Very cool, Steve.Originally Posted by Steve Nardelli
Any idea when we might be able to see it in the States?
Very cool, Steve.
Any idea when we might be able to see it in the States?
It's doing the rounds of film festivals. Their Facebook page has details: https://www.facebook.com/MelodyMakersthemovie/ I doubt it's going to get a general release, so I presume it will transition to DVD in due course.
http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wnyesm.htm#book for updates.
Henry
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Henry!
I missed the Melody Makers movie premiere last Sunday because I was laid up with a very nasty flu, but got to see the second screening today at 1pm and attended the after show party at the Phoenix Artists Club in Covent Garden. The movie relates the story of the London rock village of the sixties and seventies through the brilliant photos of Barrie Wentzell and the written words of headline journalist Chris Welch, both with the Melody Maker, the bible of rock music in those far off days. In the press conference that preceded the screening and with them sitting either side of me, I described them as the bedrock and two of the most significant people of London rock music history. I had the chance at the after show to talk with them at length about that great period, the Melody Maker years. It was an honour and a delight to meet them and experience a real comradery with them remembering those halcyon years that were reflected so well in this great movie created by the very fine Canadian director Lesley-Anne Coles. I'm proud to be featured in it.
I received this new trailer for the outstanding Melody Makers music documentary, nice that they included me in the trailer.
https://vimeo.com/237763187
Notification from Plane Groovy for the up-coming release of Syndestructible on vinyl: 'Well this is incredibly exciting! Appearing for the very first time on vinyl, The Syn - Syndestructible will be released in time for Christmas! You'll be able to buy it from the Plane Groovy store at Burning Shed and from The Merch Desk as well as from many other resellers; we'll get a pre-ordering link up there in the very near future. Final touches are being made to the artwork - here's a snapshot of the front cover, showing bits of the gatefold too. Pressed on 180g vinyl, every copy will come with a code which will allow you to download a video of the band playing live at The Marquee as well as the audio from the album. Inside the gatefold are some previously unreleased still photos from that evening too. Please feel free to share this info wherever it might be appreciated.'
Nice!
Anything you can share about a follow up to Trustworks? That one still gets a lot of plays in this house. The union with Moon Safari & Jonas Reingold was brilliant.
Thanks, I'm very proud of Trustworks and intend to work with Moon Safari and Jonas on the follow up. The album is written and I have a clear vision for it's outcome, although that will surely change with the input of my fellow musicians, who will also include two iconic Indian musicians to add a new musical dimension and potentially open up a new Asian market for progressive music. I plan to start recording the new album in earnest in September, the Syndestructible vinyl album and supporting historic video will be a perfect way to prep it.
Wow! Thank You - that's fantastic news and with recording scheduled just around the corner. Really looking forward to this. 2018 was supposed to see the release of MS Himlabacken Vol. 2 but that seems to be delayed again - I sometimes wonder if it will ever happen. But if next year we get new Syn and new Moon Safari it will all be worth the wait.
Very cool, Steve!
Congrats!
I am still very pleased to hear that the Indian component is still planned for the new album.
I am very proud to announce that Syndestructible vinyl is available for presale with bonus film link at Burning Shed today!
https://burningshed.com/the-syn_synd...chris%20squire
You beat me to it! I just got the Burning Shed email touting the release of "Syndestructible" on vinyl. Congrats!
"Syndestructible" is my favorite Syn album. I really enjoy the entire album but the first side floored me the first time I heard it and it has only become more important to me over the years. The positive, affirming lyrics were exactly what I needed when I stumbled upon the CD. It helped pull me out of a funk I had been in for over a year.
I really look forward to the 12 x 12 format and hearing how the vinyl version sounds.
And again, please keep us updated on the new album!
I was very pleased the great Prog journalist Sid Smith is reviewing the Syndestructible vinyl edition for Prog magazine. Sid was so impressed with the sound and sequencing quality of the mastering for vinyl achieved by Jeremy Carroll of what has become an iconic album in Prog history that he requested information about it and I a take the liberty of sharing what I find an incredibly interesting overview of the mastering process from Jeremy for Sid:
Regarding The Syn - Syndestructible vinyl issue…
Syndestructible never had a vinyl release prior to this. It was released on CD only in 2005 - vinyl evidently not having regained its boutique charm by then.
The usual method of approaching something like this is to return to the original prints of the mixes. The requirements of a vinyl master versus a master for CD or digital distribution are very different and require a different approach.
Unfortunately, the original prints were no longer available and all that existed were two versions of a CD master, produced by the estimable and indeed legendary mastering house, Metropolis. Luckily, one of the original masters was an un-dithered 24-bit version, the other being the final CD print at 16-bit.
