Voyager 1 (RSD 25)

Voyager 1 can reasonably be described as a ‘pseudo-bootleg’ album, in that it was a band-endorsed, official recording designed to look like an unofficial, pirate release (and given the catalogue number Jolly Roger 2 accordingly).

Made to introduce the band to the American market via Virgin’s then-newly inaugurated US ‘indie’ label Vernon Yard Recordings, the music it presented was recorded in concert in London and New York during 1992 and, and issued prior to their debut album, A Storm In Heaven, the following year.

As a live band, Verve (as they were then-known, before they were forced to change their name by legal action from the US jazz imprint of the same name) were already a significant force. Simon Jones’ bass and Pete Salisbury’s in-the-pocket drums provide a substantial foundation for Nick McCabe’s virtuoso guitar work, which deftly blends feedback, delay and reverb to sound like several instruments at once, while singer Richard Ashcroft rides the groove; swooping, raging and providing ad-libs in compelling manner.

The versions of two of their UK indie number one singles, ‘She’s A Superstar’ and ‘Gravity Grave’ are more rugged than their studio counterparts, the dynamics between the changes more intense, while the three cuts that were later included on their debut album – ‘Slide Away’, ‘One Way To Go’ and ‘Already There’ – provide a breathless, psychedelic experience that few of their peers were ever able to match.

The sixth track, “South Pacific”, is the one song that remained unreleased in studio form for over 20 years (until the ‘A Storm In Heaven’ boxed set in 2015) and is aptly described by Brian Horgea on allmusic.com as, “like an ocean crashing down around your ears.”

Limited to 1000 copies in its original form (although legend has it that several hundred were damaged in transit, making it even more scarce), this reissue has been mastered from the original analogue sources and the lacquers cut by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road Studios.