Originally scheduled for late 2010, this career overview curated by Wood himself would appear to still be the victim of ongoing wrangles between the people who possess the rights to his back catalogue. He first made his name as guitarist, second vocalist and chief writer for The Move, but none of that band’s pre-1970 hits feature among these 36 tracks.
Replacing them with Wood’s own previously unreleased re-workings of Fire Brigade and Blackberry Way makes sense, but there have to be question marks over the decision to include Status Quo’s, ahem, weedy cover of I Can Hear The Grass Grow, or Nancy Sinatra’s even weedier take on Flowers In The Rain. Thankfully, the epic pop of Wizzard is here in its familiar form (the Spectorian ambition of See My Baby Jive), as are his more esoteric solo recordings from the same period (Dear Elaine, Forever).
Later, less successful tracks have a tendency to sound like filler: the bombastic synth-heavy production of Starting Up and Raining In The City, both from 1987, poor relations to the more considered bygone pastiche/homage of the hit years. Still, the whole serves as a reminder and celebration of a studio maverick with a deft hand on the rudiments and theory of pop craft and melody.
