If we exclude the Frenchies, my vote goes to FM Black Noise and HeadroomOriginally Posted by NogbadTheBad
but Farewell To Kings is pretty darn great too
but the Frenchies just SLAY
If we exclude the Frenchies, my vote goes to FM Black Noise and Headroom
but Farewell To Kings is pretty darn great too
but the Frenchies just SLAY
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
Agreed - two other great examples, Sean!
For the record, I prefer the Quebec bands more myself - but Ontario did have a nice scene as well.
Seems like an opportune time to sate our curiousity as to how a young Jersey boy decided to begin a mail-order Prog CD business and label in those pre-Internet days at the dawning of the renaissance of Progressive Rock. There must be an interesting story here Ken. What did this entail? Selling your comic book collection? Two paper routes?
Conventum will play a gig at the Gesu in October by the way (with Echolyn). André Duchesne and Bernard Falaise (Miriodor) will be in the line up.
I would attribute it to a level of prescience and awareness that exceeded that of most of the rest of us collectors at the time.
Ken once told me the mail order business was mainly to fund the label, which was his main interest.
That is one LE release I have never heard, nor seen. I remember reading about it in the old mail order catalogs. I used to study those things.
Chad
I have this CD. Did not know it was that rare or historically significant......doesn't matter. The music is all that counts and musically this is great!!!!
GO BACK AND BUY IT NOW!!!
I'll save the juicy stories for my "tell all" book when I retire. Here is the abbreviated version:
I grew up in NYC (didn't move to NJ until I got married in 1987). I routinely haunted all the record stores in the metropolitan area for years. I was (still am) a total vinyl hound. I would hit the stores in Manhattan 3-4 times a week and it got to the point that the guys that ran the shops would set aside albums for me. I had zero interest in CDs. I was a purist audiophile and for me it was vinyl or nothing. Around 1986, King Records in Japan started a CD reissue campaign of rare Italian prog albums. Even before I owned a CD player I bought Museo Rosenbach "Zarathustra" since it was a fraction of the cost of an original album. Little by little my CD collection expanded. I even bought a CD player. I felt that there was a business to be mined but I wasn't exactly sure what it would be. Finally I decided that I would import CDs that would appeal to collectors of prog, psych, and fusion. No vinyl. I came up with the company name while shaving one morning (razor's edge - laser's edge). OK it was a stupid name but I went with it for lack of something better (Wayside Music was already taken). I bought a mailing list from a short lived prog rock magazine and started taking ads in Goldmine. In the Spring of 1988 I sent out my first mail order catalog. I was off and running, juggling a mail order company in the evening with my day job as assistant comptroller at an outdoor advertising firm in Manhattan. In September 2000, I went full time with Laser's Edge.
In 1989, I worked out a deal with Fonomusic, the Spanish company that owned the Movieplay catalog. They would custom press Eduardo Bort and a 2 on 1 Granada CD for me. It wasn't a great experience. I had to buy 500 copies of each, they were very expensive, and the quality wasn't the best. At that point I decided I needed to license albums and release them on my own label. I targeted a number of albums for reissue. The first was Atlantis Philharmonic. I went back and forth with Dharma Records owner Perry Johnson over a year and it was a bit like banging my head against a wall. One day I was home sick from work. Perhaps a bit delerious with fever and definitely bored out of my mind, I picked up the phone and called Daffodil Records/Love Productions in Canada to inquire about The Spirit Of Christmas "Lies To Live By". Lucky for me, the owner Frank Davies answered the phone and we had a nice conversation. He was extremely interested and asked me to fax him a proposal. We struck a quick deal and within a few weeks Bob Bryden drove the master tapes down from Toronto and we had the album mastered at Tru Tone Studios in NJ. Frank became a bit of a mentor to me and introduced me to many contacts including Jack Boswell, the owner of Allied. That led to the release of The Plastic Cloud and Reign Ghost. Frank and I then worked out deals for Christmas "Heritage" and Nightwinds. During all that madness, the Atlantic Philharmonic deal was put together. Somewhere along the line I decided to integrate new artists into the mix and put out releases by A Triggering Myth and Landberk. I am pleased that I was able to reissue a number of albums that were an important part of my musical DNA: SFF, Finnforest, Yatha Sidhra and Island. Eventually the bootleg labels killed the reissue market for us and I decided to focus on new bands. In 1997 I launched Sensory, our progressive metal label and it has done extremely well.
I could be totally wrong here but in the early '90's, my younger Brother worked at Vintage Vinyl (VV) in Ocean Twp NJ. I believe that store either bought some Laser's Edge CD's to sell in the store or VV was a distributer for LE. Either way, as I frequented VV at least weekly, my Brother would put aside some amazing Prog CD's of bands I'd never of before. That is how I acquired both of the Laser's Edge; The Spirit of Xmas AND Atlantis Philhormonic. (plus a WHOLE BUNCH MORE)
Ken, can you fill in some details regarding any association with Vintage Vinyl?
