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Thread: Gong - Radio Gnome Trilogy Remastered

  1. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by olivetti View Post
    It's all very confusing! :-)

    "Remastered from the original tapes and packaged in a deluxe box set, The Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy maintains the incredible sound quality and repackaging of Charly's critically acclaimed Camembert Electrique reissue."

    So, should one asume that they got hold of the original tapes?
    There's a LOT of talk on the Planetgong FB page about which set of tapes these may be... they are perhaps 2-track stereo masters, but definitely NOT original multi-track.

    Blake recently piped up as well:
    " It's common knowledge where the tapes came from and who sold them to Charly ... but please wait for GONG to make a formal statement in a very short time."
    "Always ready with the ray of sunshine"

  2. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by strawberrybrick View Post
    There's a LOT of talk on the Planetgong FB page about which set of tapes these may be... they are perhaps 2-track stereo masters, but definitely NOT original multi-track.

    Blake recently piped up as well:
    " It's common knowledge where the tapes came from and who sold them to Charly ... but please wait for GONG to make a formal statement in a very short time."
    Well, the original multi-tracks are not needed,
    as this is not a remix project.
    But let's wait for the formal statement from GONG.

  3. #28
    Member Since: 3/27/2002 MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by strawberrybrick View Post
    from Steve Hillage (FB)
    "Steve Hillage: Hi Shankara Andy Bole Charly did NOT get the masters from Virgin (now owned by Universal). How do I know? A. I'm a member of the band B. I personally checked this with the Head of Catalogue at Virgin/Universal. We the surviving Gong members do Not Endorse this!"

    So you know what that means. Gong won't get any $$$ off of it. God damn shame.
    what the heck kind of company is "Charly" records?

    sounds like a cheap con game
    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?

  4. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER View Post
    what the heck kind of company is "Charly" records?

    sounds like a cheap con game
    It's not that simple. Gong initially (1969-73) signed with a French company named BYG which was run by Jean Karakos and Jean-Luc Young. This went belly up in 1973, and apparently Young even served jail time as a result. This was brief however, as he re-emerged in the UK as head of Charly Records in 1974. Jean Karakos also resurfaced ca. 1976-77 running Tapioca Records, which again went bankrupt in 1978. Having financed and released tne first few Gong albums ("Magick Brother", "Camembert" and "Flying Teapot"), the former BYG managers were, to some degree, legitimate (co-) owners of these albums, especially in cases where the original investment had not yet re-couped.

    There is a common notion that Charly emerged as an evil, revengeful enemy to Gong and its members, but it didn't quite happen like that. Indeed, Daevid Allen signed deals with both Tapioca (for France) and Charly (for the UK) in 1977 after he parted ways with Virgin. In Charly's case he remained under contract until the early 1980s. Tapioca were also given the rights to release the recording of the Gong Reunion in Paris in May 1977. Didier Malherbe also signed with Tapioca with his band Bloom, however the label went bankrupt right as they were finishing the album, which as a result came out only two years later.

    Of course, there are many criticisms to be levelled at Charly (shoddy reissues, large scale tax evasion etc.), but it was a real label in the beginning, with an actual, competent A&R man (Joop Visser), and around 1977-79 it did a lot of good for the Canterbury scene, releasing great albums by National Health (first two), Gilgamesh, Soft Heap, Daevid Allen etc. etc.
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  5. #30
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    Charly have always been hit-and-miss when it comes to sound quality and they have certainly made what they have access to go a very long way over the years, but there are some gems within their catalogue; in particular, I'd cite 'The Yardbirds Story' set, and their Sun Records releases.

    It started as a reissue label of sorts...they handled a lot of archive stuff, such as those early Soft Machine demos, Steampacket etc. They still handle catalogues like Vee Jay and Sun Records in the UK, and for a time, also Chess Records.

  6. #31
    BIG NEWS! UNIVERSAL RECORDS BOX SET DUE! This was posted by Tim Blake in the Planet Gong group on Facebook today.

