Lake Songs From Red Waters : The Best of Gay and Terry Woods has finally been released by Hux Records. The album is the culmination of over a year of effort by the label to extract the tracks from the licence holders Polygram who issued them originally on Polydor back in the 1970's.This big twenty track compilation features the very best cuts from the first three albums - 'Backwoods', 'The Time Is Right' and 'Renowned' as selected by John O'Regan, the Irish journalist and writer in conjunction with the duo themselves. John, a lifetime fan of Gay and Terry's music, has also added some very extensive and incisive sleeve notes and the CD is illustrated by the photographs of an old friend of the couple. The cover image portrays the two walking by the 'red river' of the title. The release of the disc is a major step for the pioneering folk/rock duo, not least because it covers the early part of their career that has not been available anywhere on CD before. The remastering of these classic tracks leaves them "naked and raw" according to Gay Woods herself and listening to the album should be a whole new experience to those used to the lower grade vinyl records originally released. Both artists are thrilled with the reissue - Terry Woods (now back on the road again with the original Woods Band line-up) admitted he had personally tried to make the catalogue available but unsuccessfully." Since these recordings were made, much has changed and I've been suprised at how well the tunes still sound. Hux have done a very good job with the mastering". The fact that both artists had a big input into the release and that a high profile writer and fan like John O'Regan was prepared to give the project his support shows how well the collection has been handled. Hux, as they did previously with Gay's Auto Da Fe reissue, have taken infinate time and care both with the recordings themselves (in selection and remastering) and the packaging. This is a long-awaited compilation and no one will be disappointed.june2003 To celebrate the arrival of the album, we have put together three pages about it with comment from John O'Regan and Gay herself.
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