Independent Project Records is proud to announce that U.K. cult band WOO has reissued their debut album, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong, originally released in 1982, as an expanded edition on the band’s The Sunshine Series Records label.
The remixed and remastered expanded edition of Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong includes new album cover art and ten previously unreleased bonus tracks, presented as a ‘mini’ album with the black and clear vinyl editions and as bonus tracks on the Special Edition CD. The album is also available digitally. This genre and time-defying selection of songs marked the public’s first exposure to the wild sonic experimentations that brothers Mark Ives and Clive Ives would be known for over the following decades.
"Mark and I had been home recording for five very prolific years before Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong was compiled,” says WOO’s Clive Ives. “The thirteen tracks we selected from this period are very diverse in style, yet magically complimentary."
In 1982, as brothers Mark and Clive Ives first opened the doors to their home studio in South London, the world met WOO – a duo that escaped genre and definition, making music that was proudly unrestrained, constantly mutating and always surprising. From its very title, debut LP Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong asserted the brothers Ives as tireless explorers of multifarious shape-shifting musical directions – the album blended kaleidoscopic jazz and analogue electronica, free-flowing pop and unearthly muzak, retro fun and futuristic adventures. “WOO can sound as soft as a Martini ad, as sharp as a stab of conscience and often, brilliantly, both,” the Melody Maker noted at the time.
Finally remastered and reissued in a sumptuous package, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong proves to be not only out of time but timeless. It comes with a bonus mini-album of previously unreleased rarities from the late ‘70s and ‘80s, assembled by the brothers with the same spirit that informed the making of their first groundbreaking release.
This listing is for the black vinyl LP, which includes the ten additional tracks on an extra 10-track LP mastered at 45 RPM. (See our separate listings for the clear vinyl and CD editions.)
Album Track Listing
Side A
1 Swingtime (2025 remaster)
2 Pokhara + C.H. Revisited (2025 remaster)
3 A Wave (2025 remaster)
4 The Cleaner (2025 remaster)
5 Wah Bass (2025 remaster)
6 The Attic (2025 remaster)
Side B
1 Razorblades (2025 remaster)
2 White and Whiter Still! (2025 remaster)
3 Wapping (2025 remaster)
4 Life In Shadows (2025 remaster)
5 The English Style of Rowing (2025 remaster)
6 “Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong” (2025 remaster)
Bonus LP (cut at 45 RPM)
Side A
1 Lovelorn
2 Ruby Ruby
3 Rosehips
4 Tibetan Trains
5 It's Love - Reworked
Side B
1 Baa Lamb
2 Twinkle Toes
3 Dobbins Lost His Coconuts - Revisited
4 A Western Sunset
5 The Very End Of The Attic
BEST REISSUE OF THE WEEK! "Endlessly fascinating... Their intimate lo-fi sound was both ahead of and of its time, capturing their mixture of analogue electronics, eccentric pop, and toytown elevator muzak at its most potent... An astonishing sonic stew that could be incredibly pretty and mellow but also sometimes atonal and unsettling... Essential."
—Norman Records
"Leave it to Independent Project Records to reissue a title I had never heard of but now can’t imagine living without... This was a rare music of unaffected innocence that becomes a balm for the person lucky enough to be listening to it. Especially in 2026! The arrival of this reissue could’t have been more timely... Once I put this album on it beckons me to let it play all night long. It casts a compelling spell that I’m not eager to break."
—Post-Punk Monk
"Sneaking out in '82, this album got enthusiastic reviews in the music press (who likened them to The Durutti Column), the brothers discovering they'd been crafting a groundbreaking electronic and acoustic fusion... Evocative, emotional and supremely chilled, this lavishly repackaged set opens the door to a catalogue initially drawn from 1,500 tracks recorded in their first 10 years before continuing to the present day."
—Kris Needs, Electronic Sound
"Cosmic... The kaleidoscopic 1982 debut LP from the brothers Ives, Mark and Clive, was wildly adventurous, sounding like both the future and the past all at once, sending mutating elevator music down a colorful, analog rabbit hole of psychedelic jazz, free-range pop bliss, and ambient electronica. An extravagant new reissue revisits a wonderfully strange and intoxicating record that still feels like the discovery of an alien musical universe."
—Peter Lindblad, Ink19
"Woo’s musical exploration results in wide sonic vistas and evocative soundscapes in which it is quite possible to become lost... Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong is akin to white clouds passing in an azure sky with their form shapeshifting and the gentle breeze blowing elements of reggae (‘Wah Bass’), Indian drums (‘Wapping’), and klezmer (‘Razorblades’) in your direction, then being swept away but not before leaving an indelible mark on your memory."
—The Midlands Rocks
"The remaster is absolutely lovely, maintaining the lo-fi haze of the original recordings while giving it a nice balanced lift that helps peel back some of the layers of overdubs to let individual instrumental performances drift into focus. The re-release of Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong is, without question, perfectly done."
—Robert Ham, The Vinyl Cut
"You can hear Eno peek through here and there, especially when Mark Ives takes a rare vocal on ‘The Attic’... WOO are undeniably soothing but unsettling at the same time, familiar and strange, both uplifting and wistful. They also provide an almost uncannily well-suited soundtrack to nearly anything you might be doing while listening."
—John Mulhouse, Ugly Things
★★★★ "Gently odd, always understated and mostly instrumental... These DIY bedroom-pop experiments, played on a variety of guitars, keyboards and percussion instruments, combine influences from easy-listening jazz and exotica with ideas from the classical avant-garde, anticipating both New Age Music and the ambient boom of the '90s. Ten additional tracks recorded between '75 and '90 expand on the gorgeous original LP."
—Ben Graham, Shindig!
★★★★ "If you're unfamiliar with [WOO], there's no better place to start than with this excellent remastered and expanded reissue of their debut from 1982... Remains bright and joyful, never descending into the dark world often associated with synth-led music."
—Simon Rowland, RnR
"Above all, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong endures because it trusts the listener. It doesn’t instruct, impress, or overwhelm. It simply opens a door and lets you wander. Woo’s debut remains a reminder that some of the most radical music is made by people content to move quietly, follow instinct, and accept that getting lost might be the whole point."
—James Broscheid, The Big Takeover
"Even though this was created in the early '80s, it doesn't have that sound or feel. It could have come out yesterday... This remixed, remastered, and expanded album includes new album cover art and ten previously unreleased bonus tracks presented as a mini album."
—Rick Ecker, Razorcake
