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Mark Leydon
Member
Username: Mark_leydon

Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 12:21 am:   

The over-compressed/distorted sound quality of OA is deliberate.

That's the message I get from an interview with the band that appears in this weekend's edition of the Scotsman. Here's the relevant quote from Robert:

"We talked about the sound of the songs for six months before we began recording," says Forster. "We wanted them to be a bit digital, synthetic, tweaked, trashy and heavier than usual. The last two albums have been quite organic. They were recorded in quiet places like a cabin in Portland. For this one we came to London and stayed up late. We take where we record very seriously. We considered Barcelona for this record, but London has the busy feel we wanted to capture. There is a competitiveness here that makes you push yourself harder. I think it paid off."

Read the rest of the article at:

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=490412005
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Guy Ewald
Member
Username: Guy_ewald

Post Number: 14
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 01:58 am:   

Sheesh... imagine what it would have sounded like if they'd recorded in NYC!

On a completely unrelated note, Robert does the "Last Night A Record Changed My Life" page in this month's MOJO and salutes The MODERN LOVERS debut (demos collection with 'Roadrunner'). I had wondered if the title of his 'covers' album was taken from the line in Jonathan Richman's 'Old World' and I'd say this clinches it...

"I had a New York girlfriend and she couldn't understand how I could still have parents and still love the Old World."
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Lard Ass
Member
Username: Lardass

Post Number: 2
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 11:27 pm:   

Still don't believe the sound on the latter tracks is deliberate.
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Randy Adams
Member
Username: Randy_adams

Post Number: 23
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 11:52 pm:   

Hooray for that old Modern Lovers record. I remember what a relief it was to hear in the vacuum of the dreary mid-70s.
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Guy Ewald
Member
Username: Guy_ewald

Post Number: 15
Registered: 02-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 03:53 am:   

I'd never much thought of a Modern Lovers influence on The Go-Betweens, but the early material on 'The Lost Album' definitely has that out-of-time provincial rock vibe that Richman cultivated.

It's a shame the original Modern Lovers never recorded a "proper" album, but it's hard to imagine such an animal being more immediate than the demos from 1972 and '73. Great stuff.
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Richard Higgins
Member
Username: Richard

Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 01:14 pm:   

Somewhat ironic then, regarding the OA sound quality debate, that in the Mojo article on Jonathan Richman, Robert talks of a chance to meet him at a soundcheck where a sound engineer remarked of Richman –



“That dude said,I don’t want it so loud that it could scare my grandmother”

I found that heartening (RF)



Well I think the levels on O/A could probably kill the odd granny or two.



So here’s the dilemma, do I send my copy of "Oceans Apart" back to Lo-max or accept the fact a collection of great songs that are distorted to hell and threaten to blow my speakers, is in fact, how Grant & Robert intended it to sound?
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tbowed
Member
Username: Chameleonz

Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 03:41 pm:   

i have a promo copy and i thought there as something wrong with it
distortion is fine but this is a little much
the album is very suprising compared to the first 2 reunion ones
i have to say this may be their best ever
i know thats heresy but this is so tight and and cohesive i dont know there is something about it
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Stephen Harris
Member
Username: Smh

Post Number: 6
Registered: 05-2005
Posted on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 05:18 pm:   

Over the weekend I listened to G & R on radio 6 and watched most of a video interview on the web.
They said that they wanted to make an album that was "in your face" and that they hadn't been involved in the mix process at all, they went home after recording and left the mixing to Mark Wallis.

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