HW: CALVERT: Luck Lief, PP etc.

[Keith Henderson]

Hi Folks...

Is the list down, or is it just unusually quiet??

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a used CD copy of Calvert's Lucky
Lief, more to work towards kompletion (I still need Hype) than because I
really needed to upgrade my old LP copy.  (I only think a few of the tracks
work, although I think it's quite humourous in places even when the music is
less than inspired.)

Anyway, I just got around to listening to it last night, and silly me...I
expected it to be the exact same album as I already knew for 15 years.  But
then I got to the spoken 'The Making? of Midgard' piece, and I wondered what
the hell had happened to my disc player...'cause I knew that this echoed
crap wasn't what I remembered hearing before.  I pulled out my LP copy just
to make sure I hadn't gone crazy.  So what's the deal on that??  And then in
the Phased Locked Loop, I don't ever recall hearing the automobile
commercial at the end.  (I forgot to check my LP on that part...perhaps I'm
mistaken.)  Weird.

IIRC, PXR5's High Rise isn't quite the same as on the original LP, right??
How do these things happen?  Are they intentional??  And what about the new
(EBS?) CD re-release of PXR5...does it have the same edit of High Rise as
the Virgin oop? CD or the original Charisma LP??

On the subject of misprintings...over on r.m.p., there's been a bit of a
panning of the quality control of Purple Pyramid (i.e., Cleopatra's newest
space/psych/kraut arm).  Now I've always been wary of their stuff in
general, more because of 1) the questionable nature of the recordings they
were using for certain compilations (The Pink Fairies compilation comes to
mind) and also 2) reports of Brian Perrera not always making good on artist
royalties (I don't have any specifics, so don't quote me on that).

But the discs in particular that have been showing up with problems,
according to r.m.p.'ers are:

Brainticket - Celestial Ocean (first track repeated and/or extra long gaps
between    songs)  -  Mine is perfectly fine...neither of these problems
Brainticket - Voyage (with Adventure music)
Brainticket - Adventure (with Voyage music)
        My copy of Voyage *is* Voyage...I don't have Adventure
Ash Ra Tempel - the two-for-ones (I can't remember how they're matched up,
but they             include Schwingungen, Join Inn, Starring Rosi, and one
other)
        Anyway, reports are that they're edited down a bit to fit them into
the            time limit (presumably 78 minutes).  I don't have the
original LPs, so I           can't confirm, but I assume this is true.
Yes - some new 2CD compilation of stuff (live?) apparently has been showing
up in         people's hands with two Disc 1's or Disc 2's (can't remember
which, or             perhaps both?)

However, I'm not going to do what some have suggested, and boycott the label
outright because of a few snafus (even Griffin had the infamous
Pendragon/Warrior fiasco).  That's because they're the only label right now
that's willing to put things out in the US that haven't ever been readily
available to us in the past (at least since the 70's).  Of course, that
might change if Griffin resurfaces (let's hope so).  But anyway, I thought I
should let folks here be aware that you may come across some of these
problems with at least these particular releases.  Presumably, returning
them to the store of purchase or the label itself will result in your
receiving a proper copy, but of course, that can be a bit of a pain.

Oh yeah, PP also released a 2CD Nektar compilation called The Dream Nebula.
It's marginally ok, but let me point out three things to think about on this
one also.  First, they didn't fully utilize the 'space' they had on two
discs, and each are like 50 minutes rather than 70 min.  That's kind of
stupid.  They also cut out the Part 2 section of The Dream Nebula and
awkwardly merge Part 1 into It's all in the mind.  This is my favourite
Nektar sequence ever, and they kind of ruined it.  This is really stupid,
since (as I said) they've got 20 minutes of empty space, and they cut out
like 2:30 or something in the middle of a fluid sequence.  Why??  And
three...the Remember the Future contribution is still the terrible
keyboard-heavy, guitar-thin mix that was on the original Bellaphon CD
release (the one that should have never seen the light of day).  The band
are currently working on a proper CD release of RtF, hopefully that will
appear in the next 6 months or so.

Well, just wanted to make sure you were all informed out there.  Let's hope
they get a handle on these problems and save what has started out to be a
very promising label.

Keith H. (FAA)

ObCD:  Ash Ra Tempel (Purple Pyramid) - The Best of The Private Tapes
(2CD)...they did a good job on this one...140 minutes of cool spacey guitar
& electronics

ObBOC/HW misprint:  In issue 11 of Crohinga Well, in the review of Dave
Brock's ST&PD, they refer to his second solo album as 'The Agents of Fortune.'

ObSelf-deprecating misprint:  In the Japanese rerease of Captain Beyond's
first album, the (mainry Japanese) riner notes indicate Rarry "Rhino"
Rheinhart as guitarist.