Fascinating news Garry, thanks.
It has been a long project this, and i too have no idea why it has taken so long to get this out. No doubt there are many good reasons, but its quite frustrating.
In June 2006 I went to see Guthrie perform Lumiere live in Oxford and spoke to him after the show. Both he and the guy on merchandising were optimistic that the album would be released 'next Easter' (ie April 2007) and implied that it was all but finished then. A year ago?
I actually think we are the victims here of information that we don't need, and that's what makes it worse. Let's just go back to having an announcement when an album is ACTUALLY PRESSED and in in the shops NEXT WEEK.
It's far too easy these days to get hold of (and even expect...) information that is purely speculative. We demand answers simply by asking unreasonable questions, and that just compounds the problem.
I think it's not John's fault, Guthrie's fault or anyone's fault that this project is not complete. It just isn't, and if we didn't know that it wouldn't matter.
Does that make sense?