For all but the most dedicated psychedelic pop obscurantists, the first general introduction to 's sometimes unsettling world was a mid-'90s compilation CD called , which included nearly all of 's second LP, 1982's , and about half of his first, 1980's . This would seem to be sufficient, but most of the online overviews of 's brief and obscure career (including a lengthy, detailed, and sensitive review of by veteran psych collector ) point out that the compilation CD changes the flow of in subtle but important ways by deleting two songs and editing others. An unauthorized British CD mastered from vinyl was released in 2005, restoring the missing material, but the far superior 2007 reissue from the estimable indie is the essential document, both for its remastered (from the original tapes) sound and improved packaging and for the simple fact that authorized this release and receives royalties from its sales. In some ways, sounds rather like a philosophical precursor to 's . Both albums are dominated by the singer/songwriter's cryptic but clearly deeply personal lyrics, which resist easy explication but often startle with the disquieting intensity of their imagery. has a more objectively pretty voice than (a breathy high tenor with occasional echoes of both ' and, no kidding, ), but he's equally fond of obscuring his vocals with layers of echo, reverb, and other effects. Rather than the horns and strings that enrich , the songs on are overlaid with found sounds and extraneous noises: video game soundtracks, telephone busy signals, snatches of conversation between the bandmembers, and other everyday sonic detritus further smudge the songs, which at root are based on 's psych-folk guitar and plaintive vocals. Finally, both albums are somewhat perversely sequenced to some inscrutable structure: side one of (subtitled Dimension One: Truth) is bracketed by and which turn out to be very slightly different remixes of exactly the same recording, and also features a track called just over two minutes' worth of dead silence preceding the sonic onslaught of the mildly terrifying The cacophony overlaid onto this psychedelic rocker has led some armchair psychiatrists in the obscuro-pop underground to suggest that was schizophrenic, a rather facile reading unsupported by facts. Similarly, in today's age of hyper-awareness of sexual predators, the fact that 's on-stage backing band at this point in his career was a group of barely adolescent boys called , a short-lived group broken up by suspicious parents, has led to some dark and unsubstantiated mutterings. The centerpiece of side two (Dimension Two: Harmony) is a 90-second blast of bratty punk metal written and performed by without preceded by a lengthy burst of backwards tapes featuring the band; in the context of the rest of the side's more languid psychedelia, it's the most bracingly weird moment on an undeniably bizarre album. What keeps from being merely a psychologically interesting curio of an eccentric singer/songwriter is that is undeniably talented. Although not as melodically gifted as either or other obvious points of comparison like or 's pastoral-English-countryside mode, 's songs work well within his limitations. In either incarnation, is a genuinely catchy folk-rock tune, and both the playful and the much darker are tuneful in a way that the contemporary "weird folk" underground never quite manages. is the sort of album that becomes more interesting when the listener delves into its back story, but, crucially, that knowledge is not a prerequisite for enjoyment. [The reissue adds three bonus tracks: two post-album demos called along with a live track with 's later backing group, .] ~ Stewart Mason