As a two-part work that taken together was an instrumental commentary on the origination and folly of war, Mike Westbrook's albums of "marching songs" are considered both a high point in his career and a high point in progressive British jazz of the late '60s in general. This CD reissue sensibly combines both LPs (originally issued separately, and simultaneously, as Marching Song, Vol. 1 and Marching Song, Vol. 2) into one package. Retrospective criticism has perhaps over-emphasized the more tumultuous aspects of these recordings and their relationship to the tense violent times in an era when the Vietnam War was still raging. Certainly some of these pieces and passages do fall into the angry avant-garde jazz category, and titles like Conflict, with an especially frenetic clamor of a large ensemble, make it clear that war can be hell. Yet other parts of the work are rather exuberant and not all that inaccessible, even if the sendoff parade cheer of Vol. 1's opener, Hooray!, seems deliberately ironic in this context. It's quite a varied set, at times approaching somewhat commercial bebop (Home) and meditative lyricism, while Tension could almost be the soundtrack of a hip cinematic thriller. There's no shortage of quite out-there sections, however, with the several-dozen-strong cast of players -- including such standout names as Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flügelhorn, Barre Philips on bass, and John Marshall on drums -- guaranteeing depth and richness to the arrangements. If it's consciously studied as a concept work, it's not so much an antiwar protest (although that sentiment's certainly implied by some of it) as a reflection of war's many moods and stages, from gung-ho patriotism to between-battle ennui and post-conflict exhaustion. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi

1		Hooray!
2		Landscape
3		Waltz
4		Landscape (II)
5		Other World
6		Marching Song
7		Transition
8		Home
9		Rosie
10		Prelude
11		Tension
12		Introduction
13		Ballad
14		Conflict
15		Requiem
16		Tarnished
17		Memorial