What she said!

(Ok. Not the Spanish...)

I want Shearwater dreams.

You know I was recently reviewing the Book of Love re-releases... "Champagne Wishes" always gets stuck in my head... Only a few weeks ago I found myself replacing lyrics because I'd had another jungle expedition/bird watching/sea-faring dream (sometimes members of SW are present on these treks, sometimes JM's voice is narrating from afar--he's like my own personal David Attenborough...I digress...).

I changed the whole song, but the chorus became:
"Johnny Rook wishes
and Shearwater Dreams
are as wonderful
as they seem"

And, yes, some of you may be thinking, "Christel's feeling feverish again, isn't she?" and, it's true, I'm fighting a mystery infection on the front lines apparently, but I might've posted this silliness even if my immunity were up and my temperature down!

Kerrie. I can send you some of mine, but there will be lots of birds. And you have to send me chocolate paddle pops.

via MySpace: "Getting ready for big tours next year, finishing artwork, plotting new recordings" - weeeee!

I hope they come to Sweden again. Preferrably to Stockholm. Please, guys?

But I'm scared of birds.
And the paddle pops will melt.

via Facebook: "mastering fixes. And a few more mastering fixes. And some amazing artwork from Nicholas Kahn"

via Facebook: "Richard Selesnick of Kahn & Selesnick and Greg Calbi of Sterling Sound = our heroes today. Looks like TGA is going to land."

I’m not the first one to mention this, but the lag time between completing an album and releasing it feels odd if you’re in the band – we know the record upside down and backward, but most folks won’t get to hear it for a while. And so I may end up re-posting some of this later closer to release time, but wanted to let you guys know:

After a bunch of considering/wrangling, we’ve decided that there are going to be two different versions of the album, given the different ways it feels to listen to a CD or an LP. The CD version will have one running order, which we selected to be as concise as possible, so that it’s easiest to take in at one sitting. Which, for this record, might be even more important than it was for Rook or PS.

The LP, however, will have two more songs – one, which is wild and elaborate, will be added as a ‘bonus’ track after a lock groove on the 2nd side.

The other will be placed back in the running order of the record. This is the version of the album I prefer, and the song that’s been placed back in the sequence was one of my favorites (and the one our co-producer, John Congleton, liked best of all).

These songs make the LP about 20% longer than the CD.

I’m also trying to convince the label to release a really huge dossier that will accompany a special edition of the album…working on it now and it’s ballooned to about 80 pages.

I’ll be very curious to know what you guys make of all this; I’m only sorry it’s a few months away.

JM

I haven't owned a record player in quite some time -- my vinyl is all in storage in the basement -- might have to rectify that just to hear the alternate version of "The Golden Archipelago".

That said, would it be possible, to make those bonus tracks available for individual purchase as MP3s on iTunes and Amazon?

The large booklet sounds like a great idea. A lot of bands are producing special editions of albums, creating special artwork and adding bonus content -- everyone from U2 to the Dave Matthews Band. Record companies seem to like the idea, too, as these value-added editions appeal to hardcore fans, who are willing to pay extra.

Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and Porcupine Tree have done exemplary special editions of recent albums since those bands truly care about the album as a listening experience with great artwork. As Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson put it, "I realize, in some ways, it’s kind of fetishistic thing to associate the presentation of music with the presentation and packaging. But having said that, if something is a beautiful piece of art in terms of its musical content, why shouldn’t it presented as something beautiful in terms of its visual content?

Growing up in the tail end of the vinyl era, I still remember buying albums in beautiful gatefold sleeves with lyric sheets, and pull outs, and inserts, and textures. I miss that. I suppose kids these days don’t care about that, because they’ve never had it. The idea that music is reduced to a few software files is an ugly concept."

cheers,
Stephen

wow, this all sounds really really intriguing! i love elaborate special editions and am sure that matador would release something like that!

stephen: matador usually offers free mp3-downloads of their vinyl-albums (once you buy them, obviously), i'm sure this will be the case with tga, too!

i can't wait...

I also love the special edition idea! I always love hearing the "preferred" or "intended" presentations and comparing them to the streamlined versions. Naturally, I feel that all of the accompanying art and information only heightens the appreciation of the music, so I'm very excited about that as well!

The vinyl/lack of turntable thing has never been an issue for me (I never gave up my vinyl fetish. I still have the Philips 437 I bought used in 1985, and my friend Aaron just re-soldered the inputs for me yesterday, so I'm good to go!), and I'm sure sea is correct that there will be some form of digital release with purchase. Of course, that doesn't concern me much as I will be getting both!

But it does pose a perplexing question for me of "which one will I review?"

Two versions sounds like a great idea to me. I would hope, like most Matador releases, it would have a download to go along with the vinyl. And a big thumbs up on the special edition; if the label gives you any problem tell them they were out-voted.

I'll take all I can get, as long as mp3s of the extra vinyl tracks are also made available, as noted.

You have my vote JM.

In the event that I can afford any/all of that special edition stuff (I should start saving now!) I'll definitely buy the LP version.

Boy, I'm getting even more exited for TGA now!