Chris Thompson - Timeline (2005) [Reissue 2009]

When is a retrospective compilation not a compilation? When it's Timeline, an album that is both a sweeping review of Chris Thompson's career to date and a host of previously unheard performances that remind you of just how great he has been, at the same time as illustrating why he's still so important today. The single disc is "divided" into five sections. The first, The Brand New, serves up five songs taken from Thompson's concept album Rediscovery...A Musical Journey, capturing him in excellent songwriting form as he delivers a clutch of solid mid-paced rockers and appears in a guest reunion with Manfred Mann. From there, the disc moves to The Unexpected, with the Thompson tonsils wrapping themselves effectively around Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," the Zombies' "She's Not There" (the best of the batch, with Clem Clempson's guitar a special star of the show), and Gabriel Ríos' "Broad Daylight." The Fan Stuff then reprises three songs from Thompson's previous album, Backtrack, including a sensational live take of Bruce Springsteen's "For You," and The Concert offers up four old Manfred Mann favorites from a live show in Norway in 2004. Ten minutes of "Blinded by the Light" and eight of "Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" are the highlights. And finally, Bonus Tracks delivers exactly that, two new songs recorded with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra specifically for this project. A true mixed bag, then, but a wonderful collection that pushes all the buttons that Chris Thompson is renowned for having his fingers on.