Simon Heywood, Revitalisation Master of Analogue Tape Necromancer, is sorting through a pile of Crim masters & copy masters for our 4 days of transferring analogue to digital: "Discipline", "Beat", "Three Of A Perfect Pair" & "USA".
If this were the days of EG, the artists would be paying for the costs of the transfer, and I would be doing the work to benefit all the members for free. The re-issues would attract a burst of sales for the new format or upgrade, on which EG would receive royalties from Record No. 1. The group would then receive royalties when all the re-mastering costs had been deducted from their royalties. This was not how the relationship between KC & EG began, but it is how the relationship became when Mr. Alder directed EG's "sound business practices".
When CDs first became available, I was asked if I wanted to transfer ITCOTCK. I suggested that Ian MacDonald be asked to do the job. I don't know if EG followed up the suggestion, and my assumption is not.
Backtracking to Monday: I had a fabbo day dating The Horse. We went for lunch with friends near Stevenage.
12.25
"Frame By Frame" is currently werning & twerning. We have checked 3 master tapes and found the earliest generation. Beast! Beast!
The "Discipline" album was recorded at Island Studios, Basing Street, in 3 weeks following 3 weeks in Europe playing in the new material, following 3 weeks writing and rehearsing.
12.52
"Matte Kudesai". This title is the Japanese expression for "Please Wait For Me", according to Adrian.
For a Korean release, there was an objection to the use of a Japanese phrase (a result of anti-Nipponese feeling). Would I/we mind if the song was removed from the release? I forget exactly when: I believe a compilation release of the early 1990s. My suggestion: call the song "Please Wait For Me". The suggestion was adopted and the release went ahead.
Now, the first solo of "Indiscipine". This might also be called "The Craft Of Noise Crimsonique".
15.20
The album is complete in outline, ready to be glued together. We are listening to the alternative version of "Matte" with RF on sustained guitar lines and solo. This is the version included on the original 1981 "Discipline" release, and was later replaced by the original pre-overdub minimalist mix on releases after 1989.
In Island studios, recording and mixing of the album completed, Adrian & I agreed that something more was needed for "Matte". He left it to me to come up with something, flew home, but when he heard my contribution wasn't convinced. I agree. This new re-release gives us the opportunity to include both versions, in accordance with a suggestion made a while ago on the Guestbook.
Post-modernists drawn to inter-referential commentary, and earnest enthusiasts with failing eyesight, may note that the first RF sustained line is a quote from the beginning of "Peace - A Theme".
17.14
"Discipline" is vibrated, pumped & tickled.
Digital is now able to deliver the quality of analogue & uncover the performances which continue at the heart of analogue
20.22
Chez Horse, Chiswick.
The lunar eclipse has been mostly visible, although clouds cover it from time to time. An e-flurry is underway as I sip my health-food whippy drink.
20.54
Mahler's Ninth is tuning the atmosphere here in Chiswick. This is a Boulez version on Toyah's CD tower. My pal Harald Rey of Germany very kindly suggested I should know Karajan's version of the Ninth, and sent it to me: I listen to it in the bath. It will be interesting to play them side by side.
"Breathing is optional."
