Magic Carpet

There can't be many bands more obscure than Loudest Whisper who've had a six-CD box set spanning almost 25 years of recordings. But that's what this 1000-copy limited-edition release is, containing mounds of rarities and unreleased recordings in its second half. Its first three CDs are the more conventional half, devoting a disc each to their first three LPs (1973's The Children of Lir, 1981's Loudest Whisper, and 1982's Hard Times), adding just one bonus track (a television broadcast of the song "Children of Lir"). The other three CDs really go to town, however, with no less than 30 tracks from 1974-1990 non-LP singles (though four of these cuts are taken from a 1989 cassette EP), and 17 demos and unreleased alternates/outtakes/live tracks from 1973-1996 on the final disc, though most that material originates from 1973-1977.

A six-CD box set of almost anyone is likely to cover a lot of stylistic ground, of course, but this particular one covers so much territory that it's hard to neatly summarize the music. Generally speaking, Loudest Whisper are in the British Isles folk-rock camp, though with more of a bent toward mainstream rock than many artists who've been placed in that category. On the non-LP singles and rarities in particular, though, they try out so many directions that the cliché "it could almost be the work several bands, not one" applies. There's pedestrian blues-rock; quirky likeable instrumentals with a touch of cinematic ambience, even venturing into electronic rock; almost medieval-sounding folk; and a very weird (and unenjoyable) country-slanted cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Sometimes male voices predominate; at other times (and generally the better ones), women handle the vocals. Sometimes there are echoes of California folk-rock acts like Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Mamas & the Papas; at others, there's a more pronounced British Isles feel, as well an occasional classical tinge, especially when the singing takes on a choral approach.

Overall, it's generally on the mild side and not apt to beg favorable comparisons with some of the artists they can resemble, whether the above-mentioned Californians or closer-to-home acts like Fairport Convention, early Clannad, Renaissance, and Horslips. The first album, the folky conceptual work The Children of Lir, is their most artistically and stylistically consistent, and one that should be investigated on its own before diving into such a large body of work whose appeal is limited even among cultists. For those with a cult appetite for the Children of Lir, however, this box is not going to be topped; it also features historical liner notes.