Hey man. Thanks! You are the man, I still think those Brand X records sound amazing!! Thats whats next on my wishlist. The complete Brand X mastered and credited (and paid) properly.
I wish I had all the answers. A lot of the issues with re-releases is about who has the rights and licenses - and if the original masters and especially the multitracks still exist. There are a number of really seminal albums I would so like to remix, both in stereo and surround, but it is tragic that so many of those tapes have been destroyed, stolen, or just simply lost. Oh - and not to mention whether there is a budget available to make anything new happen!
I am sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I cannot help but notice that Fool's Mate appears in the "Van der Graaf Generator Catalog" ad found in the 2005 remasters. Was this conceived as a VdGG album but ended up a Hammill solo, ergo a reversal of The Aerosol Grey Machine? Or was it just for good exposure... I don't know. It's things like this that leaves me unsure whether any Hammill solo material will be included in the upcoming box... But like a total prat I opted out and finally bought the missing PH remasters (Future Now through Black Box certainly have risen in price!) because I am too eager to await the news of this box set. Sigh.
Burning Shed sends out its mailer to my inbox on Fridays usually, would be nice to wake up to a preorder.
Holy ****balls Batman, I'm pretty excited for this. Apart from hopefully sympathetic mastering do we know of there'll be a book or any other ephemera?
No, never intended as a Van der Graaf album although some of the songs were played by the very earliest incarnation of the band.
Yes, Fool's Mate and also Nadir's Big Chance are different from the other PH solo stuff of the 70s, as all the songs are solely old material from the 60s, from the time before The Least We Can Do, actually most from the time before The Aerosol Grey Machine. And especially Fool's Mate was made to "save" these older songs before they became too old to be included on any new album. The songs on Fool's Mate as well as the calmer songs from Nadir's Big Chance feel indeed closer to the Aerosol Grey songs than to the later VdGG output.
Judge Smith's long out of print Democrazy CD has fun early demos of Viking, Imperial Zeppelin, Been Alone So Long and The Institute of Mental Health. Well worth seeking out.
I don’t understand why this is strange. You can only do a proper 5.1 mix if the multi tracks exist. If they are missing some or all multi tracks for some albums, then this would explain on why only some are in 5.1. This is very common. (XTC and Gentle Giant are great examples of this). I guess we will see when the announcement happens on what is included.
4 albums more than 0 so no complaints here. Can’t wait to see what on earth could make this a 20 disc set.
I wonder if the 2005 and onward material is included... Perhaps all the BBC stuff... Don't know what else is out there as I am still a bit of a rookie in terms of VdGG. But yes, 20 discs... Quite a lot of space to fill.
Yes you are right. I wasnt clear enough, I meant that the info was strange as I have not read anything that says only these four albums, so I was curious were the info came from. ( Im well aware of what is needed for a surround mix)
I think my consensus for this will be I'm just grateful for whatever is included. I care more about the mastering then anything else. Never thought ide see the day these guys would get the green light for such a project. I'm stoked just don't screw up the sound and I'm good. No marbles but a repro of the poster that came with Wave would be awesome. How about the withdrawn mix of Wave anyone heard it ?
Shel Talmy mix of The Least We Can Do would be a really nice addition to the set. Some parts of it are definitely different from the classic mix, Refugees in particular is quite different with Guy Evans drums put in the foreground. The beginning of Darkness and the ending of After The Flood are very different as well. Anyway, i highly doubt they had the foresight to look for it in the archives, so it will remain confined in the vinyl wax forever.
This reminds me, I've owned 2 LP copies of H to He, the first an original pink scroll UK Charisma. On this one Lost ends in a fade. When I'd worn out that copy I picked up a mad hatter label reissue. On that one Lost moves into a coda where the band goes into wild meltdown for about a minute.
Yes, my only vinyl copy of H to He i purchased in the early 80s had Lost with the fade out. I remember i was very surprised when i heard the complete version once i 'upgraded' my VDGG collection to cd some years later.
John Anthony is adamant the band rejected the Talmy remix and it was never released. He got Guy Evans to confirm it recently. John reckons it just had to be mastered again to cure some sibilance problems. Here are a few excerpts from John's Facebook page: I was about to explain the whole debacle about the finished master, Shel Talmy's rejected mix, which never saw the light of day and the first 'faulty' pressing on 'The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other'. I am beginning to lose the will to type. However I have seemingly been pre-empted by 'train spotting" record collectors who seemingly insist there are two separate and different released mixes. If someone has another version that was released then that is news to me! There were no separate mixes but two different mastering sessions the second supervised by me from soup to nuts at the new Trident Cutting Room-TO SPECIFICALLY GET RID OF SOME SIBILANCE ON THE VOCALS. So to sum up; The mixes are the same, the masterings are different and so by implication the EQs would be different .....I am about to start writing about the reception 'The Least We Can Do' LP got at Charisma Records and they demanding a remix by Shel Talmy and the band unanimously rejecting it! 'No dynamics, over limited, over compressed and sounded like a pop record' said drummer Guy Evans. Of course none of this I knew but when I found out I went into Trident and remastered it properly...I think. .....I have now banned someone who would not let The "Story" about the mixes of 'The Least we Can do' by Van der Graaf Generator rest, even though I authenticated my statement that there was no 'other mix released' on the phone with band member Guy Evans.
There's a short but very interesting thread on The Least We Can Do mixes here on the forum: Van der Graaf: First mix of Least We Can Do
I respect John Anthony opinion, anyway i own an early (“CAS+1007+A2” and CAS+1007+B2” matrix) LP pressing of The Least We Can Do, and it does sound very different from the one we're used to listen to. The big drums on Refugees is something you don't bring out with just a remaster.
Hmm, well, yes, the Talmy mix is obviously different. Even some of the runtimes differ, and the endings of White Hammer and After the Flood are definitely different from what I have on CD. Actually I prefer the Talmy mix.
