Esoteric 2010 Releases

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/esoteric/


JANUARY



Cave of Clear Light -3Cd Pye and Dawn anthology with fab artwork. This was originally going to be a project by Mark for Universal in the same series as legend of A Mind, Spirit of Joy etc and is to the same standard with the usual clamshell box.

PFM-2 CD anthology-River of Life (Manticore Years) with some unreleased material---—track listing etc on Esoteric website



Pekka Pojhola-The Mathematicians Air Display

Pekka Pojhola-B The Magpie

Wigwam-Nuclear Nightclub

Wigwam-The Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose


Jackson heights-The Fifth Avenue Bus

Jackson heights-Ragamuffins Fool

Jackson heights-Bump N Grind




Feb titles as follows



Crazy World of Arthur Brown—needs no introduction, fab remastered reissue(2CD) with a whole Cd of bonus material and a Phil Smee extravaganza on the artwork


Hawkwind –Sonic Attack (atomhenge) 2CD with wealth of bonus material


Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come-Galactic Zoo Dossier—plus bonus material.

Ken Hensley-Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf

Ken Hensley-Eager to Please

Hawkwind-(Atomhenge) Alien 4

Ramses-Glass Top Coffin

Wigwam-Fairyport

Wigwam-Being

Wigwam-Live Music from the Twilight Zone





MARCH



PFM "The World Became The World plus bonus(English lang)

PFM "Photos Of Ghosts" plus bonus (English lang)

PFM "Jet Lag" plus bonus (English lang)

Arthur Brown "Kingdom Come"

Arthur Brown "Journey"

Bob Downes "Electric City"

Bob Downes "Open Music"

Alan Bown "The Alan Bown

Home "The Alchemist

The Parlour Band "Is A Friend"

 

I am going to jump on Ken Hensley-Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf. I love that album.

The Repertoire CD is extremely expensive, so this is a great alternative.

 

Still no sign of the Island-era Jade Warrior reissues...

 

UNRELEASED PFM?!?!?!?!?!!? Where do I sign???

 

Wow!

That's quite a list.

Wigwam is a must for any prog lover, especially Being!

 

Are those out of print? I have all four on the Eclectic Discs label.

EDIT: I keep forgetting the label is now Esoteric. So maybe they are OOP.

 

Indeed they are out of print - copies still crop up here and there, but Waves in particular is hard to come by at a reasonable price. I read on the Friends Of JW website that there were plans for Esoteric to reissue the Eclectic versions, but it's been a couple of years since this was last mentioned.

 

I'm a bit late on posting this since I just placed a $120 order with Cherry Red online for some Esoteric titles, but is there a general consensus on whether the label is following decent enough mastering practices? i.e. no over-the-top digital compression or inappropriate use of No-Noise? I'm hoping that I'll be able to enjoy the discs I've ordered, including Pete Sinfield's Still, Peter Banks' Two Sides of Peter Banks, Flash, and the new PFM comp.

I did a quick search on the forum and found only a few brief mentions of Esoteric releases.

I should add that anyone interested in these really should check Cherry Red's website first since even here in the US it was cheaper for me to buy direct from them than to grab these at CD Universe or Amazon.

 

Please let us know what you think of the mastering for those once you've listened to them. I'd also like to know the same about the Wigwam and Pekka Pohjola releases.

 

I have the "Flash" release and I find it to be my fave, even over the Japanese mini-sleeve box set edition and the Friday Music release. The import has "Small Beginnings" edit as a bonus track.
I wish someone would do an Anthology on this band and include live and unreleased tracks.

Rick A.

 

I have bought most of the Esoteric titles and have enjoyed the sound on all of them expect for two titles. Those are by West Bruce and Laing (Whatever Turns You On and Live and Kicking). Now in my opinion, even the vinyl did not sound good on those two albums, so I am guessing that even Esoteric could not make a bad recording sound great.

 

Arthur Brown "Kingdom Come"

Can't wait for this one!

