Undoubtedly, the best way to mark the passing of someone is to celebrate their achievements. This is the first in a planned series of box sets that will commemorate the life and music of one of the UK`s most extraordinary and prolific musicians, John Wetton, which will be released on 24th November 2023. The An Extraordinary Life box set contains eight newly remastered CDs, featuring the six solo studio albums John released between 1980 and 2011. Each album now includes special bonus tracks. Additionally, two further discs are included which feature a gold mine of rare, live and unreleased material from the vaults, compiled by John`s archivist, Rick Nelson. Housed in a sumptuous 12” by 12” box, this set includes a sixty-four-page book with an introduction by legendary artist, Roger Dean and contains comprehensive sleeve notes by Nick Shilton, author of Wetton’s biography, ‘An Extraordinary Life’, which was published earlier this year. The book also features a multitude of photographs taken from the Wetton archive and has been designed by John’s long-time friend, Michael Inns. This whole project has been understandably lovingly crafted and compiled with the full blessing of John`s son Dylan and his wife Lisa and is endorsed by the Wetton estate.
John, of course, had an exceptional impact on progressive rock, from his early career with Mogul Thrash and Family, through to the amazing work with King Crimson, then to his time with Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry, then to Uriah Heap and the astonishing work with the progressive rock supergroups UK and Asia. Besides his solo work which generally followed this, John also worked with Jack-Knife, Wishbone Ash, Qango and later in Icon with keyboard player Geoff Downes. In these various musical guises John provided unparalleled musical qualities, in many of them he also wrote magnificent songs too. He also found the time amongst all this to guest with various acts or to play as a session man with many artists including Peter Banks, Brian Eno, Steve Hackett, Renaissance, Phil Manzanera, Roger Chapman, Pete Sinfield, Galahad, District 97 and numerous others.
This release takes in John’s run of solo albums from his first, Caught In The Cross Fire from 1980, and concluding with 2011’s Raised In Captivity, along with a plethora of related recordings as bonus tracks including two complete CDs of such material.
John’s solo output was as varied as the band’s he’d performed with, taking in the pop-prog of Asia’s style, AOR, rock and roll, pop, rock, quasi-Classical pieces, and acoustic numbers. Certain approaches were constants in his work. His melodicism is evident not only in his song-writing but also in his bass playing. Robert Fripp has referred to him as ‘the best bass player of his generation’. Even in the most raucous of his pieces he retained a deftness of touch and precision that made the instrument his own. Capped with John’s warm, rich, baritone voice, many of his songs drew you in and spoke to you. He may have been singing a deeply personal lyric, but it was an emotion that spoke to the listener in a positive manner. The album Arkangel is possibly the most affecting in this manner, having the feel of a sorrowfulness but not giving in to it. The atmospheres of the pieces on this album are very touching and occasionally heart-rending and it is possibly the most emotional of his releases. Other albums, such as Battlelines are more variable in styles and intent and probably diminish the emotional aspect somewhat, but never totally lose it. Battlelines is a more pop inclined album and the output somewhat more mixed. Caught In The Crossfire has hard rock and pop rock elements. Raised In Captivity again has the hard rock and pop rock pieces, this time accompanied with some prog rock. Rock Of Faith has more of a melodic hard rock styling, while Welcome To Heaven, which is also known as Sinister, features more rocky-AOR material. Annie Haslam, John’s friend and vocalist with Renaissance, believes ‘The songs are the vehicle – and some of the songs he wrote were just phenomenal – but it’s more than the songs. The texture, the wonderful melodic voice that touched so many people, even in one note his voice sounds so beautiful’. The remastering has made the music sound clear and sharp on all the albums including the bonus material, adding to the feeling of quality. It is an excellent achievement by Maor Appelbaum in this respect. The real draw for John Wetton fans out there is the sheer weight of quality bonus material. Each of the reproduced albums has bonus material added, and there are those two bonus discs. Some of these tracks are really intriguing sketches of what might have developed into something more substantial. But these tracks, such as AD2023, do have a life of their own and are very good listening.
There is a veritable bevvy of prog rock maestros guesting across these albums, including – but, by any means, not limited to – Robert Fripp, Steve Hackett, Martin Barre, Phil Manzanera, Simon Kirke, Simon Phillips, Steve Lukather, Tony Kaye, Eddie Jobson, Geoff Downes, Mick Box, Steve Morse, Billy Sherwood, Clive Nolan, Martin Orford, John Mitchell and Ian MacDonald.
