Dragon
Sunshine To Rain
Liberation Blue


Bassist Todd Hunter originally formed legendary Australasian rock band Dragon with his brother and vocalist Marc, who died from throat cancer in 1998.

But it's the music that counts and Hunter has secured the services of fellow Kiwi Mark Show No Mercy Williams to do the vocals, Canadian guitarist Bruce Reid and Aussie Pete Drummond on drums to produce a superb 16 track greatest hits release in acoustic mode.

The use of Williams on vocals does not detract from the familiar songs, indeed his vocal style adds a blues huskiness, especially on the standouts such as April Sun In Cuba, Speak No Evil, This Time and the anthemic Are You Old Enough, all which retain a freshness as on the day they were first released, the acoustic setting allowing the story to shine through. A bit of rock-out relief is provided in the slide guitar on Body And The Beat, while the rocker that was Get That Jive is broken down into a laid-back shuffle, while Magic stays a great out-and-out rock track.

The absence of keyboards (Paul Hewson was the main player, who died in 1985) is not missed, the predominantly acoustic guitar work of Reid amply filling the spaces.

Of interest to Dragon or Farnesy spotters is the inclusion of the Todd Hunter/Johanna Pigott-penned demo of Age Of Reason, featuring vocals by Marc Hunter in a posthumous duet with his 17-year-old daughter, Isabella - begging the question why this wasn't included on Raven Records' excellent 1998 double 'Tales From The Dark Side' release.

You gotta love the album title. Why? Track one is Sunshine, track 16 is Rain. Clever. But I'm still in two minds about the cover of Kool And The Gang's Celebration, which provided a much-needed profile increase in 1987. A winner? Definitely. Should you add this to your Liberation Blue collection? Yes.

Mark Liebelt