We lost John Wetton back in 2017. He was indeed one of the greats over a long career.
Blessed with much talent, a golden voice and adept bass skills he will be best remembered by most for his time with King Crimson, UK, Asia, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash amongst others.
In between his various stints as a band member he found time for a fine solo career also. Now we can all enjoy that thanks to this superb high quality box set – An Extraordinary Life – which covers John’s solo output.
A most fine package it is too. A twelve inch square study box contains a sumptuous hard backed book of the same dimensions together with eight CDs. These being John’s six solo albums issued between 1980 and 2011 and a two discs are rarities containing demos and lots of other stuff.
The book is quite something. High quality stick paper. Full colour, lots of photographs, all the lyrics, stories of the albums etc. A fascinating read.
The music over the albums being high class, well crafted, catchy, hook-laden, immaculate melodic rock with John’s golden voice booming loud and clear. The best of that high quality bunch probably being the debut of Caught in the Crossfire from 1980 or perhaps Battle Lines from 1994.
Take a listen to When Will You Realise from Caught in the Crossfire:
If you’re familiar with John’s work you’ll know what to expect with this box set. Indeed – box sets seem to be appearing more and more these days mainly of legacy classics with the quality and overall offering sometimes variable.
No issues with this one. Released a few days ago and, in my opinion, well worth the £75 asking price. Works out to less than £10 per CD then there’s the marvellous book and the foot square box.
Given how box sets are often limited edition runs due to production costs and the price they tend to appear for sale at subsequently (some of the Jethro Tull sets for example) it’s probably a bit of an investment…..!
Weird how memories stick sometimes isn’t it. Indulge me in a quick related anecdote. In the late 1980s (yes, I know I’m very old…..) I uprooted to Essex and did the commute in to London for a few years working around the Euston/Camden Town area. One day I wandered in to a music shop in Camden. There on a table was a guitar case on its side with WETTON chalked on the bottom of it. Never forgotten that.
An Extraordinary Life is a most fine tribute to celebrate and remember the career of John. If you’re a fan of his work over the years as I am – snap one up. It was a no brainer for me as a follower of his career from the King Crimson days.