I’ve been putting it off for a long time but I’ve decided to use my Bandcamp profile I set up a few years ago. Today, I uploaded “The Luckiest Man in the World” which you can download for the bargain price of £5. But more importantly, you can listen to the whole thing in fairly decent quality, all the way through. It’s a special set of recordings for me, so please check them out and pass the link on. Click on the big smiling face below to absorb the goodness…
…and sure enough, the abyss stared back into me.
1971 was a good year...
I came to the Caravan party a little late, discovering their music in July 2000 when I picked up their compilation “Where But for Caravan Would I?” and was immediately a fan. I always say that if I were a contemporary of Caravan, then this would be the band I’d be in. They probably match my level of technical competence – not too flashy, but full of soul and ideas.
With the 40th Anniversary edition of their seminal 1971 album, I shall be talking mainly about the 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound mix that appears on the accompany region-free DVD. Over the years, I have become quite interested in these surround mixes put out by classic bands as they often throw up new auditory experiences for the listener, uncovering instrumentation that’s often been buried in the mix.
The thing about this record is that while Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree does a sterling job of the mix, there’s not a lot here to impress the listener. The problem with Caravan is that they are not a symphonic band like Genesis or have the power or detail of a King Crimson, so this remix just sits there and does its job nicely.
Granted it’s nice to hear the acoustic guitars of “Golf Girl” and the sub-woofer thump certainly reinforces the mix, with the bass now being a more prominent member of the team, but it’s hard to overly excited by this remix. The last remaster done at the start of the millennium is a good starting point, and the mixes here (and the stereo mix for that matter) doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, but they are obviously cleaner.
Yes, you are getting the ultimate Caravan listening experience, but I would argue that the work here isn’t as radical as what you hear on the Genesis or King Crimson 5.1 surround mixes. That’s because what you hear on a Caravan album is very much a live experience committed to vinyl. There’s no multi-layering of instruments as you’d hear on King Crimson’s “Lizard” for example and you don’t gain any extra “ooomph” either.
While Steven Wilson has done a great job, retaining a lot of the original’s roundness and warmth, it’s not going to blow anyone’s socks off. But maybe it’s because this album was more about the original homespun “vibe” than supersonic, 21st century, clarity? What you do get is good separation of the instruments and for those of you who want to study the record, you are going to be more than satisfied with this.
The DVD also contains two Beat Club appearances by the band, which if you look hard enough are already available to view on YouTube. The quality isn’t bad and certainly makes interesting viewing if you are unfamiliar with the clips.
The packaging is great, but the record company has scrimped by not including a plastic outer slipcase that often comes with these “Deluxe Edition” releases and instead the fold-out four-panel sleeve is initially secured by a seal that needs to be broken to open the case – meaning you can seal it up again. The inner booklet is packed with the usual collection of photos and there are some nice words to read.
The CD side of things sees the album being expanded over two discs. The first disc contains the album with three extra tracks tacked onto the end. I’m one of those weirdos who likes albums to keep their original tracklisting and any extra material to be put on a separate disc. The stereo mix is very clean and there’s some excellent separation on show. Comparing it with the reissue from a decade ago, this version just has the edge in terms of crispness and definition, but there’s really not much in it.
Some of the extra material from this release also appeared on that previously-expanded edition, but whoever compiled this collection has really pulled out the stops and collected enough relevant extra tracks to fill a second CD including five live tracks from various BBC sessions.
The bottom line is that this really is the ultimate edition of this album and represents excellent value if you don’t own “In the Land of Grey and Pink” in any format. If you are not interested in the 5.1 mix or the extra CD, then I am not so sure this is such a good buy, but fans are fans and the MusicBizTM knows that like slavering dogs we will buy our favourite albums again and again and again!
Overall, a positive experience…
And here’s the review I posted on YouTube:
I have been recording cover versions on and off since 2005 but they were more for my own entertainment than anything else. Whilst recording “The Luckiest Man in the World” I decided to record more of these covers in order to improve my own songwriting skills. Some of these recordings were already featured in my podcast but here I present them individually for your enjoyment. Remember, if you like any of these songs, show your gratitude to the original progenitor by purchasing some of their music.
To download the whole thing, please click here.
