Released on July 26 2004, this 2 CD (MEDCD749) 'Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You' is subtitled 'The Island Records Years and gathers the 3 LPs 'Dr Dream', 'June 1st 1974' and 'Sweet Deceiver' together with 3 non-LP 45 rpm single tracks (The Up Song, After The Show and Thank You Very Much) from the Island label. I wish Edsel hadn't done this for several reasons. It's not satisfactory either as a compilation (there's nothing musically you won't own already and no pictures or text you won't have read in Zigzag) nor as a reissue, cynically cobbled together to cash in on the success of the sensitively packaged and researched Harvest reissues of last year. The opportunity to do a similar Rolls Royce job with 1974 - 75 has been lost. My copy has a dull, washed out, predominantly brown cover in contrast to the more exciting looking offering advertised on the web. What happened here? And the timing of this release sucks. Is it early for next Christmas or late from last?

C'mon, when did I last have a good whinge? Indulge me. Kevin was with Island for 18 months (the Island years??) and how comfortably do these 3 LPs sit together? There is a lack of respect for Kevin in lumping them as one tenuous package. Dr Dream was an artistic pinnacle that owed its lineage and creation to the pathway that had been trod since the Soft Machine. It is magnificent both in the individual songs and also in its cohesion and concept as a whole. It is hard to see how the record label it appeared on had any significance whatsoever. In contrast, the June 1st 1974 concert and subsequent record were the result of an artificial gathering of Island label mates. The Kevin tracks are fine but today, in 2004, Eno's atonal wittering, Nico's End(less dirge) and John Cale's murder of a decent Elvis song still have no place in my heart and no relevance whatsoever on this compilation and should have been left in the vault. The press release claim that this music has only 'briefly been available' on CD is erroneous - it appeared in February 1990 amongst the first wave of CD reissues.

'Sweet Deceiver' was vilified at the time of its release and probably hastened Kevin's departure back to Harvest but it has fine moments which repay careful listening and it really merits its own space rather than being buried here. There are some lyrical gems in it, with Kevin returning to a more ordinary world in plaintiff, reflective mood after the commercial heights of 1974. I've always thought that this record needed a really good remastering to raise more of a sparkle in the sound but the opportunity hasn't been taken here and is unlikely to be done so in the future.

I am really disappointed about this release. There's no thought, no sensitivity, no understanding behind it. No love, no soul. Pure super salesmanship.