New Model Army - my new favorite band! (literally based on the first 29 min of them I've ever heard)

I only saw a couple of excerpts online and it didn't seem super exciting. I attributed this to the lack of a crowd. Am I wrong? Is it actually pretty good when you see the whole thing?

 

On the NMA website it simply says that it's high quality, gotta be worth a punt for a tenner mate..

 

I’ve taken that attitude for years but now have so much live material, do I need more and will I ever play it? Hence, if it’s another Live 161203, I’m just not sure I need it?
Besides shipping to Australia has got very expensive from their shop (nearly doubles the price of any order I make) so I’m sort of forced into Amazon or eBay to buy their albums nowadays. Before you say that isn’t supporting the band as the get ripped off by Amazon, just remember I’m being expected to pay nearly double rrp to buy from their shop or even more from townsend music (these guys are totally evil as they don’t even discount the vat and wanted 50 gbp to deliver the CD/Lp sets for Surrounded/navigating by the stars)

 

Understood, I'd think twice myself considering the astronomical costs you have to bear. It will be a very different viewing experience (didn't watch the live stream), NMA live shows are very audience involved affairs, whether on DVD, audio or live in a venue. I'll post my opinion/ thoughts on this 40th anniversary DVD once received and viewed.

 

I don't know about the sound, i guess it will be PCM stereo sound, it doesn't seem to be a big expensive release with gorgeous image and sound, but rather a "raw" live event.

I'm a NMA completist so i had to order this dvd!
I haven't seen the whole event last year, only one or two clips..without the audience something is missing for sure...but i like the songs, so..

If the 40th (41th??) birthday concerts are still happening next autumn/winter, i guess we can expect a new live Blu Ray/Dvd next year, and this time WITH the audience!!

Two others good news are that Justin's SURROUNDED will be available in 15 days now, and that according to the last Justin interview i've posted NMA is currently working on their new, 15th album after the solid, fine FROM HERE released two years ago.

 

So i've asked your question on the official NMA forum this morning and they answered:

"Due to the size of video files due to the length of the sets the sound is AC3."

40th anniversaryDVD

 

This is true.

Albums are a definite. Their replay-ability is limitless. I still listen to my Beatle albums. But live DVDs? Watch them once, maybe twice and then nada. Maybe you'll watch a particular song or two again, but the whole live DVD experience is not worth the price anymore. Especially so with youtube around.

And anyway, once you watch the NMA Live At The Marquee from 1985 performance, there is no need to watch any other live video from the band. That Marquee show does have a high replay value. Astonishing set....the band at their best with the best lineup.

 

It's the band at its most "raw" probably...i still like very much the "...and nobody else" live album, i like the sound, audience and performances on this live album ("Wonderful way to go", for example! or "Prison", "Modern times" ) ...also the live album of the 30th birthday concerts from 2010 is fine.

 

My first choice is Raw Melody Men but Between Wine and Blood is fcuking fantastic as well!

 

Both live albums are good, indeed!

I also forgot the raw "Radio Sessions 83/84", again brillant...i think i like more how the "Vengeance" and "No rest for the wicked" tracks sound here than on the original albums.

 

Yes, "Raw Melody Men" is really a great live album. The muscular version of "Space" is fantastic. You can really hear the amazing bass line in that version.

 

Some versions of certain songs are far better on those Radio Sessions albums. But do we count radio sessions as live albums? No audience, no raw energy from the band to play to a live audience....

 

One week before the release of Justin Sullivan's SURROUNED and the early on line reviews are promising...here's the rough translation of this spanish review:

Justin Sullivan – Surrounded | Science of Noise - Rock Magazine

"The genius of the great Justin Sullivan is becoming more and more clear to me. To all this I have to add that the last concert I could attend before the world changed (to worse) were their New Model Army, and I really enjoyed their proposal. Beyond his mother band, this Englishman with difficult teeth and exceptional compositional angel, delivers grapes to single material pears, showing himself naked and sincere and telling you stories as beautiful as sad. His last and only solo album was released 18 years ago and was titled Navigating by the Stars.

Most of this work was forged in the early days of the forced confinement of those we populate the Earth. A beautiful lament that can be the soundtrack of the worst days of pandemic, with a folk air and a lot of mystique. There are up to 16 cuts all following clear patterns and a marked troubadour-storyteller style in dark times. Recorded almost everything in his home and with several collaborations that complete an intimate work full of well-known stories, others less... and quite a bit of autobiographical material.


