Release Music Orchestra

[Onomatopoeic]

Earlier today, I recalled a few albums that I had at one time from Release Music Orchestra (on Brain).

I had three of their albums back in the dark ages of the 70s -- Garuda, Life, and Get The Ball. All three were pretty solid euro-jazz-fusion albums.

Just checking around, I find that they have NEVER BEEN REISSUED on compact disc. Really? WTF??? I'm surprised!

Maybe Esoteric can step in and rescue these albums from an undeserved obscurity?

[JeffCarney]

Germanofon bootlegged the first two about twenty years ago. Obviously taken from vinyl, but the sound is quite decent.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I find that they have NEVER BEEN REISSUED on compact disc. Really? WTF??? I'm surprised!

Like Kraan's albums, the RMO records were always quite easy to come by - at least here in Europe, where their main audience were probably thought to be had. But then again, the second Tomorrow's Gift title (immediate RMO-precursors) was never given an official CD-issue either.

Those first couple of RMOs were actually rather decent affairs; not as freaky or funky as that second Exmagma album, but nor as straight-up fusion as Passport and the likes.

[Progbear]

I quite like the first three RMO albums. Beware, the third has this female vocalist who, based on her performance, had to have been dating someone in the band! It’s the only explanation that makes sense!

The last couple are pretty fuzak-y; think Casiopea or later Passport.

[Shadow]

Germanofon bootlegged the first two about twenty years ago. Obviously taken from vinyl, but the sound is quite decent.

I think I have both of them. I thought Garuda was great.

[Onomatopoeic]

Germanofon bootlegged the first two about twenty years ago. Obviously taken from vinyl, but the sound is quite decent.

Germanofon.... heh, figures. That guy's an evil jackass in many ways and a saviour in a few other ways.

I've heard varying information over the years who is/was behind the Germanofon pirate label. I've heard:

1.) It's three people operating out of Luxembourg.

2.) It's some rich Greek dude.

3.) It's some rich German dude living in Monaco.

[Onomatopoeic]

For reference here are the three albums I mentioned earlier...

[JeffCarney]

Germanofon.... heh, figures. That guy's an evil jackass in many ways and a saviour in a few other ways.

I've heard varying information over the years who is/was behind the Germanofon pirate label. I've heard:

1.) It's three people operating out of Luxembourg.

2.) It's some rich Greek dude.

3.) It's some rich German dude living in Monaco.

If memory serves, Garden Of Delights established who was behind the label (and other similar pirate issues) and I'm not recalling any of those three explanations. Certainly the "Luxembourg" thing was just a front.

Anyway ... the clearly unethical practice aside, some of those Germanofon releases have in a strange way done a service to music itself, IMO. Usually when they have put out a CD from a very rare LP and presented a decent rip of it, whereas a later official reissue used an LP but applied so much no-noise processing as to ruin the entire experience. The XHOL stuff they issued, for example. Albums where an LP would cost quite a lot of cash and official CD versions have been poorly mastered. And some of their stuff has still never been reissued on CD! Gash, Satin Whale's debut, Metropolis ... a bunch of great albums.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Germanofon... Was that the "label" who released the second Eulenspygel (cardboard sleeve)?

[Onomatopoeic]

If memory serves, Garden Of Delights established who was behind the label (and other similar pirate issues) and I'm not recalling any of those three explanations. Certainly the "Luxembourg" thing was just a front.

I got my scuttlebutt info from peeps at record conventions that I visited back about 15 years ago (i.e. -- The Austin Record Convention).

One guy claimed the "Luxembourg" thing was for real. He said that officials in Luxembourg wouldn't prosecute bootleggers and that was why Germanofon was operating out of Luxembourg. Well, even then, I thought that was a rather simple minded pollyanna explanation. Jeez.

[Trane]

Earlier today, I recalled a few albums that I had at one time from Release Music Orchestra (on Brain).

I had three of their albums back in the dark ages of the 70s -- Garuda, Life, and Get The Ball. All three were pretty solid euro-jazz-fusion albums.

mmhhh!!!...

I wrote my PA reviews from the vinyls that were srtill in my library system's catalogue. I thought those would rekindle some interest from labels through the demands of inquisitive people... oh well, so much for that fantasy

Just checking around, I find that they have NEVER BEEN REISSUED on compact disc. Really? WTF??? I'm surprised!

Maybe Esoteric can step in and rescue these albums from an undeserved obscurity?

I'd say Garden of Delight would be much more suited for this.... But I'm not so sure they're still very active... I haven't heard of their recent releases of late... and their site looks like it hasn't been updated in a while

Are they still around???

