From the Archives 7 out November 19th

[Pandemonium]

It's a touching post...
But the problem is, in this day and age, new musicians Really should not consider the possibility of living out of their music - it should be more like a hobby for at least 5 years and 3-5 albums - and if they're really good, they'll start touring, DJing, producing for money and maybe some day they'll mount up to some decent royalties.

People who think their music is good because it got downloaded a few thousand times are just kidding themselves ...

[Ross]

One thing I dislike about the anti-piracy argument is the idea that everyone downloading would be buying. That post on the last page talking about how much money was lost through the 1000+ downloads - I wonder how many of those people would have definitely gone out and bought it if they hadn't had the piracy option. I would guess it would be relatively low.

I dunno, I hate the idea of the music 'industry', but without major label promotion and Top of the Pops appearance, I can't imagine I would have got into FSOL, so there's something to be said for big money going into music, especially when a band have to support themselves, like FSOL these days.

In general I'd rather have people download my music and hear it than have it for sale and ignored, which is why my stuff is generally available for free anyway. But I do respect people's right to ask for payment.

[Ross]

Actually, one of the reasons I buy instead of pirating is to limit how much music I have. Music is much easier to enjoy when it's not in competition with the other twenty albums I downloaded at the same time. There are only so many hours in the day...

[dell1972]

Limiting is good, something I've not been very good at doing, and that's through buying stuff as opposed to pirating. I see it more symptomatic of boredom at work. I seem to have a never ending collection of stuff I've recently purchased but not given the correct level of attention.

Anyway, going back to the original subject, I received a parcel from FSOLDigital yesterday and have given the new album a couple of spins. Very enjoyable and actually quite surprisingly different from most of the other volumes. The last volume suffered a bit from having too many short ideas segued together at the end, even though it had a number of really good tracks before that (Jelly Legs still makes me laugh when it comes on). This is not the case here. As stated before, War Machines appears to be a version of Quagmire with my understanding of what Tingler '95 is on the end of it. Also it's nice to hear that track from Electric Brainstorms 7, Flygon?

I'm going to enjoy giving this more listens.

[Ross]

I'm going to take a guess from 'Lost in the Mists of Time' that the archives are now including outtakes from the Environments series. I'd even go so far as to say that if this was released as an Environments album, nobody would question it.

Lost in the Mists of time is incredible. The next run of tracks is great, quite a deserty sound, they flow together perfectly. War Machines is a slightly different mix of Tingler 96, nice to see it finally being released, although it does stick out a bit. Flygon and Earth's Twin are both lovely, wouldn't be surprised if these were newer pieces either. Switzerland I've never been too keen on, so not too fussed on it being cut down to three minutes. The next two return to the mood of the first half. Heat Distortions is brilliant, I wonder what era it is. Wonderful to finally get Tudor Oak on a CD, although the name change still confuses me, especially as it was on the sampler a couple of months ago under that name. Who knows!

On the whole I'm really impressed. That's definitely the first archive that stands up to the proper albums in quality and consistency. If any future volumes continue in that vain then they'll be albums to look forward to as much as the Environmnents, rather than just enjoyable collections of curios and nostalgia.

The bonus tracks are decent, not my favourites. Nice inclusions though, and advertising it this time around will hopefully ensure a few more direct sales for them, which can only be a good thing.

[dell1972]

Incidentally, I wasn't immediately aware of the significance of the title of the second bonus track, so looked it up. The music is quite appropriate:



http://www.invisiblethemepark.com/2009/ ... chernobyl/

[Pandemonium]

Nicely put Ross - you should put these kinda descriptions on your FSoL web-site

So, no track by track description from you this time?
With an educated guess of the sessions/periods/years...?

[Dennis]

My first association of the title of the second bonus track was something out of a fantasy or scifi novel.

[dubmasta]

My prepaid card has been finally activated, ordering A7!! yuppeeeee

[ronniedobbs]

More abstract than I was expecting, but the Dynamic Duo always make a great flowing album out of what they have. Does the 2nd bonus track end abruptly or is mine clipped?

[Ross]

To be honest, the only ones I can get an era from have either been identified, or I guessed at in my post. I would guess that most of the piano was added recently by Dan Pemberton, though, as he's mentioned in the credits.

[mcbpete]

More abstract than I was expecting, but the Dynamic Duo always make a great flowing album out of what they have. Does the 2nd bonus track end abruptly or is mine clipped?

Yeah mine ends pretty abruptly too (at 4:42 with two seconds of silence after that) though I'm thinking it's artistic intent rather than a problem with the track.

[dubmasta]

Yea, the track indicates 4.44 and it stops at 4.42, as if it was written on a tape and the tape finished too early, as Pete says maybe its an artistic trick

What are your feelings about the album guys? I just finished listening to it, and the feelings are messed up and upside down, only Bach and FSOL can mess me up like a piece of cake. What an experience! I think its the best part of the Archives series so far. The feelings kept flowing and flowing like a river, a never-ending orgasm of emotions driven by the wizards ...

Each track is special, but i dont know for some unexplained reason "Earth's Twin" broke me. Id love to comment on every track, but for me it sounded like one cohesive thing, as always with FSOL, like a movie. Its true I was waiting for something like that from FSOL for a loooong time. I could say it was even better than i expected, despite the fact that the tracks are from their Archives.

[Ross]

I think the fact the tracks are difficult to identify is one of the reasons it's so enjoyable, as it's not as tempting to sit and play spot the era like it was with volumes 1 - 3 especially.

[Dennis]

I can also imagine that most stuff on the album (as well as on E4 maybe) is combined old/new on single tracks, I mean like Ross mentioned, the basic track from outer heaven for example is from Lifeforms era with some piano soloing from Mr. Pemberton mixed over it.

'Temples' could be also something new, it has that choir-like synth sound that has been heard throughout a lot of probably recent tracks like Summer's Dream or River Delta.