    Message de GONG
    (HiLLAGE, HOWLET, MALHERBE, BLAKE )

    We, the surviving members of Gong, do not support BYG/Charly Records upcoming reissue of the Radio Gnome trilogy.

    None of the surviving members of the lineups that created those recordings were ever signed to BYG or Charly Records.

    The truth is that immediately before the making of Flying Teapot in January 1973, the band learned that Daevid Allen's once record company - BYG Records (also known as Promodisc) - had gone bust, it's Paris office stripped bare, no phones working. The band was abandoned at the Manor Studios at the start of recording the album. Virgin - at the time just a chain of record stores and The Manor studios - was about to launch their record label.

    Faced with an unpaid recording bill, they decided to cut their losses and release Flying Teapot as the second release on the new Virgin Records label. That's the true story.

    The booklet advertised as accompanying the Charly/BYG Release is full of untruths, lies and falsehoods claiming to represent Charly and BYG Records as some sort of poor victim of Virgin's wickedness. The truth is that none of the musicians on those recordings has ever received a penny of royalty payments for the Charly/BYG releases, or even a statement. This is understandable because we NEVER signed to BYG or Charly Records as Gong.

    Meanwhile, forty years later, we still receive statements from Virgin and, for those of us who cleared our advances, royalty payments, even though Virgin has since been sold to EMI and now is owned by Universal Records.

    We know and can confirm as 100% corroborated fact that the Original Masters of these albums reside in the Virgin Records Archive, and that Charly has never at any time been given access to them, so Charly's claim to have used the Original Masters is false.

    Charly has been brazenly abusing our rights as artists for decades. None of us are rich or powerful enough to sue them. All we can do is to let you, our lovely Gong fans, know that we do not support this release. We will be supporting a new boxed set to be released by Universal in a few months with our full collaboration.

    DO NOT BUY THIS RELEASE, OR any of the releases licensed from the Charly group of companies

    So there! 8<;-)>
    "Always ready with the ray of sunshine"

  7. #32
    I tend to think that reading carefully can prove to be somewhat helpful with these types of releases.

    The phrase being used is original tapes. Not original master tapes.

    Charly may well be using the tapes that are their original tapes.

    Still, if Charly have good copy tapes which will be used, the release could be fine from a sonic standpoint. However, we know that their original version of Flying Teapot on CD (a source which has been used for all subsequent CD releases) was from a poor condition source tape. Unless a new tape has been found in their archive, that album will sound a far better if they simply needle drop an original UK Virgin LP.

  8. #33
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    Duelling box sets (Charly vs. Universal)!! I love it....

  9. #34
    It doesn't say whether said Universal boxed set will contain all or even part of "Flying Teapot"... A boxed set uusually doesn't include entire albums. Let's hope this is the case.
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  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    It doesn't say whether said Universal boxed set will contain all or even part of "Flying Teapot"... A boxed set uusually doesn't include entire albums. Let's hope this is the case.
    It does nowadays. Hopefully a budget-priced 'Gong- The Virgin Years' set from 'Flying Teapot' through to 'Expresso II', don't have them but there are several others like this (Tangerine Dream, Brand X etc.). I suppose it would fit on 5 discs, maybe less if 'Live Etc.' was not included.

  11. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    It does nowadays. Hopefully a budget-priced 'Gong- The Virgin Years' set from 'Flying Teapot' through to 'Expresso II', don't have them but there are several others like this (Tangerine Dream, Brand X etc.). I suppose it would fit on 5 discs, maybe less if 'Live Etc.' was not included.
    Well that would be nice, but it would be the first time in over 40 years that a label other than Charly reissue "Flying Teapot", so I'm still skeptical... Now a box would be great since supposedly they had an alternate take of the title track, and if the box does include "Live Etc." it may probably include some of the extra material (mostly from Bremen 11/74 I believe) that was slated to be included when there were plans for a 3CD reissue about 10 years ago. But any set including "Flying Teapot" properly remastered would be a no-brainer !
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  12. #37
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    It will be interesting to see if Flying Teapot is included in the upcoming box. Why haven't Virgin/EMI/Universal never released this before if Charlys ownership of these recordings are tenuous to say the least, especially if the tapes reside with Universal? It sounds like they are in a stronger legal position to do with these tapes as they like. So what has been the sticking point in the past?

