Big Big Train – English Boy Wonders (2008 Reissue CD)
Please be aware that this title is still in transit from the United Kingdom. We will begin shipping as soon as it arrives.
Due to the band’s fragile financial position in the 1990s, the original version of English Boy Wonders, the band’s second album, was released in 1997 in an incomplete state. It more-or-less disappeared without trace and was speedily deleted by the band’s then record label, Giant Electric Pea (GEP).
In 2008, Big Big Train’s Eastern European distributors suggested a re-issue of English Boy Wonders. The band had access to the multi-track recordings and decided to rework the album so that the re-issue would be closer to the band’s original intentions. Building on the existing drum, piano and vocal recordings, many of the guitar, bass and keyboard parts were re-recorded and additional parts added. The album was completely re-mixed and the track listing was re-ordered to make more sense of the thematic links between some of the songs. Additional artwork was sourced from Jim Trainer to feature in an expanded CD booklet. The re-issue was well reviewed.
Both versions have long since been out of print. The 2008 reissue has now been repressed.
Tracks:
1. Big Empty Skies
2. Brushed Aside
3. Albion Perfide
4. Pretty Mom
5. A Giddy Thing
6. Out of it
7. Cloudless and Starry and Still
8. Two Poets Meet
9. 28 Years
10. Reaching for John Dowland
11. Boxgrove Man
12. The Shipping Forecast
13. Right to the End of the World tra-la
14. Fell Asleep
Musicians:
Tony Muller: Piano
Steve Hughes: Drums
Andy Poole: Bass, bass pedals, vocals
Martin Read: Vocals
Greg Spawton: Guitars, keyboards, vocals
With:
Ken Bundy: Vocals
Martin Orford: Flute, additional keyboards
Format: CD
Artist: Big Big Train
Release Date: 1997 / 2008 / Repressed September 2026