Journey (The Anthology)

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A compilation of 38 songs by British folk rocker, Duncan Browne. If Duncan Browne's known at all to any general rock listeners, it tends to be for his earliest work in the late '60s and early '70s. Actually, however, he recorded off and on throughout his life, all the way up to his death in 1993. This career-spanning, two-CD compilation of his work, mostly devoted to his solo endeavors (though it has a few of his mid-'70s cuts as part of Metro), is crammed with music, lasting about two and a half hours in all. While it's true the earlier 1967-1976 stuff on disc one is more interesting than the later material on disc two, there are more worthwhile bits from throughout his discography than many would have guessed. It's the early folky singer/songwriter material that will command the most interest, and the rather fey baroque folk-rock of his 1968 debut album Give Me Take You is heavily represented. That period comprises just half of disc one, though, after which he moved into more eclectic approaches that make his work elude quick snappy summarizations. Particularly on the tracks from his self-titled 1973 album, there's a singer/songwriter whose reticent, uncertain moodiness can slightly recall Nick Drake on compositions like "Country Song" (albeit with a much higher voice at times), and whose vocal style might invite vague comparisons to Al Stewart. Though his eccentricity isn't always gripping, at times he got way out there with his sonic backdrops, as on "The Last Time Around," with its nervous overlapping guitar strums and eerie electronic swirls and squawks. Yet while tremulous, rather opaque singer/songwriting remained with him to some degree throughout his oeuvre, he then moved into considerably more dense production, sometimes flirting with mainstream Euro-rock, at others with more eccentric soundtrack-type ambience that skates the avant-garde. At its worst, there's the feeling of an offbeat, though not quite compelling, singer/songwriter getting swallowed up by inappropriately modernized arrangements. But at its most interesting, it rather recalls the progression of someone like Scott Walker from song-oriented, pop-friendly compositions to far odder ambient sound paintings with creative texturing. While it's not quite in Walker's territory for either artistry or weirdness, at times it was getting there (though the lovely classical-like acoustic guitar instrumental "Berceuse" makes for a nice interlude). As there are few collectors who have all of Browne's records, this is an instructive compilation even for those who've already digested some of his output. If you are one of those collectors, though, there are some rarities here that'll entice you to fork over for it anyway. Those include his previously unreleased 1967 debut single (as part of the duo Lorel with Davy Morgan), "Here and Now" (which like some of his other early efforts shows a slight Beach Boys influence); an unreleased acoustic demo from the Give Me Take You era, "The Cherry Blossom Fool"; a 1970 single for Bell; the wonderfully titled, cheerful 1973 single "Send Me the Bill for Your Friendship"; the 1976 single edit of Metro's "Criminal World," famously covered on Let's Dance by David Bowie; a 1991 German single; and a couple of tracks only found on the Japanese version of his final CD, Songs of Love and War. ~ Richie Unterberger