There are not many records that take three years to make and feature a choir that sang on Rick Wakeman albums, a full string orchestra recorded at Angel Studios, opera singers, and Steve Hackett. Robert Reed's Kompendium project, Beneath The Waves, is one of them. Now it's back, reissued as a Director's Cut Deluxe Edition through Tigermoth Records, and to mark the occasion there's a brand new video for the track Lilly, starring Hackett himself.
If you've never heard of Kompendium, that's partly what this reissue is here to fix.
What *Beneath The Waves* Actually Is
The original album came out in 2012 and its cast list reads like someone was given an unlimited budget and a contacts book they weren't afraid to use. Alongside Hackett, the record featured Gavin Harrison, Nick Barrett, Jakko Jackzyk, Francis Dunnery, Chris Fry, John Mitchell, Nick Beggs, Troy Donockley, Mel Collins, Steve Balsamo, and Angharad Brinn. It also pulled in The English Chamber Choir conducted by Guy Protheroe, and the London Session Orchestra conducted by Dave Stewart, the same Dave Stewart from Egg, Hatfield And The North, and National Health. Opera singers Rhys Meirion and Shan Cothi featured too.
That is a serious body of work by any measure. The kind of [ambitious, sprawling collaborative record](/uprise/music/cool-new-prog-you-need-to-hear-from-downes-braide) that barely anyone makes any more.
Reed is clear about why he made it the way he did. "I thought that the format of making a classic rock album had been lost," he says. "Where artists like Jeff Wayne and his War Of The Worlds album would bring in the best singers and best session players and make an album without compromise. These days it's all out of a computer and file sharing. I wanted as much to be real and benefit from what each singer and player brought to the table with their talent."
Why The Director's Cut Exists
The album went out of print. Reed felt it had unfinished business. With fresh ears and some distance from the original sessions, he's gone back and addressed the compromises that always creep in when you're running out of time and have to call a record done.
"Some songs are left off because of time constraints, some not finished, and other choices made in the mix," Reed explains. "With fresh ears, it's been great to address some of these issues and put it back as a more complete album, with the missing tracks all finished up." He's also brought in additional contributions from Peter Jones and Les Penning on this version.
The recording of the choir at Abbey Road, the same choir that appeared on Wakeman's Journey and King Arthur albums, clearly meant something to him. So did tracking the string orchestra at Angel Studios. These aren't the kinds of details a person forgets.
The new Lilly video, featuring Hackett on an extended version of the track, gives the reissue a proper focal point. It's the right move. Hackett's involvement in the original project was always one of its calling cards, and putting him front and centre for the relaunch makes sense.
The Director's Cut is available on CD in a four-panel digifile format. The Deluxe Edition packages the album with a 28-page, seven-inch book, artwork postcards, and Reed's signature.
Our verdict: this sounds like exactly the kind of record that deserved a longer life the first time around. The Director's Cut gives it one.