Naoki Zushi is one of the most expressive, free-ranging and intuitive guitarists of his generation. World of Echo have reissued three of his solo albums (Paradise  [1988] , III [2005] and IV  [2018] ), astonishing works of both sensitivity and melancholic transcendence that nonetheless only part-way document an extensive lifetime of creative enquiry.

Peering deep into the corners of the wider Zushi catalogue - some of it ordinarily more complicated to access than others - writer, scholar and long-standing WOE ally Jon Dale has composed a 100-minute long mix that duly reflects what is truly a profoundly unique and affecting artistic voice. Culled from studio and live recordings, solo and with the various acts with whom he performed (Rasenkaidan, Hallelujahs, Nagisa Ni Te), we hear Zushi as composer, collaborator and performer, an always inventive, thoughtful player, but also a singer of great sincerity who can communicate an emotion with rare candour in a way that transgresses language comprehension and embraces human connection, and in its way, the human condition. Beyond genre taxonomy (call it psych, dreampop, folk, improvisation; understand the truth resides somewhere amidst their intersection) and the context of its associations, this is the universal appeal at the beating heart of what is still a relatively overlooked music. As such, And The Dream Was Just the Same is its own modestly conceived effort to redress the balance and bend some light in the right direction.