Iain Matthews: Thro’ My Eyes: Vertigo Years 1970-1974, 5CD Box Set

102-track, 5CD box set retrospective from singer/songwriter Iain Matthews.

Features 2024 remasters of the three albums made for Vertigo Records at the start of his solo career in the early 1970s, and a live version of his first Vertigo album.

Including 37 previously unreleased tracks, including a newly-compiled CD of live performances, ‘Vertigo Years 1971-2022’.

An original member of the folk rock band Fairport Convention from 1967 to 1969 before leaving to form his own band Matthews Southern Comfort and topping the UK charts in 1970 with Joni Mitchell's ‘Woodstock’, Iain Matthews can rightly be described as a music legend. In the 1970s, as well as recording solo albums for Vertigo, Elektra and CBS/ Columbia, he was also a founder member of Plainsong whose 6CD box set ‘Following Amelia’ can also be found on Cherry Red Records. Still making albums and playing live to this day, his career in the music business is a classic example of talent married to longevity.

This new box set, ‘Thro’ My Eyes: The Vertigo Years 1970-1974’, features the three original albums from his album deal with Vertigo - ‘If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes’, ‘Tigers Will Survive’, and ‘Journeys From Gospel Oak’ - alongside a wealth of previously unissued material from Iain’s archives, including for the first time on CD material recorded during his 1971 residency at the Bitter End in New York with future Plainsong members Andy Roberts and Bobby Ronga and former Fairport bandmate Richard Thompson. Also included in this comprehensive collection are Vertigo era tracks recorded live in Paris, a live version of his first solo album recorded during an 18-date tour of The Netherlands in 2003, and tracks from the now long out-of-print ‘Notebook Series’.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

IF YOU SAW THRO’ MY EYES

1.  Desert Inn

2.  Hearts

3.  Never Ending

4.  Reno Nevada

5.  Little Known

6.  Hinge {Part One}

7.  Hinge {Part Two}

8.  Southern Wind

9.  It Came Without Warning

10.  You Couldn’t Lose

11.  Morgan The Pirate 12 Thro’My Eyes

LIVE AT THE BITTER END

13  Never Ending *

14  Hope You Know *

15  Please Be My Friend *

16  Genesis Hall *

17  Souling Song *

18  Woodstock *

19  Right Before My Eyes *

20  Reno Nevada *

21  Close The Door Lightly When You Go *

22  Road To Ronderlin *

DISC TWO

TIGERS WILL SURVIVE

1.  Never Again

2.  Close The Door Lightly When You Go

3.  House Un-American Blues Activity Dream

4.  Morning Song

5.  The Only Dancer

6.  Tigers Will Survive

7.  Midnight On The Water

8.  Right Before My Eyes

9.  Da Doo Ron Ron

10.  Hope You Know

11.  Please Be My Friend

IAIN MATTHEWS RADIO SESSION, APRIL 1971

12.  It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry

13.  Not Much At All

14.  Hearts

15.  Baby Ruth

16.  Home *

IAIN MATTHEWS RADIO SESSION, MAY 1971

17.  There’s A Woody Guthrie Song

18.  Thro’ My Eyes *

19.  Never Ending

20.  Desert Inn *

21.  Close The Door Lightly When You Go *

DISC THREE

JOURNEYS FROM GOSPEL OAK

1.  Knowing The Game

2.  Polly

3.  Things You Gave Me

4.  Mobile Blue

5.  Tribute To Hank Williams

6.  Met Her On A Plane

7.  Bride 1945

8.  Franklin Avenue

9.  Do Right Woman

10.  Sing Me Back Home

BONUS TRACKS

11.  Devil In Disguise (album outtake)

12.  Met Her On A Plane (7” strings version)

13.  Knowing The Game (2006 re-recording)

14.  Polly (2006 re-recording)

15.  Franklin Avenue (2006 re- recording)

16.  Tribute To Hank Williams (2006 re-recording)

17.  Devil In Disguise (2006 re- recording)

ACOUSTIC IN PARIS – LIVE AT LA POMME D’EVE

18  Knowing The Game *

19  Franklin Avenue *

20  Tribute To Hank Williams *

DISC FOUR

IF YOU SAW THRO’ MY EYES - LIVE

1.  Desert Inn

2.  Hearts

3.  Never Ending

4.  Reno Nevada

5.  Little Known

6.  Hinge {Part One}

7.  Hinge {Part Two}

8.  Southern Wind

9.  It Came Without Warning

10.  You Couldn’t Lose

11.  Morgan The Pirate

12.  Thro’ My Eyes

EXCERPTS FROM THE NOTEBOOK SERIES

13.  Reno Nevada

14.  Thro’ My Eyes *

15.  Desert Inn

16.  House Un-American Blues Activity Dream

17.  Tribute To Hank Williams

18.  Midnight On The Water

19.  Knowing The Game

20.  Reno Nevada

DISC FIVE

VERTIGO YEARS LIVE 1971-2022

1.  Close The Door Lightly When You Go *

2.  Desert Inn *

3.  Hope You Know *

4.  Please Be My Friend *

5.  Midnight On The Water *

6.  Tigers Will Survive *

7.  Tigers Will Survive *

8.  Thro’ My Eyes *

9.  Bride 1945 *

10.  Knowing The Game *

11.  Tribute to Hank Williams *

12.  Never Ending *

13.  You Couldn’t Lose *

14.  Thro’ My Eyes *

15.  Reno Nevada *

16.  Thro’ My Eyes *

17.  Reno Nevada *

18.  Franklin Avenue *

19.  House Un-American Blues Activity Dream *

* Previously unreleased