The Ventures In The Vaults, Vol. 2 (1999)

We've taken the world's most loved songs and adapted them into calm and soothing lullabies, recorded on acoustic instruments by world class musicians, just for you and your baby and children to enjoy.

We are always sitting on a handful of unreleased songs that didn’t make their way to albums. Listening back to these gems we decided to launch a new series entitled Big Crown Vaults and the first volume features the music of Lee Fields & the Expressions. These tunes were cut during the Special Night & It Rains Love sessions.

Japan only release. Songs From The Vaults Vol.2: The Proggers is a collection of outtakes and previously unreleased tracks by progressive rock band Asia. The band had previously completed work on the album Arena in 1995. When they returned to their studio in 1996 they found that a pipe had burst and had ruined thousands of pounds worth of equipment. Despite this a large number of unreleased tracks which had failed to make the previous three albums survived and were quickly considered for a new Asia release.

Rhino closes its five-volume rock instrumentals series with an 18-track outing devoted to surf guitar. This fast-paced, prickly, and frequently exciting form may not be among the most diversified structurally, but if does offer some surging playing from its practitioners. They range from founding father Dick Dale to its most popular bands, the Surfaris, Belairs, Ventures, and Chantays. While not particularly a hardcore surf collection, this disc certainly outlines its virtues, and the tunes were long enough to display guitar proficiency, but short enough to prevent self-indulgence and repetition.

Originally released around the turn of the millennium, Musick to Play in the Dark featured a restarted Coil at bay, with original members John (later Jhonn) Balance (R.I.P.) and Peter Christopherson joined by synthesist/bassist Thighpaulsandra, and Drew McDowall (replaced by Rose McDowall on the second volume). These are long-form works, collections of mood pieces in several modes, and what’s interesting (and somewhat predictable) is that the patience displayed while shifting in between these modes creates a tension and space that feels… almost removed from music by a step, as if the performance decided to slowly back away from Coil at a respectful, totality-fearing distance (or maybe it was the psychic force of their music that pushed it all back)…