With a kind of vested interest in the release of, in April 2012, the 2CD set by Epic Soundtracks "Wild Smile" on Troubador Records - honoured to have compiled the second CD of rare and unreleased music and to have scribbled the sleeve notes - as my contribution to promoting its release, here's an imperfect (unreleased, perhaps understandably so.....) gem that doesn't feature on the set.
Late 1995 and through the post comes a package from Epic including a photocopy of his contribution to Rolling Stone magazine's "Alt-Rock-A-Rama" which was eventually published in 1996, and a note.... "Hey Chris Here's my piece Dig it Man! Epic" And here is that piece, together with "videos" of the tracks he selects....all bar one. If anybody has a copy of Harold Smith's Majestic Choir - “We Can All Walk A Little Bit Prouder” single from 1968, it would be pretty cool if you could rustle me up an MP3 of it. Thank-you. And with that, we're back.... Music That Moves Me by Epic Soundtracks Epic Soundtracks (aka Paul Godley) began playing music in 1972 and made his first record in 1977 as drummer with the influential Swell Maps, which also included his brother Nikki Sudden. More recently Epic has re-emerged as a singer, songwriter, and piano player, recording solo albums that reflect many of the influences discussed below. The
Awesome news! Was wondering what the status of that Epic compilation was. Looking forward to it!
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http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com
Has the new album been released in vinyl? Or is it only CD?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
CD only I'm afraid - it's on Deezer and Spotify and downloads available on the usual sites but not on vinyl.....shame
DeleteCD only I'm afraid - it's on Deezer and Spotify and downloads available on the usual sites but not on vinyl.....shame
DeleteWhat a pitty!
DeleteThanks for the quick response, though...
Can you provide any detail about the second album (Sleeping Star) vinyl release? I bought a couple of copies to an eBay dealer, some months ago... I have to admit it made me suspicious when I first saw the auction (or was it a Buy It Now?) on eBay, as I had never heard about this record being released on vinyl. But I finally felt like buying it and I got a couple of copies.
I'm copying below the text included in the auction (sorry for the CAPS, but this is the way it was originally written). Can you provide further details about this edition?
Thanks!
YET ANOTHER SAD TALE IN THE LONG AND WINDING STORY OF THE SWELL MAPS...
FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THE PREVIOUS ROUGH TRADE ALBUM "RISE ABOVE", EPIC WANTED THE NEXT TO BE ISSUED ON VINYL AS WELL AS THE AMERICAN BAR-NONE CD RELEASE.
500 COPIES OF THE RECORD WERE PRESSED BY MAYKING RECORDS (HOME OF ONE LITTLE INDIAN), HOWEVER, EPIC WANTED THREE SEPARATE EDITIONS OF THE SLEEVE MADE. THERE WERE TO BE NINE PRESENTATION BOX SETS (FOR HIS FAMILY AND THE RECORD COMPANY), 26 HAND-SIGNED AND LETTERED (A-Z) COPIES WITH HANDMADE SINGLE SLEEVES, THE REMAINDER OF THE 500 WERE TO HAVE FULL COLOUR GATEFOLD SLEEVES - VERY DIFFERENT TO THE CD COVER/BOOKLET.
HOWEVER, THE PRESSING OF THE RECORD WAS DELAYED BY THE FACTORY (WHO WERE OVERBOOKED BY THE SURPRISE SUCCESS OF BJORK'S DEBUT ALBUM AND THE PLETHORA OF VINYL VARIATIONS FOR THE MANY SINGLES LIFTED FROM IT), THE SLEEVE TOOK EVEN LONGER AS EPIC AGAONISED OVER IT'S CONSTRUCTION FOR MONTHS AND ANYWAY, WANTED THE RELEASE TO COINCIDE WITH AN EUROPEAN TOUR WHICH WAS TAKING LONGER TO CONFIRM THAN ANYONE COULD BELIEVE.
THE COVERS WERE BEING PRINTED BY A WEST LONDON PRINTERS WHO MANAGED TO GO BANKRUPT IN THE PROCESS (THE MONEY DISAPPEARED AND AS TO WHETHER THEY EVEN PRINTED THE COVERS IS UNKNOWN - THEY CERTAINLY HAVEN'T SURFACED IN THE INTERVENING 12 YEARS!).
THEN, OF COURSE, EPIC WAS FOUND DEAD IN HIS FLAT APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS AFTER HE HAD DIED.
HIS RECORD COLLECTION WAS GIVEN TO A CERTAIN SECOND-HAND RECORD SHOP IN PORTOBELLO ROAD - HOWEVER, A LARGE AMOUNT WAS SAID TO GO MISSING (PRIVATE PRESSING PRE-CAN ALBUMS FOR EXAMPLE) - ALSO, NONE OF THE BOX SETS SURFACED EITHER.
BOLD RECORDS ALSO FOLDED, HAVING BEEN RIPPED-OFF BY THE MANAGER OF ONE OF THE LABEL'S BANDS WHO WERE THEN SIGNED TO ATLANTIC RECORDS, AND FINDING THAT ANOTHER PROJECT, 23 SKIDOO'S "TIMELY REISSUE" HAD TO BE SCRAPPED AS TWO MEMBERS DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE BACK CATALOGUE HAD ALREADY BEEN SOLD ON BY THE OTHER TWO MEMBERS WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION OR KNOWLEDGE!
IN THE MID 2000's - ALL THE REMAINING BOLD LABEL RECORDS & CDs, WHICH HAD BEEN IN A SOUTH LONDON STORAGE DEPOT ENDED UP IN MY POSESSION IN LIEU OF PAYMENT FOR AN OUTSTANDING BILL.
WHEN I WENT THROUGH THE STOCK, APPROXIMATELY 300 COPIES OF THE UNSLEEVED ALBUM HAD TO BE DESTROYED DUE TO BEING WARPED OR CRACKED (THEY HAD BEEN STORED IN ONE TALL PILE - AND ONLY THE TOP QUATER WERE STILL IN PERFECT CONDITION), 23 OF THE 26 HANDMADE COPIES WERE THERE, AS WERE TWO BOX SETS - TOGETHER WITH A BAGFUL OF EACH OF THE TWO INSERTS.
Hate to say it but the whole story sounds like nonsense to me. Epic certainly never mentioned anything about this and nor did his brother Nikki. And always thought Mayking just manufactured the records - not a label. Myself and a couple of friends helped Nikki "clear" Epic's flat - the box sets didn't exist and nothing went missing.
ReplyDeleteSorry.
I'm not sure I'm getting your point (sorry, English is not my first language)...
DeleteI bought the vinyls only, and they had no cover (just a plain white paper sleeve). I can send you a photo of the record, if you want me to (it has a blue label). I didn't buy the box sets, either...
Do you mean a Sleeping Star vinyl edition has never been planned? Where could the records I have come from, in that case?
Thank you for your time,
Regards.
The story about the box set for family and different covers and handmade sleeves sounds like nonsense to me,. So I'm not sure the vinyl copy is an official release. It may just be I didn't hear about it of course but if there was to have been a box set as I said I'm pretty sure I'd have known. That's not to say I wouldn't like a vinyl copy myself!!!!'
ReplyDeleteHope you get to hear Wild Smile and that you enjoy the unreleased stuff.
Thanks again for your response. I have never been very confident about the vinyls I bought, and wanted to know your opinion.
DeleteRegards!
THANKS UNKNOWN .....
ReplyDelete