01 Heroes [David Bowie]
DOWNLOAD
02 The Bucket [Kings of Leon]
DOWNLOAD
03 Who Knows Where the Time Goes? [Fairport Convention & Sandy Denny]
DOWNLOAD
04 Are Friends Electric? [Tubeway Army & Gary Numan]
DOWNLOAD
05 Something to Do [Adrian Belew]
DOWNLOAD
06 Sabotage [The Beastie Boys]
DOWNLOAD
07 Willow’s Song [Paul Giovanni – taken from OST of “The Wicker Man”]
DOWNLOAD
08 King’s Lead Hat [Brian Eno]
DOWNLOAD
09 Wannabe [The Spice Girls]
DOWNLOAD
10 A Girl Like You [Edwyn Collins]
DOWNLOAD
11 Lucky Man [The Verve]
DOWNLOAD
12 Love Will Tear Us Apart [Joy Division]
DOWNLOAD
13 Quitting Time [The Roches]
DOWNLOAD
14 Sunrise [Pulp]
Some of these recordings were featured in a podcast I made last year. You can download that and hear my motivations for recording these songs. Direct download: CLICK HERE
And if you want to subscribe to my Podcast feed so that your iPod or fancy thingamajig can download my noodlings automatically, put this into your feed engine:
http://www.darrenlock.com/podcast.rss
Oh dear, reader. By now, you will have probably realised that everything I do or attempt is tainted with failure or things just going a bit wrong. For me, there is no straight path from A to B. I take the roundabout way, the scenic route and embrace the daftness of the world with idiot glee.
The story of my new iMac is no exception. Well we’ve had the story about how my new Logic recording software went missing, but was subsequently replaced – taking a week longer than necessary. But what I’ve not told you is how my new computer is now winging its way back to Apple.
I bought a refurbished iMac because I wanted to save some cash. That’s the bottom line. I couldn’t justify the expense of a full price iMac so I went the cheap route. I’d read good things about refurbished iMac’s and so was in no fear of purchasing one. I was impressed with the service and the speed of delivery. I got the girlie giggles unpacking my new machine* and enjoyed find my way around an unfamiliar operating system. My eyes recovered after being rendered sore by my previous 18″ laptop. Things were great!
Then the screen started wobbling. I was getting graphics interference, the likes of which resembled me imbibing certain psychedelic material from the 60s and I began to panic. “This wasn’t part of the Apple experience!” I bleeted. It was bad enough living without a “DELETE” or hash key, but this graphics nonsense was a step too far.
I phone support who told me how to reset the video RAM and how to disconnect the computer from the mains and hold the power button in for five seconds to clear whatever was wrong. The Apple guy was polite and helpful and again I was impressed with the service. His solution worked for a while.
Then the problem returned and I reset and held in the power button. This problem seemed random, though it did seem to happen after the computer raised itself from sleep mode. But sometimes, it didn’t. I couldn’t replicate the problem. I ran disk checks, I even reinstalled OS X and some of my software, which was a pain.
After a week of prodding and poking and trying to get things to work, I gave up and called Apple support. It was time to return this dud and get a refund. Again, the other Apple guy was polite and the process was done over the phone in less than 10 minutes. The courier came yesterday and my iMac is winging its way back to Apple HQ.
On Monday, I went to the local PC World and bought a new iMac 27 so that I could backup all the software and stuff I bought on the old one. So for a time, I’d gone from having no iMacs, to having two iMacs, I looked like the Loughton branch of the Apple Store albeit being a noisier and less visually appealing Apple Store.
But I now have a working Apple iMac 27 with all my software installed on it and I am moving towards getting back into production mode. I’ve set the bar too high as I’ve got too much new software to learn. But I like the way things are going, I like the speed, the clarity and no eye strain. My iMac also talks to my NAS via wireless without the problems I was having with my Windows 7 laptop. My laptop also has issues with my router, which my iMac does not.
Onwards and upwards, I guess…
* When I worked for Web User there was this jumped up squirt of a production guy who came up to me once to object about my use of the word “machine” in one of my reviews. A PC cannot be a machine, he said. I don’t like that word. Replace it – blah, blah, blah. I agreed and completely ignored his suggestion. A PC is a machine – albeit it an electronic one with minimal moving parts, but I am not going to argue the toss with someone I don’t respect. Heigh ho!