[JeffCarney]

Germanofon... Was that the "label" who released the second Eulenspygel (cardboard sleeve)?

They did issue this, but (ttbomk) not in a cardboard sleeve. That version must be some other bootleg.

This album is another example of what I'm talking about. The tapes are lost, and the original vinyl runs at least $100. Garden Of Delights released it beautifully in terms of packaging with detailed liner notes. But then they run the darn thing through Cedar's No-Noise system. They think this "removes all traces of surface noise without impacting the sound" or somesuch. Hard to believe they could actually believe this, but anyway ... the Germanofon CD crushes the official release, because it is a pretty well done vinyl rip with probably little to no intervention. I think that's why some of their bootlegs still have a pretty good market, because the "official" releases are often not as good as what they did, and some of the albums they issued are darned expensive on vinyl.

[Scrotum Scissor]

They did issue this, but (ttbomk) not in a cardboard sleeve. That version must be some other bootleg. [...] they run the darn thing through Cedar's No-Noise system. They think this "removes all traces of surface noise without impacting the sound" or somesuch. Hard to believe they could actually believe this, but anyway ... the Germanofon CD crushes the official release, because it is a pretty well done vinyl rip with probably little to no intervention.

Yes, but what I meant was that the Ausschuss Germanofon CD issue featured a facsimile of the original vinyl version's quasi-famous cardboard sleeve (as antithesis to the outrageous and properly infamous debut sleeve with the chicken).

BTW, do Garden of Delights submit all of their releases to that treatment - or just the ones where the master is lost? I always wondered about the somewhat lackluster sound on titles by Erlkoenig, Siddhartha, Prosper, El Shalom etc. (although some of those were obviously rather lo-fi to begin with).

[JeffCarney]

Yes, but what I meant was that the Ausschuss Germanofon CD issue featured a facsimile of the original vinyl version's quasi-famous cardboard sleeve (as antithesis to the outrageous and properly infamous debut sleeve with the chicken).

BTW, do Garden of Delights submit all of their releases to that treatment - or just the ones where the master is lost? I always wondered about the somewhat lackluster sound on titles by Erlkoenig, Siddhartha, Prosper, El Shalom etc. (although some of those were obviously rather lo-fi to begin with).

They've been around a long time so I can't say there is a rule which applies 100% of the time.

But for the most part, it appears when they have a master tape (or reissue something where they can use a previous CD as a master (IE: Ken's version of Faithful Breath's debut), they pretty much don't have it worked on by an engineer. These CDs can sound wonderful. But any time the tapes are lost (and this is a LOT of the time), they always use Cedar. Their liner notes almost always cite its use as a result of a lost master and that they feel it is essentially providing the same quality as a master tape. Whether someone has ever sat Walter down with a before and after, I have no idea. My guess is that he's been sold a bill of goods by an engineer whom he may well pay handsomely for its use.

The shame of it is that some simple click removal these days can work wonders. IMO, they'd be far better off just investing in an Audio Desk Systeme (see: vinyl cleaning thread in OT) for four grand and then clean the LPs with that, apply some very light, manual click removal and be done with it. Even in the underground vinyl ripping community where the work can vary from tremendously professional to amateur, using any noise reduction to the extent which they do is pretty much frowned upon because of the degradation in sound. The most respected "rippers" almost always use manual click removal and not much else.

I also suspect that whoever does their work then adds a bunch of treble back in which is stripped after such heavy-handed NR. This just further moves away from anything that will sound worth a damn.

Even on the lo-fi stuff, it's just a shame what they have done to some important if obscure music. I absolutely love their overall approach and still buy many of their releases, but whenever they have had to use vinyl, I pretty much know what I'll be getting. I haven't bought anything on GoD for a few years, so maybe they have eased up on it by now. But I can certainly say that for the first 100-125 releases, that was their MO.

[yoyiceu]

'Life', spacier than what would come later and without any sax, was recorded live, one of those rare instances where the debut album by a band is recorded before an audience. It's great... and kind of an addendum to the second Tomorrow's Gift album, where two of the members came from, even rerecording a section from that record.

[Rarebird]

Garden Of Delights has released a live album by Release Music Orchestra, which is decent. I would love to hear their studio albums on CD.

I have several albums on this label and no problems with them.

[Pr33t]

I actually just spun Garuda the other day. Easily their best, and a fantastic example of the German jazz-rock sound. There's something about this style that was done so well in Germany in the 70s.

Life is actually a live recording, and slightly more prog that what they would do later. I haven't heard past those two, but I've been told that anything after Get the Ball is really bad fusion.