HW: Recent v Old (revisited) A Howl of Derision

[Jon Jarrett]

On Sun, 15 Apr 2001, Tom Clark wrote:

> "If only Astounding Sounds had been a well produced studio double album, think
> what a classic that would have been."
>
> Huh?  I think it is an excellently produced studio album and a classic in it's
> own right..  Blew me away when I first heard it, though it was on  a good sound
> system in conjunction with some Moroccan Brown and headphones.   Seemed like it
> was designed for that.  To this day, it's a classic in my book in that it
> brought Bob Calvert's genius to the forefront, and still sounds awesome.  A bit
> muddy in places, but, man, that was an album that blew me emotionally away more
> so than even Space Ritual.   It displayed Bob Calvert's passion moreso than any
> album he was featured on.   It definitely fit the times, and still holds up to
> this day, IMO.

        It is stuffed full of good little songs, but I can't agree with
you about the production. Everything on it sounds miniature and deadened,
nothing has any breadth or depth... On a really good stereo I guess the
precision which is its virtue might come through and save it but on
anything I've ever been able to afford it sounds tinny and
uninteresting. If it wasn't for Calvert's words and, gods save me,
`Aubergine' which I quite like, I'd have a hard time with ASAM. But your
listening conditions were clearly better than mine are :-) Yours,
                                                                  Jon

--
       Jon Jarrett (01223 514989)     jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
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  "There is a certain pleasure in being mad, which none but madmen know"