An album as accomplished as Wonder Days absolutely deserves celebrating in style and this triple-disc set will provide fans ample opportunity to gorge themselves stupid, over and over again.
For starters is a thumping, live session of originals and covers recorded at RAK Studio 1. It’s a spontaneous warts ’n’ all tour de force, pure and simple – “That felt good!” says Danny Bowes at the end of a glorious The Thing I Want and he’s not wrong. Live at Brooklyn Bowl provides the main course, eight tracks of which were given away with CR last year. Presented in full, the storming gig positively crackles with good vibes and irrepressible energy.
And for pudding you get basically another feast: a candid documentary clocking in at over 60 minutes, the band recounting the Wonder Days story in unflinching detail.
Of course, there are those for whom the temptation to make like Mr Creosote is too great and they will have to fork out for the double-album vinyl versions complemented by the single platter Live At Loud Park. You can almost hear Bowes muttering: “Finally monsieur, a wafer-theen limited edition live album. Eet is only a tiny leetle theen one…” Better get a bucket.