Even though the masters produced by Metropolis were superb, they were produced at the height of the ‘Loudness Wars’ which was pointlessly destroying music released on CD. This was an attempt to gain extra volume by restricting the dynamic range of the music. There’s only so much volume you can get on any medium and the only way to get more is to literally squash it in order to make it fit. (It’s worth noting that this is something that certainly cannot be blamed on Metropolis - it was very much a label-driven phenomena which went against the direct advice of mastering engineers. It was simply how things were done at the time.)
Consequently, the only version of Syndestructible existing with which to produce the vinyl master from was a highly compressed and hard-limited CD master with a dynamic range of about 7dB. While you can technically get away with that for CD, the mechanical reproduction method of a stylus in a groove is not so forgiving and consequently it would have made for a very poor quality cut. There was an added complication in that the hard-limiting procedure in the original had introduced audible distortions.
Given the significance of the album and the high quality nature of the material, coupled with the fact that this would likely be the first release since Chris Squire’s passing (one of my heroes and the reason why I do what I do!), it was necessary to work out a way to unpick the work that Metropolis had done originally. Now, the best analogy to use to describe this is that it’s like taking a tin of green paint and trying to extract the blue and the yellow from it. It’s worth reiterating that the work they did was never intended to be used for vinyl. Essentially, what’s done is done.
What was being attempted was essentially the impossible; there were no tried and trusted methods to achieve this and so new techniques needed to be invented. Certainly, there exist ways of increasing dynamic range and reducing distortion, but this required a much more sensitive and targeted approach than existing technology allowed.
So, over about thirty versions of the master, I modified and coded the tools and developed novel methods. By this point, it had become a true labour of love.
Eventually, the algorithms and processes were working as I wanted, the material cleaned of distortions and the dynamic range restored from circa 7dB to a much more musical and forgiving 13dB. Almost double the dynamic range.
It requires a great deal of thought and sensitivity to rework material that is known and loved as it is. Regardless of the technical problems with the original, people love the music as it’s presented to them, because ultimately it’s the music that matters. That’s what people are listening to and falling in love with, not the technicality. Now though, the vinyl issue of Syndestructible represents much more closely what the artist originally intended. It’s a beautiful piece of work which is now allowed to breathe properly for the first time. I hope people like it.
Jeremy Paul Carroll, November 2018.
Sid Smith posted this on the Syn facebook page, great endorsement from a very fine prog journalist:
Sid Smith Hi Steve, the vinyl quite simply sounds amazing. Before I knew all the above I was gobsmacked by how good the LP edition was. I played my CD version back to back against it and was astonished at how much better the LP sounded. Honestly, folks, if you're a fan of this album then the new vinyl edition is an auto-buy.
This all really makes me look forward to doing an A/B comparison of the vinyl to the CD, Steve.
Looking forward to acquiring the vinyl. Also wanted to say that anyone who doesn't have the live Syn DVD should find it-- That version of the band was astoundingly good, and to my mind those live versions of all the Syndestructible songs are the definitive ones.I was at that show and it felt pretty special.
Any ideas if it can still be purchased new? I checked AMAZON and only found three (rather expensive) used copies for sale.
Thanks Brett, there is a bonus streaming link that comes with the vinyl to an unseen film of the full Syndestructible launch show at the Marquee, the only live performance with the musicians who actually recorded the album. It's live, raw and a great piece of Syn history, it's an interesting comparison to the Syn DVD and line-up you reference which was filmed in Boston. There's a vinyl promo coming out this week that features a glimpse of the Marquee show link, I'll post it here when it goes live.
That is very exciting, Steve. What a cool bonus!
I will absolutely take advantage of that.
By the way, any stories you have about Chris and the making of the album would be a real treat.
This is a glimpse of the video The Syn Live and Raw at the Marquee 2005 that comes via a streaming link with the soon to be released vinyl of Syndestructible.
Very excited, Syndestructible on vinyl is released tomorrow and already people are receiving them by post today. Not me, I'm still waiting for my copies. This is the card that comes inside the gate fold which has the video streaming link on it.46504134_2250852921656383_8962481906385944576_n.jpg
Yay! I am really looking forward to it, Steve! And yes, I can’t wait to watch the video as well.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Great review in Prog magazine today from one of my favourite Prog journalists, Sid Smith.sid smith 1.jpg
That really is a good review (Sid is a fine writer and true lover of this music). He echoes what you said...that the sound quality on this release is substantially better than the CD.
I am very excited to hear it!!
I played Syndestructable the other day, really enjoyed it, such a beautiful album. Thanks for the music!
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