Short Reviews [Jeremy - 1978 - "Emerald Vision" [2019 Edition]]

From what I can uncover, I believe this to be a reissue of a tape released more than 40 years ago with some additional tracks. I am just somewhat confused as on Jeremy’s site it says it was recorded and released in 1978, but according to the liner notes there are nine songs recorded after that date so either the release date is wrong, or the number of additional tracks. Anyway, the strange thing is that even though some of these songs are now nearly 50 years old, this could be a brand-new release as even in those early days Jeremy was a master of whatever instrument he touched, his vocal style was already established, and his focus was set. The only real difference between this and his newer releases is that this is somewhat broader in styles, whereas now he tends to deliberately put out albums in one particular style or another. Here we have power pop, psychedelia, prog, Americana, acoustic and so much more, all blended together. Obviously, some work has been undertaken on the source tapes as this definitely sounds like a modern recorded album and not something recorded in various bedrooms and studios over a period of time from 1974-1980, as it feels complete and whole. As with some of his other collections/reissues there are liner notes which detail when each song was recorded, and something about either the process or what was happening at the time, which makes it more interesting throughout. It took me a while to think who I was reminded of at times, and I smiled when I realised it was Jeff Lynne, and I wonder if Jeremy was listening to ELO during this period. In many ways this is a wonderful introduction to the man and his music, and I highly recommend getting the physical product to also have the notes.