  13. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Bazcrim View Post
    It will be interesting to see if Flying Teapot is included in the upcoming box. Why haven't Virgin/EMI/Universal never released this before if Charlys ownership of these recordings are tenuous to say the least, especially if the tapes reside with Universal? It sounds like they are in a stronger legal position to do with these tapes as they like. So what has been the sticking point in the past?
    Sorry, but it's simply not true to say "Charly's ownership... is tenuous". Both "Flying Teapot" and, interestingly, "Angels Egg" were released bearing the mention "a BYG/Virgin production", so with the full knowledge of at least Virgin and some members of Gong. As late as March 1973, two months after the sessions for "Flying Teapot" had begun, there was an ad in Actuel Magazine for an upcoming BYG release of the album, which doesn't square with the above claim that BYG had ceased its activities even before recording had begun. In Daevid's "Gong Dreaming" book there is an account of a meeting he organised between Karakos (of BYG) and Richard Branson (of Virgin) in February 1973, which again doesn't square with the story of BYG "disappearing".

    I guess the legitimacy of Charly's claim to "Flying Teapot" rests on whether, as the surviving Gong members imply, the studio costs were all paid by Virgin or at least parly by BYG, the original producers (with Virgin, initially, solely providing the studio to a paying customer). It would seem strange, if BYG had paid nothing, that the 1974 legal case gave Young (as "heir" of BYG) the rights to "Flying Teapot" in addition to "Magick Brother" and "Camembert", unless this was as "retaliation" for Virgin's illegal reissue of "Camembert". Why Virgin held on to the tapes if they no longer had any right to use them is another mystery...
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  14. #39
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits View Post
    This looks expensive!!
    Of course!!! How could you doubt that??

    Quote Originally Posted by strawberrybrick View Post
    Gong won't get any $$$ off of it. God damn shame.
    As usual, with Charly & Gong

    Quote Originally Posted by Rand Kelly View Post
    NO SALE!
    Indeed... I got those Japanese Victor Mini-Lps, and that's all I need, even if they're not perfect sounding (I got Udi's FT remix disc inmy FT package, anyways)

    Quote Originally Posted by MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER View Post
    what the heck kind of company is "Charly" records?

    sounds like a cheap con game
    As Aymleric points out, it's not that easy or simple...

    But best to stay away from Charly, when it comes to GonG.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    Well that would be nice, but it would be the first time in over 40 years that a label other than Charly reissue "Flying Teapot", so I'm still skeptical...
    Yes, I was talking 'in an ideal world', I suppose.

    How exactly does the Charly CD differ from the original Virgin record of Flying Teapot?

  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    Sorry, but it's simply not true to say "Charly's ownership... is tenuous". Both "Flying Teapot" and, interestingly, "Angels Egg" were released bearing the mention "a BYG/Virgin production", so with the full knowledge of at least Virgin and some members of Gong. As late as March 1973, two months after the sessions for "Flying Teapot" had begun, there was an ad in Actuel Magazine for an upcoming BYG release of the album, which doesn't square with the above claim that BYG had ceased its activities even before recording had begun. In Daevid's "Gong Dreaming" book there is an account of a meeting he organised between Karakos (of BYG) and Richard Branson (of Virgin) in February 1973, which again doesn't square with the story of BYG "disappearing".

    I guess the legitimacy of Charly's claim to "Flying Teapot" rests on whether, as the surviving Gong members imply, the studio costs were all paid by Virgin or at least parly by BYG, the original producers (with Virgin, initially, solely providing the studio to a paying customer). It would seem strange, if BYG had paid nothing, that the 1974 legal case gave Young (as "heir" of BYG) the rights to "Flying Teapot" in addition to "Magick Brother" and "Camembert", unless this was as "retaliation" for Virgin's illegal reissue of "Camembert". Why Virgin held on to the tapes if they no longer had any right to use them is another mystery...
    Thanks for the clarification Aymeric. It does not appear to be a clear cut issue as I thought. It does seem strange that Universal have the original tapes and can do nothing with them!

