It really is great. Jon's voice is giving some space to really shine in the mix. He may never have sounded better.
A bad mix does not mean you can't still enjoy the music -nobody here even implied that, but please continue with the sarcasm as you like. I'm a big Hawkwind fan and can still enjoy the 50% of their releases that are mixed like crap.
I think there are two main issues with Mr. Cairo that put people off. 1st and foremost, Back to School is a really crappy song. It's schlocky beyond schlocky. It's so bad and out of sync with the rest of the record its hard to listen to the other stuff for a bit ... if you didn't just get up and pull the needle off the record and stuff the record back on the shelf. 2nd, I'll find my way home didn't get added to the record until the reprints. With that added and Mayflower, State of Independence, Outside of This and of course the title track, you have a really really strong record. The updated side one is outstanding. They need to make a needle bridge for turntables so you can permanently jump from Friends to Outside without getting up
I never realized Back To School was so disliked till I got to this site. I agree that it is out of synch with the other songs on the record, in that it is up-tempo and has less esoteric lyrics (by far!), but I always think of it as a nice contrast to these other songs. Honestly it is my second favorite track on the album after Mr. Cairo.
Twice Removed from Yesterday is my favorite Robin Trower record. It sounds f'n gawd awful. How he went from sounding like he recorded on a dictaphone, to audiophile nirvana on Bridge of Sighs in 8 months is beyond me. I always hold out hope that someday some magic stash of tape will be found of TRFY. But, the terrible sound has absolutely no impact on the fact that I love the record!
I found "Open" on a download site at 320kbps yesterday. I only listened to it once so far, but think it will be a grower. I'm guessing it has only been released in lossy download form?
I only have "Olias" (which I've never really been able to get into, despite having tried numerous times), "Song Of Seven" (most of which is good, although I haven't listened to it for some time) and "1000 Hands" (which again is mostly good but I haven't listened to it nearly as much as I should have). Plus "The Best of Jon & Vangelis" - again there are bits of it I like but it doesn't get played often. I guess ultimately I just prefer to hear Jon in the context of Yes. Having said that, one of the most enjoyable concerts I've ever been to was Jon solo at the Palace Theatre in Southend in 2009. A great performance with just a guitar and keyboard.
I'm curious, what do you enjoy about the 50% of Hawkwind albums that are mixed like crap? Is it the songwriting or the singing that shines through?
I don’t think Olias sounds “dreadful”, but it certainly sounds kind of disappointing. You want an album like Olias to be an immersive impressive Pink Floydian kind of experience, but it’s just kind of . . . flat (my opinion based on listening to the Japanese AMCY cd, the US lp and a German lp). I don’t think the problem is the mix per se; it’s more that Jon overdubbed it to death to get all those sounds while playing all the parts himself. But maybe a different production/engineering team could have gotten better results.
The Friends of Mr. Cairo is a great album, but I like Short Stories just a little better. I don't know, it just has a mood that I really dig.
At least it's not NR I've grown to like back to school. Just like heart of the matter on song of seven they're so bad i think they're meant to be funny kind of like teakbois on ABWH
I’ve been on JA kick lately and acquired a few more cds, including Animation, Song of Seven and 1000 hands. I enjoy all of them and was surprised by their overall quality. I should have delved deeper years ago. 1000 Hands is stronger than I expected.
Song of seven '80 and Animation '82 are great overshadowed by his return to yes a year later his solo career was going well I thought .
I find myself playing '80 song of seven and more than the great '80 yes drama but that's another story
Jon's Youtube channel uploaded a song called "State Of Consciousness" today. Is it a new song? The description doesn't say a thing about it. I did a little research but couldn't find out if it's new or old, or where it's from. Not that it's the greatest song ever but I'm curious.
No idea but Roine Stolt recently said in a podcast that he'd just recieved some new music from Jon for 'The Invention of Knowledge ' follow-up.
