Al Stewart: 24 Carrots – 40th Anniversary 3CD Edition

I think the EMI is the best sounding.

 

Big fan of this album. It never felt like it was as appreciated quite as much as his previous few albums, but it was his last release to chart in the US and second to last to enter the UK charts. I hope it sounds nice as I’m definitely going to pick it up posthaste.

 

Such beautiful and evocative lyrics from Mr. Stewart always.

And I think of you now as a dream that I had long ago
In a kingdom lost in time.
And in the forests of evening the archer is bending a bow,
And I see you bring him bread and wine.
Down the ligneous years the invaders have taken these lands,
And bent you to their will.
And the murmurous fade of the ancients and all that they had,
But the magic lingers round you still.
Oh who will walk the stony roads of Merlin's time
And keep a watch along the boarder line?
And who will hear the legends passed in song and rhyme,
Upon the Shepard's pipes of Merling's time?

 

Wow this is unexpected.

Even though I'm not a massive Al fan anymore, I owe my forum username to a song on this album!

The package doesn't exactly overwhelm. Surely the live show just more than 8 songs. But I think I will get this for old time's sake!

 

I think he's the best lyricist of the popular music era.

 

The Hammersmith Odeon recordings are from 10 December 1980. I saw Al at the same venue two nights earlier - 8 December - at which he played, to our surprise and delight, a Beatles cover (I Feel Fine, I think, or possibly Ticket to Ride).

The next morning we woke up to hear the news about John.

 

I like the album, but I can't get excited about the bonus material. It doesn't have the studio songs from the Indian Summer live album, which previous CDs of the album had. The live disc was recorded only a few months before that album and has only 2 songs not on there. So I'll pass and stick with what I have.

 

Love this album. A must buy for me. Only disappointed a little bit by the choice of songs chosen from the Hammersmith gig. Was there and the show really rocked but whilst loving all his stuff would have preferred more songs from the 24 Carrots album on the live CD (which he certainly did on the night). Shot in the Dark a brilliant band in their own right we’re so tight on the night and for me provided Al with a wonderful sound stage even edging out the Home backing band a few years previous. Looking forward to this release immensely.

 

This gets at what I think is the most incredible among Al's many incredible talents. His mind can still produce not just great lyrics (that can come from experience) but also very original musical compositions which fit into his milieu. I think it's a given that most artists only have a certain number of great songs in them and they generally come out early. But Al's mind continued to produce with consistently impressive results through the decades. A singular talent.

 

For sure!

Still in hope for a new album!

 

After the YOTC news, I went Cherry Records to check into pre-ordering and found this title available....though I'm certain last time I checked their website it was scheduled for March release....(and!!!! I'd swear I just saw it listed as Preorder with YOTC titles showing "released March 21" next to the YOTC titles listed as March 26 when I first landed on the site a few minutes ago to check YOTC) it now appears available. I'm going to grab it unless we have someone who's heard it and would make me question the sound. Did anyone pick it up yet? How was the mastering?

 

I have just received my copy. I am mainly interested in the outtakes, demos and live album.
Ran the LP tracks through EAC. DR=11 compared to DR=14 on a couple of other pressings I own!
Will need some time to compare these...

 

amazon.com has this in stock. I just ordered a copy. With tax it came to just over $30.00 for 3 CDs.

 

Wonder why the main album wasn’t given the option of a 5.1 remix like Year of the Cat?

 

Just got this. A little disappointing, really. The remastering isn't bad, but it's not noticeably better (just louder) than the 2007 Collector's Choice CD, and the bonus studio tracks from that edition are not included. Instead we get two single edits, a (short) disc of demos, and an abbreviated live disc (I assume the original concert was a lot longer than 47 minutes).

I like Esoteric's edition of Past, Present & Future, which is less compressed and better balanced than the 1992 Rhino CD I've been listening to for nearly 30 years, so I was hoping for better for this one.

I compared one song ("Optical Illusion") between the Collector's Choice and Esoteric editions in Audacity. The DR difference seems to be caused not by overall compression, but by a small amount of peak limiting in the loudest parts of the music. After normalizing loudness, the verses in "Optical Illusion" look and sound more or less identical between the two masterings, but the peaks in the chorus are trimmed. The two masterings don't sound significantly different to me, though (loudness aside). I would have preferred a somewhat quieter master without limiting, but by modern standards the Esoteric disc is pretty respectful of the original dynamics.

 

I just listened to the Hammersmith Odeon disc for the first time. WTF, "Broadway Hotel" reworked as reggae?

And none of Al talking to the audience is included aside from very brief remarks like "This is an old song." His stories are half the fun of an Al Stewart concert, as you can tell from "Clarence Frogman Henry" on Live/Indian Summer or "Auctioning Dave" on Uncorked.

 

When it comes to bonus studio tracks on Stewart reissues from the past, I always got the sense they were a bit... confused.

Is it possible they were left off this release because they technically weren't era-appropriate? His catalog is kind of a mess in terms of documentation and it seems like most current reissues for other artists attempt to set right the incorrect pairings of past reissue campaigns.

 

Totally agree Al’s talking to audience is on another level compared to most, his solo tours especially where he just goes off on one and completely different to most artists there not scripted one liners but monologues and mostly different. That said if placed on these new recordings, hey they would be the same each time you played the CDs and would get very boring. What all these put together concerts on all the releases could do much much better is to home on ALL the live versions of that particular release, not on the greatest hits, how many versions have l got of Roads to Moscow, loads and loads, great song but come on.