Here is a question in my comments from Joey from Germany and my subsequent reply:
Hi Darren,
Your Demos of the GR-55 sound as bad as the original GR-33 sounds, and the tracking of the GR-33 seems to be the same as the GR-55.
From the GR-33 i never used the factory sounds, because they are realy terrible, but i found out, that you can get very good synth-sounds out of the GR-33 by using two different tones, and editing the patches with the effects, brilliance/brightness and volume functions.With the GR-33 i never had tracking-problems, cause you can ajust it very good and you will have to play different as with guitar-sounds.
Over the years i bought many keyboards and synthesizers and i must say, the GR-33 is one of my favorite synthesizers. To find such a full, rich soundmodule you will have to pay thousands of dollars for a lot of synths, to have so many different sound in one box. I think, most of the musicians and guitarists who tried out the GR-33 never found out, what is in this Guitar-Synth!But i’m very interested in the GR-55 because i read, that the synth-sounds can be full edited, just like a vituell analog synth…..?!
Is that true? Have you experimented with that funktions?
I am not sure if it is an issue with your grasp of English when you say that the GR-55 demos sound as bad as the GR-33 sounds. The quality of sound from the GR-55 is superior to the GR-33. I actually found the sounds from the GR-33 quite flat compared to the synth I had before – the GR-1, the grand daddy of them all. Yes, the presets of the GR-33 are rubbish. Yes, you do get best results combining sounds and creating your own patches.
The installed patches on the GR-55 are equally underwhelming, but with editing you can come up with some good stuff. The tracking is also superior on the GR-55 to the GR-33. If you are thinking of upgrading your kit, I recommend you check out the GR-55 at your local store before buying.
Hope this helps,
Darren
My current creative burst has been brought to a shuddering halt thanks to this switch from PC to Mac. No, I’m not blaming my new 27″ iMac (refurbished – bought for a bargain price), but the switch from Sonar X1 to Logic Studio. Of course, one would expect some hold-ups in learning new software but my story, as ever, involves a cock-up and the usual disaster that needs to be played out to its conclusion.
So the first thing I did after receiving my new iMac was to order Logic Studio from Andertons in Surrey. They had the best price and I’ve dealt with them before and are one of my preferred merchants. So I put in my order – paid extra for “next day” delivery and dutifully waited by the front door for the knock of the delivery driver.
Imagine my disappointment late Friday afternoon when no software arrived – yet when I checked the tracking page on the CitiLink website, the item had been delivered at 9.15am and signed for by someone called “Pines”. It was too late to call and investigate so it would have to wait until Saturday morning.
First thing, I call up CitiLink HQ and explain my problem and the person involved informed me that it had been delivered to either number 15 or number 10 – they couldn’t be sure. Well I know that there is NO number 10 in this road, so I decided to call Andertons and inform them of my predicament. The staff member was very helpful and called me back, confirming that the item appeared to be delivered to number 15 – which, despite numerically being a neighbour, is not actually that close to use geographically as it is in the other turning.
So we ventured over to 15 and knocked. The occupier answered and said that no delivery had been made – and to be doubly sure confirmed this with his wife (out of sight). Another phone call to Andertons to inform them of our lack of progress and I was told I’d have to wait for Monday for an answer. Monday comes and I call and there’s still no firm news from CitiLink – apparently, they can’t confirm exactly where it was delivered. Two calls on Tuesday and still no news, the new person dealing with me said that seeing as CitiLink have completely dropped the ball a new copy of the software would be with me by Thursday. I am planning to camp out at the end of the road and ambush any CitiLink van that enters the road on Thursday morning, Rambo-style. Andertons have been good at dealing with the problem but everything has “due process” before replacement goodies can be sent, so time passes and nothing much happens.
But that is why no music is forthcoming at the moment, which is a shame because I really have the urge to do some more noodling. I do have Windows 7 as a dual-boot on my iMac for archive purposes but want to make a break from all that stuff.
In the meantime, I’ve been moving files around and backing up my old data, ready for selling my beast of a laptop on eBay to pay for the iMac. So there’s still lots of boring techie stuff to do in my spare time.
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