by Unqualified-Kritic | Feb 9, 2020 | News
Welcome to the February 2020 newsletter. This is the first one of the year. And, as seems to be the norm (!) I missed my self imposed deadline to get one out for the New Year. Hopefully, this newsletter can make up for that omission with some great news. Some of its long-awaited, too
Many thanks to all of you who have bought the new album The Ghost of a Smile. Everyone seems to love it, which is great and much appreciated. If you haven’t listened to it yet, please do!
2020 Remasters
Lots of you have asked me about the possibility of making the very early releases available for sale again. I have usually said that that would be unlikely to happen.
Anyway, while doing some archive work I noticed that some of our releases that are on Bandcamp are not available anywhere else. For example, Purity and Despair is not on any other platform. This is one of our best releases and, obviously, it is entirely my fault for the oversight. So, this led me to rethink everything else.
Without further ado, then, I am going to be re-releasing everything from Improper Advances up to The Story of Our Lives. Some are available everywhere, some are not. What is interesting is that the later albums still sound rather spiffing and so will not need much in the way of mastering. The cassette ones will require considerably more work, of course.
All the albums will be getting new artwork, too. This is because the original artwork is not of a high enough quality or I simply do not like it anymore! The first album to be completed is Purity and Despair (see below). This is already on the release queue and has a release date of 21st February. After that, I am aiming to do one per month.
Special Note AKA No Charge!
Those of you that already own these albums will get the upgrade (if that’s the right word!) for absolutely ZERO CHARGE. You can pay if you would like to, of course, but you don’t have to: it will be free for you on request. So, when Purity and Despair is released, drop me an email via Bandcamp and I will send you a code. Very simple.
And Another Special Note
I will be publishing a blog post soon about the workflow involved in getting the old music ready for the wider public! Be sure to keep popping along to our news page or Twitter feeds for the latest.
Purity and Despair (2020 Remaster)
YouTube & Other Stuff
Since I last wrote, I am pleased to report that our YouTube channel is now an Official Artist Channel! This is great news for us. Read all about it here or take a look. While you are there, don’t forget to Like and Subscribe!
I am just completing a video trailer for Purity and Despair, so be sure to turn on your notifications!
Progressive UnderProgressive Underground Vol 2
I have also posted a review of Kevin Rowland’s excellent second book!
And that’s about it for now.
Don’t forget, if you have time and the inclination, please leave a review on Bandcamp for anything you may have purchased: it really does help spread the word. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel, follow us on Spotify etc.
See you soon,
Steven
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by Nick | Nov 7, 2016 | Featured Album
‘All Life is One’ is a relatively short album (by our standards), though it originally kicked in at over an hour. However, I pruned it right back of the stuff that didn’t sit with the overall vibe and ended up with a much more cohesive and structured release. The other tracks will be released as B-Sides, so you will get to hear them at some point.
This album is a huge departure in many ways for us: first, it does not feature either Ken or Christopher (though they did perform on the original demo tracks)! It does feature, however, a whole host of great talent: from the sax playing of Nathan to the stunning violin of William to the rock steady drumming of Nathanael and the melodic bass of Jair-Rohm Parker Wells.
I truly believe this release to be amongst the best of our catalogue. As usual, the songs are diverse and involving but still retaining their trademark melodic sound. There is also much harder guitar than seen of late and the sax and violin solos make for a much more dynamic and involving listen.
Track Listing
1. Master of Shadows 10:24
2. Falling to the Ground 07:32
4. Love is Transferred 06:14
Released October 2, 2015
Steven McCabe – guitars and keyboards
Nathaniel Graham – drums
William Stewart – violin
Nathan Madsen – sax
David Lipari Jr – vocals
Allen Bruce Ray – native american flutes
Hendrick Valera – flute
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, Damjan Kapor, Justin Bassman – bass guitar
Newsreel samples courtesy of archive.org
All songs composed, arranged, produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Steven
McCabe August / September 201 5 at Propinquity Studios, Cheshire, UK
Art Design and layout by Steven McCabe, with special thanks to
www.morguefile.com for some of the photographic elements.
Links
Official Website
Facebook
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