compilation of tracks drawn from daevid's Voiceprint releases. I usually feel ambiguous about most compilations, and often end up wondering what and who they are really for? This one dosen't really alter my general opinion of them. It's a fair enough random-feeling selection of tracks - some great songs of course, but no real discernable theme. It hangs together well enough in that there is nothing that jars the senses (maybe it should?), and I do find it interesting to hear a track out of the context of the album from which it comes.

I doubt daevid had any real input into this release; it just doesn't have his quirky stamp of creativity about it. He was seldom one to pass up the opportunity to have a little fun and enhance our visual and listening experience, even on a straight-forward compilation such as this - given the chance. One of the things, besides the flow of the chosen tracks that made me think that daevid probably wasn't involved is that I can't imagine that he saw the liner notes - a single page vague history of daevid and Gong, with howlers like "Steve Hillage became the leader of Gong in 1975", and "recordings made with African band Euterpe".

So what can I say? For completeists like myself, certainly. To catch new listeners, maybe not. I can't see how it can encourage sales of the albums from which the tracks come, as they aren't listed anywhere. So the original question stands.

Works as a sampler to help choose what of daevid's music to explore - links to the sources below, where you can also find all the musicians, including all the members of that most wonderful Majorcan band, Euterpe.