 

Picked up and listened to Wigwam NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB today and all I have to say is:

Where have these guys been all my life?!?!

Think 10cc crossed with I don't know...Triumvirate maybe? Add some Steely Dan and MEDDLE-period Floyd. I want more!

 

MARCH REMASTERED TITLES(all now available)
Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come-Kingdom Come
" " -Journey

Bob Downes
Electric City
Open Music (Dream Journey)

Alan Bown
The Alan Bown

PFM
The World Became the World
Photos of Ghosts
jet Lag

Home
The Alchemist

Parlour Band
Is a Friend

Track listings of all these titles are on the Esoteric website
www.esotericrecordings.com




APRIL 2010

Schicke Fuhrs and Frohling
Sunburst (reactive)
Symphonic Pictures plus bonus live CD (reactive)
Ammerland (Fuhrs and Frohling) (reactive)

Alan Bown
Listen
Stretching Out

Hawkwind
Church of Hawkwind (Atomhenge)

Harvey Bainbridge
Dreams, Omens and Strange Encounters (new studio album) (Atomhenge)

PFM
Chocolate Kings (double CD)

Clark Hutchinson
Free to be stoned (2Cd anthology of all 3 albums-no ommissions)



MAY 2010:

SCHICKE, FUHRS & FROHLING:
Ticket to Everywhere (reactive)

SOFT MACHINE:
Bundles


SAM GOPAL
Escalator

HAWKWIND:

The Xenon Codex (atomhenge)
White Zone (credited to The Psychedelic Warriors) (atomhenge)

JADE WARRIOR:
Way of the Sun
Kites

FLASH:

Out of Our Hands

www.esotericrecordings.com

 

You may want to check out their disk titled "Fairyport"; It is wonderful.

 

Well, then you'll definitely need Jim Pembroke's solo album "Pigworm" which preceded this abum by a year. Same prog-pop genius category.

Yes, but Wigwam's absolute masterpiece is "Being."

 

Wow, lots of good stuff on those lists. I have the Love Sculpture remasters on Esoteric and they sound much better than the horrid EMI remasters.

Anybody pick up the PFM discs yet?

PFM
The World Became the World
Photos of Ghosts
jet Lag

 

Really?, What year did it come out?

 

Unfortunately Esoteric does not own the rights to PFM's first 2 Italian language disks which I think are head and shoulders above "Photos of Ghosts" and what follows. I did not bother upgrading.

 

For those interested in prog rock in the Camel and Caravan vein, the Parlour Band album is truly excellent music, absolutely top notch. I have no idea what this reissue sounds like, but there have been decent sounding CD issues of this title out of Korea and Japan in the past. I also used to have a bootleg vinyl version of it that was not so great. And by the way, about the cover: I think it just looks like that, faded and wimpy looking. In the past I have thought that the repro's of the cover had something wrong with them, but they all pretty much look like that, so I am assuming that the original was kind of washed out too, although I've never seen it.

 

Wigwam's "Being" came out either the last couple days of 1973, or the first couple days of 1974; I can't remember. "Pigworm" which is the album the band did next after breaking up as Mark I came out later in 1974, before Mark II Wigwam formed to make "Nuclear Nightclub" for release in 1975.

I think Wigwam is the best band to ever come out of a non-English speaking country. Just remarkable muscians and songwriters.

 

Thanks, the year puts it comfortably in the progressive rock heyday. I am interested in hearing it.

 

I have the 2000 Edsel release of this. The notes say that it was the first legit CD issue. It doesn't say who remastered it. I'm wondering if this new version will be any sort of sonic upgrade. It was never an audiophile dream as far as I can tell.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Wow... I have to figure that a double CD set might a must have for me. Can't wait to see what's included there, although I wonder if it will be that John Peel (?) radio concert from 1976 that was issued on an old bootleg. Seems appropriate, and I'd be shocked if they found enough outtakes/rare mixes to fill a second disc.

 

Being is definitely a classic from the golden era of prog. Highly recommended.