Exile The Second Rock Star

Surprise! It’s a brand new Big Big Train album. Less than 2 months after the release of their most recent album ‘Grimspound’, the group swiftly return with more music. This is also just about a year from when the group released the ‘Folklore’ album. Quite a prolific output by any measure…

A companion album to Grimspound, The Second Brightest Star features 40 minutes of brand new songs and instrumentals. Alongside these new tracks, the CD contains an additional 30 minutes of music presenting songs from Folklore (2016) and Grimspound (2017) in extended arrangements.

In early 1966, with John Peel as producer, the Misunderstood went into Gold Star studio in Los Angeles to make some demos. Although the tapes have disappeared, an acetate of some of the songs still exists, from which eight tracks (two of which had previously been released) were rescued for reissue on the first disc of this double CD. Judged against their magnificent recordings in Britain in late 1966 (with slightly different personnel), it's a bit of a letdown. The group at this point were a competent but not extraordinary blues-rock act, offering competent renditions of standards by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, and the like that only hinted at the originality that would blossom on their U.K. sessions. Indeed, the two tracks that have previously been available ("Shake Your Money Maker" and a wild, extended "I'm Not Talkin'" with ferocious distorted guitar breaks) are by far the best in the set…