As the title suggests, this is a compendium of bits and pieces from the post-flamenco guitarist RM Hubbert‘s trio of albums: First & Last, Lost & Found, and Breaks & Bone.
But it’s not all just stuff found at the back of the sound cupboard, more a handy way to capture his rise through the ranks to SAY award winner and beyond following his career break following the dissolution of El Hombre Trajeado.
So, rather than being a collection of guitar instrumentals, there’s good variety to be had here. ‘Song For Jenny’ comes with Alan Bissett musing on his time as a teacher which is predictably funny and which has Hubby providing a (also predictably) ideal tableau for his spoken word piece.
Hubby’s virtuoso guitar work is always a joy, though the best of this has already been heard on the albums proper. So the friends and cohorts are the more interesting aspect of this release – Esperi augments the percussion already beaten on Hubby’s fretboard with his at-times bizarre loops and making for the most intriguing tune here. Sadly, ‘Elliot’ doesn’t have Luke Sutherland’s wonderfully dulcet tones but his fiddle does add to RM’s guitar work.
Pretty much the only vocal to be heard here is Hubby himself covering Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’… oh, and an unspellable Spanish tune from Ali Roberts and Emma Pollock. But that’s by no means the most notable effort on what is a very listenable collection for either the completist or anyone new to Hubby’s work.