I know the store but I never sold to them directly. Starting in 1997, we were distributed by Big Daddy Distribution and they supplied Vintage Vinyl.
Hmmmm. Then I'm not sure HOW they got so many of your CD's such early-on in your existance. I must have the first 10-12 releases of yours, all of which I bought there.
Doubt very much that my Brother will be able to remember that far back either.
Ken, what is Nightwinds and how is it related to Spirit of Christmas?
Nightwinds is not related to Christmas. Nightwinds was a Canadian band based out of the Toronto area from the mid to late 70s. They were quite popular on the bar circuit as a cover band, throwing in original material. They even appeared on Canadian television. The original tunes were clearly influenced by Genesis, Gentle Giant, and Yes. The band broke up while their sole album was being mixed. Their manager was involved with some unsavory members of society and one of them pulled out a gun and fired at the stage during one of their performances. That ended the band on the spot. The almost finished mixed masters sat in storage at the studio gathering dust, waiting for someone to pay for them. Frank Davies was able to facilitate their availability and we released the album with the involvement of the former band members. I think it was LE-1007? Many regard it as the best Canadian prog album of all time. YMMV.
And previous to Nightwinds, bassist Mike Gingrich was on the Amish album (1972), which was a fine proto prog album like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple with plenty of great organ.
Now THAT sounds like something up my alley....must check them out.
No legit CDs unfortunately for that one... but I'm sure there's some YT videos so you can check it out anyway!
Nightwinds was my point of entry into the world of indie-prog. My roommate during senior year in college had the Laser's Edge catalog (maybe all of 60 or 70 titles each with a 1/4 page description as I recall). He grabbed a Mastermind CD (being a Yes/ELP fan) and I grabbed the Nightwinds. I think a follow-up order had Cathedral's Stained Glass Stories which opened me up to Greg Walker's label. --Peter
AFtK is my fave Rush by far, notwithstanding those slightly 'unfinished' arrangements in "Xanadu" et al. My second fave would be Permanent Waves, and I never got the alleged genius of Moving Pictures, which is a way duller release IMO. I like the FM as well, never heard Headroom - but the Nightwinds album is great. I'd still put the Spirit of Christmas ahead of it, though.
BTW, it's worth mentioning the pre-SoC-groups Reign Ghost (refined psych with a certain folky edge) and the almost-proto-progressive Christmas. All quite good.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
A Triggering Myth and Landberk were really quite daring investments; not run-of-the-mill (or "neo") by any standard. As for the titles of yore, they are ALL basically classics now - and very much due to the efforts of The Laser's Edge. I love all of this stuff, and I think the sheer eclecticism of the label's release catalog was instrumental in raising a renewed - if strictly "cultish" - enthusiasm for the entire enterprise and notion of 'progressive rock' at large. Consequently, with the endeavour of a burgeoning secondhand vinylmarket and the pure guts of some harbingers sporting genuine belief in the endurance of the "genre", the early 90s were a wonderful time to be a 'fringe' rock collector and researcher.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I definitely agree with this. From a vinyl perspective, going back a bit further, the mid to late 80s were a fantasy land for going to record stores (and conventions) all over the USA. Armed with just a little knowledge and experience, I was able to buy all sorts of "imports" for dirt cheap (right here in Texas), that "no one wanted". More than once I had a record store owner ask me why I was buying "crap like that." And none of my friends were into it back then either. Still not sure what kept me going then - a complete loner activity... Most of these albums are still in my collection - many of them were new (thus they pretty much still are) - and a few sell for well into the 4 figure range today. If only I knew more back then (and had more than $10 in my wallet at any one time)... (sigh)
But back to this thread, when the CD reissues started coming out, and new progressive bands were arriving on the scene - it was absolutely a great time to be a fan.
And preferably some dough...?
At least I spent significant amounts of my student grants collecting old stuff. I benefitted from living in a smaller place (Bergen, Norway), seeing how secondhand dealers couldn't realistically expect to draw collector's market prices for rarities.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Exactly - that was my $10 in the wallet comment. Without exaggeration I often had to make a choice between buy album or eat dinner. I chose "album" way more than any nutritionist would recommend....And preferably some dough...?
At least I spent significant amounts of my student grants collecting old stuff. I benefitted from living in a smaller place (Bergen, Norway), seeing how secondhand dealers couldn't realistically expect to draw collector's market prices for rarities.
Been there, done that - and some folks still don't believe me!
We (a little gang of friends) would also save money for the quarterly local record fair, when we'd all contest who'd unearth the greatest artifacts and then quarrel about it, before spending the rest of the budget on cheap beer and then sit around the turntable in blissful concentration - before hitting the town and having imbecile DJs serve us the latest f'n indie-rock turd.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
In the mid 1990s, when I was in grad school at Michigan State, I was actually amazed at what I could find in the CD section of the local Best Buy. It wasn't, at the time, just mainstream material. That lasted for a few years, but then seemed to get homogenized into the normal stuff...
Mike
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