Max Webster 8-disc box set to be released

Canadian prog rockers Max Webster have had a career-spanning 8-disc box set, The Party, released through Pledge.

The band, led by guitarist and vocalist Kim Mitchell, were best known in the UK for being great friends with fellow Canadians Rush, and indeed utilised the talents of lyricist Pye Dubois, who most notably contributed to Rush's Tom Sawyer.

Max Webster released six studio albums between 1976 and 1981, and the live album Live Magnetic Air (1979). The band's biggest hit in the UK was Paradise Skies from 1979's A Million Vacations, which reached No. 43 in the singles chart and for which the band actually appeared on Top Of The Pops, although they perhaps remain best-known for Battle Scar from 1980's Universal Juveniles, which featured a guest appearance by Rush. The band split in April 1981, but did reunite for a one-off gig in 2007.

The Party features all five studio albums, Max Webster, High Class In Borrowed Shoes, Mutiny Up My Sleeve, A Million Vacations, Universal Juveniles and Live Magnetic Air, the Kim Mitchell EP, and The Bootleg, which features unreleased studio and live tracks. The set is available in vinyl and CD sets, and the vinyl set also includes a thirty-two page booklet, filled with rare photos, quotes and memorabilia, a vintage Max Webster poster, a Universal Juveniles fan club ID card and an introductory foreword by Q107’s John Derringer.

“The re-mastered records beautifully present more musical detail for your ears to chew on, as well we unearthed and mixed never heard before songs. You’ll hear different musical approaches/arrangements as we worked it out in the studio and live,” says Kim Mitchell. “We’ve included the warm sound of quality vinyl in the package. I kept thinking ‘where has some of this been for all these years’, we carefully picked moments for the box set where the band proved it was definitely strapped to a foreign rock ‘n’ roll.”

The Party can be ordered from the Max Webster Pledge page here.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.