Subjective Testament

 

The Wake - Testament [FBN 95 BEL 2014 24-Bit FLAC]

"Best Of..." collections are purely subjective, especially where a band have a relatively small following and maybe just one or two well known tracks. The Wake are a band that I have followed & loved since the early eighties, their Something Outside single is one of my favourite tracks of all time. This Glaswegian band have seamlessly digressed from post-punk to indie-pop, ignored by many - except those who saw them support New Order in the early days or heard that John Peel radio session, then finding a bigger audience when they abandoned Factory Records and hopped over to Sarah Records. 

I am especially fond of their Factory Records period which is well covered on this compilation album which has sat unplayed on the shelf since purchase - I only bought it for the compact disc of very early demos and live tracks. The vinyl record itself slightly disappoints if only for the decision to digitally remaster (compress) some of the key tracks, especially my afore-mentioned favourite which has also been cut short to just over four minutes down from an original seven minutes forty-two seconds. Their best known Talk About The Past single is included seems much more bass heavy and again compressed than the original, the remastered versions of O Pamela (likely included due to its covering by well known French band) & Melancholy Man seem to suffer from the same problem and you would be better off finding an original Factory album. Of The Matter suffers badly, likely as the original wasn't that well mixed in the first place. Methodist is just plain gorgeous and was clearly recorded digitally so therefore did not need to undergo any further digital fuckery.

The CD of demos etc is essential (neatly tucked away in the archive), documenting the very early developments of the band and the direction Caesar wanted to take on his departure from Altered Images. These are all very raw, clearly from old tapes. I've taken the trouble to reduce the volume on these by around 4db as who every mastered this CD transfer had zero intention off maintaining the fidelity of the original recordings.

A1 On Our Honeymoon

A2 Favour

A3 Something Outside

A4 Talk About The Past

A5 O Pamela

B1 Melancholy Man

B2 Of The Matter

B3 Pale Spectre (7" Edit)

B4 Crush The Flowers

B5 Methodist