Vanguard Records has launched a series of mid-priced collections of music from artists in the catalog called
Vanguard Visionaries, and North Carolina-based singer/songwriter
David Wilcox is one of the former Vanguard artists who has had a disc drawn from his work. However, of the dozen albums
Wilcox has released as of this writing, only two were recorded for Vanguard, 1999's
Underneath and 2000s
What You Whispered, and seven of the ten selections on
Vanguard Visionaries first appeared on
What You Whispered. This raises the question of why one would bother to buy this collection instead of
What You Whispered (beyond the fact it's cheaper), or how broad a view this can give to someone interested in
Wilcox's body of work. While
Vanguard Visionaries does give some sense of what
Wilcox does well -- his subtle but emotive vocals, his gifts as a storyteller and his polished studio craft are all on display here -- as an introduction to his work it doesn't even give a balanced view of his two albums for Vanguard, let alone the ten other records he's made between 1987 and 2006. Unfortunately, the only other
Wilcox compilation available,
The Very Best of David Wilcox, doesn't fare much better, featuring material from his three early albums for A&M, so prospective fans should probably just start with one of his albums and move on from there; this collection is best suited for folks who are trying to decide if they want a copy of
What You Whispered. ~ Mark Deming