Reviewed by Oscar Hyde

Perhaps it's a little strange for folk pioneers Caedmon's Call to release their two most recent albums as a 2CD set, rather than harder-to-find items from their back catalogue, but the two fit together well. 'Overdressed' is the more optimistic of the two, revelling in twangy, bouncy tunes such as "Two Weeks In Africa" and "All Across The Western World". Lyrics throughout the album show Derek Webb's thoughtful, literate influence, though occasionally they're blunter or less striking than expected. The music's of the alt-country flavour, though not as experimental as Wilco or lush as Lambchop. 'Raising Up The Dead' is feels a much more mature album in many respects, not least in the (kind of problematic) definition of "mature" as "sombre". That's not to say that the music's more depressing (though minor keys make appearances on, say, the more explicitly electric "God's Hometown"), but the album takes the convicting step of focusing on the dead of the title. As the saying goes, the first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that the problem exists, and when the world's problems are presented so strongly as they are here, the promise that they'll be fixed, as on the title track and the exuberant epic closer "Free", is so very much more powerful.

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Caedmon’s Call was formed in 1993 with six original members Cliff Young, Danielle Glenn,Todd Bragg, Cari Harris, Joshua Moore and Doug Elmore, along with songwriter Aaron Tate. In 1994, the band released their first album, My Calm // Your Storm.

After the collapse of Warner Alliance in 1998, Caedmon’s Call signed to Essential Records, where they remained until May 2006.

Aaron Tate and Derek Webb shared most of the songwriting duties until the album Back Home, which featured songs by a more diverse set of writers. Randall Goodgame has, in the proceeding years, become one of the band’s primary songwriters.