Here we have Sullivan armed with his acoustics and voice, boosted by some very sober and minimalist effects and arrangements. A succession of cold and icy atmospheres in which his voice tells beautiful stories surrounded by dark, dark and wide landscapes. The fact that he approached the incredible story of Amundsen and Scott in the conquest of the South Pole already beats me in advance. What’s more, it’s a single and it’s the best track on the album, although there are many that are well worth it. "Dirge" opens the disc brilliantly by marking territory and showing what this is all about. Double whispered murmurs and ethnic percussions including Tibetan bowls and strings.

Another of the singles are the nude and rough chords that accompany him in the positivist "Clean Horizon". A ray of light between the storm clouds with a rope accompaniment as effective as beautiful. Same premises for that cloud that is "Stone and Heather" or for the dark and narrated "Coming With Me".

In "Sao Paulo" Justin becomes a kind of crooner in the style of Leonard Cohen, with that deep voice, a double bass, effects and a train with which he finishes the composition. It’s time to highlight one of the greatest songs, and this is "28th May". Heartfelt melancholic tone with festive airs that contrasts with the more marinera "Akistan", well wrapped up throughout the section of rope and wind effects.

Moderate optimism in "1975", always with a good handwriting, one of the marks of the house of the great Justin Sullivan. Ethereal is "Sea Again", returning a little to the sailor clichés that our protagonist always tastes. Keeping the tone of the album is a beautiful "Clear Skies" and the brief "Rip Tides". We meet again with some of the most inspired compositions in "Daughter of the Sun", and especially in "Ride", with a great chorus with double voices.

" Justin Sullivan makes clear what a solo album has to be: something intimate, that you carry inside and that moves away from your main band or band. Anyway, many of these songs, electrified and at faster tempos could work perfectly in New Model Army. The album may be something long and monotonous, but the beauty that encloses is a lot, the moments of brilliance happen It is worth saying that Sullivan, armed only with his acoustic guitar, can take you to an infinite world of sensations and sensitivity. Sorrounded is the perfect example that the pandemic has made so many musicians and bands finish those projects they had in the drawer."

 

If any album should have had a Steve Wilson 5.1 mix it was this!

because of the silly Townsend music deal it will be weeks or months before I get a copy of this in Australia.

 

An interesting, lengthy Justin Sullivan interview where he is talking among others things why the band didn't do well in the States:

 

This happens sometimes and when it does, it's thrilling. Happens less and less when you're 53 years old.

I recently rediscovered some early punk compilations like Burning Ambitions and one of them had a New Model Army song I had forgotten about. Shortly thereafter I found an anthology of their early stuff and was blown away. I actually had one of their albums back in the day but lost it. Am happy to know about them again

 

I hear ya, totally. OP here — and I was 50 when I started this thread, and it’d been eons since I’d discovered a ‘new’ (to me) long-standing band/group/artist with as much output as NMA, that I’d practically never even heard OF before (let alone never heard) — probably not for close to a decade, maybe.

 

Just watched 40th Anniversary Global Gathering, first of all the audio quality is as good as any music DVD I own (my audio gear is hooked up to my DVD player).

It's certainly a good performance although sometimes I felt like I was watching a rehearsal. There are some visual effects which I suppose the band felt necessary due to the lack of audience participation.

The setlist includes some very early songs, apparently the band calculated that there is a 1 in 8 chance of hearing a song you particularly like.

On DVD 1 there is a photo gallery covering the 40 year history, many of which I believe are unpublished, I didn't watch all of the photo gallery, it appears to be well over 30 minutes though.

All in all a very worthwhile addition to any NMA collection.

 

I've received the dvd this morning and i've watched most of the first dvd, i agree with everything you said, without the noisy audience it looks like a "big rehearsal" but it's somewhat great to have a better, more focused look at the band, lots of close ups of them playing drums, guitar, bass...it gives a more intimate feeling to this fine performance and show. The sound and images are also better than i thought so overall it's a very recommended dvd if you are a NMA fan.

 

2 new titles from SURROUNDED are available in this interview:

Beyond the Playlist with JHammondC: Beyond the Playlist: Justin Sullivan

 

Gorgeous...:

 

Yes but one of the bonus track is dark, moody, haunting, incredible...and should have been available on NAVIGATING BY THE STARS in 2003!!:

 

100%
I got the DVD in the mail today and I'm watching it for the first time. I think it's cool having a video document of the current lineup doing the older material. Band in great form.....Super glad to have this in my collection

 

I don’t have the DVD for reasons I’ve mentioned, however, I have received Surrounded (CD from Amazon us) and like it! Will have to spend more time with it before I commit to an opinion!