Over the past 15 years Ellis Paul has released some superb albums and has written some exceptional individual songs, this 2CD retrospective covers the whole range of Ellis' output from the classic East coast folk through to his more contemporary material. The 34 tracks cover his back catalogue well with songs from almost all of his 11 albums, and the strongest songs are all present and correct (perhaps with the exception of 'Look at the Wind Blow', my personal favourite Ellis song).

Although the track listing may look familiar to some, there are some twists as some songs are heard in the original incarnation, but there are some newly recorded versions, a few live songs and two brand new songs. The 2CD set comes with a great booklet where Ellis has written quite lengthy notes on each song, adding background and colour to every single track.

'Essentials' is a fantastic collection, 34 tracks from one of the finest contemporary singer/songwriters around means this a collection of the highest quality. Highly recommended.