This all-encompassing release of John’s solo material is quite impressive. The styles are quite diverse, reflecting his eclectic nature. Some of the songs will appeal to progressive rock lovers more than others, some will be more suited to an AOR fan or perhaps a lover of pop rock (surely prog rock is all encompassing and has included pop-ish elements since it began in the 1960s). But John’s fundamental high quality is never hidden. The production values are top notch, the song-writing skills second to none, and the musicianship quite sublime. One of John’s skills was in pulling all the diverse elements together in such a constructive, imaginative way.
Geoff Downes, John’s colleague in Asia and Icon, and his very close friend, in a quote from An Extraordinary Life book, published earlier in 2023, says; ‘Those songs and recordings will live forever and continue to bring joy to those who listen to them. John has left us all a gift, and it is indeed a very precious one’.
Pre-Order link:
DISC ONE
Caught In The Crossfire (with Bonus Tracks)
1 Turn On The Radio
2 Baby Come Back
3 When Will You Realise
4 Cold Is The Night
5 Paper Talk
6 Get Away
7 Caught In The Crossfire
8 Get What You Want
9 I’ll Be There
10 Woman
11 Every Inch Of The Way
12 Out Of The Blue
DISC TWO
Battle Lines (with Bonus Tracks)
1 Right Where I Wanted To Be
2 Battle Lines
3 Jane
4 Crime Of Passion
5 Sand In My Hand
6 Sea Of Mercy
7 Hold Me Now
8 Space And Time
9 Walking On Air
10 You’re Not The Only One
11 Battle Lines (Acoustic version)
DISC THREE
Arkangel (with Bonus Tracks)
1 The Circle of St Giles
2 The Last Thing On My Mind
3 Desperate Times
4 I Can’t Lie Anymore
5 Archangel
6 You Against The World
7 Be Careful What You Wish For
8 Emma
9 Nothing Happens For Nothing
10 All Grown Up
11 After All
12 The Celtic Cross
13 Take These Tears
14 Magazines
15 Woman
DISC FOUR
Sinister
1 Heart Of Darkness
2 Say It Ain’t So
3 No Ordinary Miracle
4 Where Do We Go From Here
5 E SCAPE
6 Another Twist Of The Knife
7 Silently
8 Before Your Eyes
9 Second Best
10 Real World
DISC FIVE
Rock Of Faith (with Bonus Tracks)
1 Mondrago
2 Rock Of Faith (Demo)
3 A New Day
4 I’ve Come To Take You Home
5 Who Will Light A Candle
6 Nothing’s Gonna Stand In Our Way
7 Altro Mongo
8 I Believe In You
9 Take Me To The Waterline
10 I Lay Down
11 When You Were Young
12 Cold Comfort
13 God Only Knows
DISC SIX
Raised In Captivity (with Bonus Tracks)
1 Lost For Words
2 Raised In Captivity
3 Goodbye Elsinore
4 The Last Night Of My Life
5 We Stay Together
6 The Human Condition
7 Steffis Ring
8 The Devil And The Opera House
9 New Star Rising
10 Don’t Misunderstand Me
11 Mighty Rivers
12 Face To Face
DISC SEVEN
Bonus Tracks 1
1. AD 2023
2. Raven
3. Walking On Air
4. Straight From The Heart
5. If I Was A Country
6. All Along The Watchtower
7. Deya 1986
8. Tears Of Rage
9. Marianne
10. Healer Of Shattered Hearts
11. I’d Give It All For You
12. Ultimate Emotion (unfinished idea)
13. Wings Of Angels
14. Wings Of An Angel
15. All For One
16. From A Distant Heart
17. Real World – John and Ringo
18. The Greatest Show On Earth -JW Edit
19. Adagietto
20. The Water Is Wide
DISC EIGHT
Bonus Tracks 2
1. Raised In Captivity
2. The Other Guy (Second Best)
3. I Will
4. Bad Thing
5. Boys Of The Diamond City
6. Flesh And Blood
7. Burn Your Name In My Heart
8. Sex/Power/ And Money
9. Back In Your Lovin’ Arms
10. Every Inch Of The Way (duet with Lori Cuomo)
11. I Can’t Tell You Why
12. Winner Takes It All (demo)
13. Mind Over Matter (demo)
14. Gypsy Soul (demo)
15. Wasted Time
16. You Still Got Me
17. Halfway To Heaven
18. I’ll Never Stop Loving You
19. Forever
John Wetton – vocals, bass, guitars, keyboards
With:
Numerous collaborators and guests
Format: CD Boxset
Label: Cherry Red
Release date: 24th November, 2023
Catalogue number: SOUMBOX003
Official Website: www.johnwetton.co.uk
Spirit of Progressive Rock 