Various Artists: A Game For All Who Know - The H&F Recordings Box, 5CD Box-Set

Between 1968 and 1974, amateur songwriters, musicians and home taping enthusiasts Peter Howell and John Ferdinando – aka H & F Recordings – retreated to their makeshift home studio in East Sussex to mastermind a series of privately-issued albums that were attributed to semi-fictitious groups such as Ithaca and Agincourt.

Only pressed in double-digit quantities, those albums are now amongst the most valuable vinyl artefacts of the era, with copies selling for upwards of £2,000 on the extremely rare occasions that they surface.

A Game For All Who Know: The H & F Recordings Box gathers together all four albums and adds an unreleased-at-the-time fifth, the Friends LP Fragile, which was abandoned at acetate stage after Howell accepted an invitation in 1974 to join the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on a full-time basis.

The first four albums are presented in miniature card sleeve replicas of the original vinyl artwork, while the Friends album recreates the duo's original plans for the artwork had the LP reached pressing stage.

Taken from the original master tapes, and with a lavish booklet that features a new 7000-word essay on their activities, fresh interview quotes and previously unpublished photos, A Game For All Who Know constitutes the final, definitive word on a fascinating and hugely collectable body of work.

Track List:

DISC ONE
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS:
PETER HOWELL / JOHN FERDINANDO
1. ALICE THEME
2. MARCH OF THE CHESSMAN
3. JABBERWOCKY
4. DANCE OF THE TALKING FLOWERS
5. ALICE’S TRAIN JOURNEY
6. THROUGH LOOKING GLASS WOOD
7. DUM AND DEE
8. THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER
9. ALICE MEETS THE KNIGHTS
10. A-SITTING ON A GATE
11. HER MAJESTY QUEEN ALICE
12. WHOSE DREAM?

DISC TWO
TOMORROW COME SOMEDAY
PETER HOWELL / JOHN FERDINANDO
1. TITLE THEME
2. SOMEONE LIKE YOU
3. MARCH OF THE CIVIL SERVANTS
4. BLUEBOTTLE STRIPE
5. SETTING SUN
6. ON LOCATION
7. EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE
8. FISHING
9. TOMORROW COME SOMEDAY
10. LOVE THEME
11. HONESTY
12. WINDFALL WOOD

DISC THREE
FLY AWAY: AGINCOURT
1. WHEN I AWOKE
2. THOUGH I MAY BE DREAMING
3. GET TOGETHER
4. JOY IN THE FINDING
5. GOING HOME
6. ALL MY LIFE
7. MIRABELLA
8. TAKE ME THERE
9. LISA
10. DAWN
11. BARN OWL BLUES
12. KIND SIR
13. THROUGH THE EYES OF A LIFETIME (PARTS I-III)

DISC FOUR
A GAME FOR ALL WHO KNOW: ITHACA
1. JOURNEY (DESTRUCTION - REBIRTH - PATTERNS OF LIFE)
2. QUESTIONS (DID YOU KNOW - WILL WE BE ALIVE)
3. TIMES (SEVEN SEASONS - THE PATH - GIVEN TIME)
4. FEELINGS (LOOK AROUND - I WANT TO FEEL YOU)
5. DREAMS (STORY OF OUR TIME - BENEATH THIS SKY)
6. JOURNEY II (A GAME FOR ALL WHO KNOW)

DISC FIVE
FRAGILE: FRIENDS
1. YOU NEED FRIENDS
2. A TALE OF YOUR LIFE
3. SUMMER SUNDAY BLUES
4. ONE SWEET DAY
5. MEMORIES
6. LONELY ROAD
7. MORNING
8. COME INSIDE
9. TAKE A WALK
10. RIVER SONG
11. ONCE IN A WINTER TOWN
12. TIME TO RUN