Just so it can properly fit onto a CD booklet, that's all. It's perfect for an LP, not so much shrunk down to CD proportions.
Just so it can properly fit onto a CD booklet, that's all. It's perfect for an LP, not so much shrunk down to CD proportions.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Love this album, one of my favourite albums ever. Not sure why, but for some reason I find it sounds great with a blizzard outside the window or on a snowy hike with headphones. I hope I don't put this on too many times this year though if you know what I mean...
Well, that's a lot easier said than done. The art was created with a specific canvas in mind. It can't be sliced and diced to fit another. I would suggest the same art, but have it folded down to fit. As cumbersome as that might be, it would retain the integrity of the art.
Take it from someone who has to deal with clients requesting mixing and matching of different designs, as though there was no thought put into it and things are interchangeable. People (not you) tend to think that design decisions are purely arbitrary. Nothing could be further form the truth. Every element is (well, should be) a calculated decision.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Own the cd to listen to and a vinyl copy for the art- problem solved. It was a well selling album and not hard to find.
One time when I played this album, my cat who had been sleeping peacefully in a beanbag chair suddenly shot straight up 3 or 4 feet into the air when the chinese gongs(?) kick in during the intro. I didn't even have it on very loud. She was asleep again within seconds, once she determined that there was no imminent threat.
I love it. My favorite of all the Yes solo albums!
I've only handled the original LP once, and that for only about ten minutes, so the design implications are a bit hazy for me. I don't think it would be an easy job, but I've been surprised at what has been done by truly talented hands. I doubt any design decisions were made by Wounded Bird (or whoever it was that put out the edition I own), except how to make it available on CD quickly and cheaply. Putting any love into it would be an improvement.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
The problem is that all of the artwork was conceived as if you are looking at a book, complete with binding and elaborate border treatments. The pages of the original vinyl edition were all designed at 12" x 12", so there's two big problems with the CD edition:
One -- Because a CD cover isn't square like an LP, the bordering (think of it like a picture frame) on the top and bottom is cropped off.
Two -- While the CD booklet does reproduce the 4-page interior gatefold spreads that convey the story and album sleeve with the lyrics (sort of like The Lamb), it's all been shrunk down so much the text is practically illegible.
Here's a photo of the original vinyl interior artwork to illustrate the problem (pardon the pun). Imagine trying to read that text when it's the size of a CD sleeve.
olias_sleeve.jpg
Does the Wounded Bird reissue not have all the artwork?
I have the old Japanese Atlantic CD that I picked up in Germany in 1990. It has a miniature reproduction of all the artwork, and as someone said, it is totally un-readable (though I might be able to get it with a magnifying glass). But you can see the artwork fairly well. They put in a fold sheet with the lyrics, and could easily have put all the text from the story and credits on this as well, but didn't (unless that's what is in Japanese below the song listing of the flip side).
The only solution I could see for this is to put in something that folded out to a larger size. I'm not sure it would be worth the effort to try to "redesign" the artwork to fit CD size. So a fold out would seem logical, though not optimal. I think for those who really want the artwork, and only LP is probably the best bet. IIRC, the album also had a "texture" to it that was quite cool, and that also would be hard to reproduce. I actually have a book of the sheet music for Olias, and it has this same texture on the cover, and is printed on parchment-like paper. Very nice.
Bill
Yes were so big at the time that they could get away with Topographic and its reproduction of a countryside in the studio along with the extravagence of issuing everyone's solo albums.
It must have been a hugely expensive undertaking to produce the packaging for Olias. It's one of the more elaborate album covers of all time! I agree with the suggestion of finding a cheap copy of the vinyl for the artwork and get a good sounding version of the CD, if there is one. I have the vinyl and have never gotten into it enough to upgrade.
Here's a site that an obsessed fan has put together: http://olias.wordpress.com/
I'm just listening to this for the first time.... Where was I when this came out? I do like it very much on first listen. I love Jon's voice. It is unique in that the instrumentation is complex, but the melodies are fairly simple. I'm waiting for Alan White to suddenly kick in and some Rickenbacker bass to rumble, but it never happens. Perhaps even a few spanking chops from Mr Howe... Thats the one thing that strikes me at this point. Classic Yes was better than the sum of its parts.
Still I may just have to pick this up - for when I'm in the mood for something really unique. The artwork (at least in the Video) looks amazing! It would not translate well on to a CD format - unless you include a magnifying glass - or better yet a 3d glasses version.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
^^ I must be hearing something different than you. The songs are very simple in structure with maybe 3 or 4 chords and a lot of ambient sounds floating throughout. There's also some very rudimentary harp playing and maybe even a few notes of a koto?
Some of this stuff may have sounded better had it been "Yessified". I mean the main theme of Gates of Delirium was Anderson's two chords on the acoustic and a bunch of hand gesticulating until the rest of the group got involved.
I think I meant exactly what you are saying - Simple Melodies - or song constructions. But the instrumentation is extremely "layered" I hear lots of stuff going on in the background that make this interesting. I did not mean to infer that the songwriting or musicianship was complex (with the exception of the vocals - which of course, are fairly complex). This is no DT album. Its like "Anti-DT" - in a good way.
I got nothin' :
...avoiding any implication that I have ever entertained a cognizant thought.
live samples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbCFGbAtFc
https://youtu.be/AEE5OZXJioE
https://soundcloud.com/yodelgoat/yod...om-a-live-show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUe3YhCjy6g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOCJokzL_s
It would have sounded different for sure. Better is in the ear of the behearer.
A lot of Yes stuff isn't that hyper complex when you break down the chords. I can strum my way through most of their 70s catalog. Surely I prefer the "Yessification" that yields much of the instrumental (and a fair bit of compositional) muscle. But it's interesting to contrast a song like "Long Distance Runaround" in its "Yessified" state versus the acoustic version they did on tour later on (which was presumably how Anderson presented it to the group). Both work fine in their own way. The melodies and chords are effective in both settings, each in their own ways.
Surely Anderson doesn't achieve the same instrumental firepower as Yes achieved in their classic phase, but with Olias I think the embellishments he made on the basic structures point toward a similar effect and work in their own way. Will this satisfy every hardcore Yes listener? Apparently not, but this isn't a "Yes" album. It's a JA solo album, truly solo given that he apparently played all this stuff himself. And I think should be judged as what it is, not what it "might have been." It certainly satisfies many, including some like me who typically prefer the more muscular/complex side of the Symphonic Prog sound.
Personally I wish he did more stuff like this, I'm not really a fan of any of his other solo stuff.
Bill
^^ Good points! It's not Yes. It's a Jon Anderson solo record. I guess I just don't like it. When his simple structures get the Yes treatment, that's where the magic happens for me. Unadorned, his stuff just doesn't float my boat!
I haven't listened to OoS since I first picked up the vinyl in 1978. At the time, I much preferred FooW and still do. But I listened to the whole album today after a 35 year hiatus and I have to admit, the album is otherworldly. It really sounds like Jon is on another planet. He made this in 1975 and it predates so much of the new age and world music that came years after it.
I still have a lovely original 12 inch and cover with all the pages. I don’t tend to listen to it much now … although “To the Runner” is packed with memories and hope for me, and is definitely on my all-time prog top 10 list.
Two thoughts.
This is one of my top albums that I wish would be remixed in 5.1.
I can follow the story up until the song "To The Runner." I have no idea how that fits into things.
J. D.
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