Sometime World: An MCA Travelogue

Audio Remasterer: Andy Pearce.
Liner Note Author: Dave Ling.
The first extensive Wishbone Ash compilation since 1993's two-CD set Time Was, the 2010 double-disc collection Sometime World: An MCA Travelogue covers the same territory as its predecessor but in a different fashion. It runs three tracks longer than Time Was' 23 songs but only nine of those cuts are shared, most of those from the band's earliest days where the common classics are generally acknowledged. Sometime World winds up departing from the path during the back half of their catalog, which provides the source for the second disc. The first five albums -- 1970's Wishbone Ash through 1973's Live Dates -- are compiled on the first disc, leaving the rest - 1974's There's the Rub through 1981's Number the Brave -- for the second disc. This selection tips the scales slightly toward Wishbone Ash's heavier jams, with the first portion of the compilation taking its time -- "Errors of My Way" nearly clocks in at seven minutes, "Phoenix" runs over ten -- with things starting to lighten on the second disc. This sequencing certainly reflects the band's progression but it won't win over many skeptics -- from the first track they're pushed right into the deep end -- but for those with a sense of what Wishbone Ash was all about, this tells the story of their prime in leisurely, thorough detail. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine