I think this is what they call a near miss. A limited edition with a run of just 500 copies, this is an album which makes up in hype what it lacks in production values.

Musically it's as good a snapshot of Ferguson's late 1960s/early 70s ‘British' period as any, but presenting a 30 minute disc of ‘bonus' material to one of his well known CBS albums (Alive and Well In London) away from the original LP itself seems a tad odd. And we're really only being sold a couple of rehearsal fragments and some ‘alternate' mixes.

Opportunism? Maybe, but then this is a set that makes a mess of almost everything except the music. In fact, its presentation borders on the amateur with a badly trimmed laser-printed insert, a personnel list that is woefully incorrect (I spoke to saxophonist Bob Sydor, who was in the band at this point, and he offered the partial identifications made above) and some priceless typos in the otherwise interesting sleevenotes by Keith Mansfield (‘Brain' Smith, Frank ‘Rocotti', even ‘Faulty' Towers).

The best thing is the first disc, which contains an entire gig at London's 100 Club with Ferguson and his band on fire. Oddly enough, the notes suggest this was a run-through for the studio album, yet Ferguson's charismatic announcements (which name check the soloists too) mention the LP having already been recorded.

Musically, this falls into Maynard's ‘jazz-rock' years with themes by Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel and James Taylor being covered. As a somewhat guilty pleasure I've always enjoyed this aspect of his work, and there is great delight to be had in hearing a live take of something like John Cameron's ‘If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind' (mistitled on the sleeve). It's a shame though that Sleepy Night dozed off during the fine-tuning of this issue. It's a great find and could have made a great archive release if only someone had stopped and thought a bit. The stars are for the muddle.