  17. #42
    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    As late as March 1973, two months after the sessions for "Flying Teapot" had begun, there was an ad in Actuel Magazine for an upcoming BYG release of the album, which doesn't square with the above claim that BYG had ceased its activities even before recording had begun. In Daevid's "Gong Dreaming" book there is an account of a meeting he organised between Karakos (of BYG) and Richard Branson (of Virgin) in February 1973, which again doesn't square with the story of BYG "disappearing".
    Flying Teapot was also released by BYG in 1973. Quite the feat for a label which had "no phones."

    http://www.discogs.com/Gong-Flying-T...elease/3176711

    They may have been going down quickly, but it seems they held on for a bit longer than is being remembered.

    Karakos formed "Celluloid" and Jean-Luc Young formed "Charly Records" later on, but the pictures of that first issue (with alternate cover) of Flying Teapot shown on Discogs certainly appear to be for a 1973 release, and the label is still BYG.

  18. #43
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    If they aren't from the original tapes, they should be treated as severely as Volkswagon will be.

  19. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by JJ88 View Post
    How exactly does the Charly CD differ from the original Virgin record of Flying Teapot?
    It sounds like shit. Which the LP didn't. That's about as "exact" a description of the issue as I can offer.
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  20. #45
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    Yes, I agree it's not good but that's the only one I've heard.

    How is it that Virgin can still release Angel's Egg and You, and not Flying Teapot?

  21. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by calyx View Post
    It would seem strange, if BYG had paid nothing, that the 1974 legal case gave Young (as "heir" of BYG) the rights to "Flying Teapot" in addition to "Magick Brother" and "Camembert", unless this was as "retaliation" for Virgin's illegal reissue of "Camembert". Why Virgin held on to the tapes if they no longer had any right to use them is another mystery...
    Well this was the early 1970's and these businesses were being run by hippies, albeit in the case of Virgin, a very shrewd entrepreneurial one, who was never shy of sailing close to the wind. The whole company was apparently initially funded on some rather suspect VAT eluding vinyl imports. I imagine nobody from the band side has ever had the money to straighten this all out legally, and doubt there is really enough value in it for them to pursue to a rightful conclusion.

  22. #47
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by strawberrybrick View Post
    We will be supporting a new boxed set to be released by Universal in a few months with our full collaboration.
    So, basically, save your money for the real thing?

  23. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Of course!!! How could you doubt that??



    As usual, with Charly & Gong



    Indeed... I got those Japanese Victor Mini-Lps, and that's all I need, even if they're not perfect sounding (I got Udi's FT remix disc inmy FT package, anyways)



    As Aymleric points out, it's not that easy or simple...

    But best to stay away from Charly, when it comes to GonG.

    The Victor Japan releases are licensed from Charly. This is stated right on the packaging.

    So ... if one is concerned about not supporting Charly, owning those fails to accomplish this goal.

  24. #49
    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    So, basically, save your money for the real thing?
    Absolutely

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffCarney View Post
    I tend to think that reading carefully can prove to be somewhat helpful with these types of releases.

    The phrase being used is original tapes. Not original master tapes.

    Charly may well be using the tapes that are their original tapes.
    Unless a new tape has been found in their archive, that album will sound a far better if they simply needle drop an original UK Virgin LP.

    According to Jonny from GAS, Flying Teapot was prepared to be reissued in 2004, but Virgin got cold feet with the licensing issues. I think Vicky could probably verify this.

    Jonny also told me that the band themselves are in possession of 1/4" master of Flying Teapot, which he claims is "stunning".

    So yeah, great news for Flying Teapot
    "Always ready with the ray of sunshine"

  25. #50

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