New FSOL/Amorphous Androgynous album

[purlieu]

Yes, I'm back. Hello!

It's not exactly the promised "late 2003", but it's here at last.
"Alice In Ultraland"
01. The Emptiness Of Nothingness
02. The Witchfinder
03. The Witch Hunt
04. All Is Harvest
05. The Prophet
06. Indian Swing
07. The Seasons Turn
08. High & Dry
09. Yes My Brother (You've Gotta Turn Yourself Around)
10. In The Summertime Of Consciousness
11. Billy The Onion
12. Another Fairy Tale Ending
13. The World Is Full Of Plankton
14. The Wicker Doll
The next album from Dougans and Cobain are releasing is another Amorphous Androgynous album, thus making AA an on-going project. The album started with further work on some music from The Isness sessions, although the three-year gap suggests there's a large amount of new material recorded. The tracks are also expectded to be in a slightly darker, funkier vein, possibly less playful and more spiritual than some of The Isness. Alice In Ultraland was one of the prospective titles for The Isness in the late '90s. The band are ressurecting the legendary Harvest imprint on the EMI label, famed for releasing psychedelic classics by Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett in the late '60s and early '70s, to release the record. The album will be out in September 2005, hopefully on the 26th.
Woo.

How's everyone been?

[joethelion]

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!


the Isness was one of the most incredible albums I've ever listened to. Although, I will give you that you kinda had to pick your favorite tracks between the two versions of the album....

[Raz]

w00t! :D

Looking forward to it.

[purlieu]

Rather silly babble about the album: http://www.amorphousandrogynous.com

[purlieu]

http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/alice.jpg

[patrick]

i also LOVED the isness. never have i heard such a dark and strange albumn that was so interesting at the same time...

if this AA one is the same...

[undarrenworld]

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!


the Isness was one of the most incredible albums I've ever listened to. Although, I will give you that you kinda had to pick your favorite tracks between the two versions of the album....


correction, there are three versions, check that out...

[purlieu]

I have eight different copies of The Isness.

[stimpee]

The band are ressurecting the legendary Harvest imprint on the EMI label, famed for releasing psychedelic classics by Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett in the late '60s and early '70s, to release the record.
and Deep Purple!

[joethelion]

correction, there are three versions, check that out...

three? I thought that there were basically only two main versions...

unless you're counting one of the following as a "third version"
• the Isness (LP) - same, I believe as the 2nd version, but includes Chawawah and is in a different track order
• Isness / Otherness (x2cd) - same as the 2nd version, but with the Otherness bonus disc
• the Otherness - standalone Otherness disc, I think it was only sold in the US?

(edit)
oh yea, then there's the one where it's labeled as the promo/1st version but it's really just the normal 2nd, final version...

(edit 2)
and I just checked Galaxial Pharmaceutical... it looks like there are basically just two versions of the album (in which the songs are different, and not just mispressed)
http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/isness.htm

[undarrenworld]

three? I thought that there were basically only two main versions...

unless you're counting one of the following as a "third version"
• the Isness (LP) - same, I believe as the 2nd version, but includes Chawawah and is in a different track order
• Isness / Otherness (x2cd) - same as the 2nd version, but with the Otherness bonus disc
• the Otherness - standalone Otherness disc, I think it was only sold in the US?

(edit)
oh yea, then there's the one where it's labeled as the promo/1st version but it's really just the normal 2nd, final version...

(edit 2)
and I just checked Galaxial Pharmaceutical... it looks like there are basically just two versions of the album (in which the songs are different, and not just mispressed)
http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/isness.htm


Well i always think that there are 3 version. I was sure before u posted. Let me check.

EDIT: Yes i checked, i have them all.

1) http://www.discogs.com/release/229146
2) http://www.discogs.com/release/44376
3) http://www.discogs.com/release/47522

All its about this third (Mispressing), its rare version of that.
Most tracks different slightly or majorly from the final version. Only 2,500 copies exist.

And i can say that this version is the best one. Well Im big FSOL fan and It took me ages to get that Mispressing.

undarreworld on slsk (without n)
PM me there and we will sort that out for ya.
Cheers.

[joethelion]

ok - I think we're both misunderstanding each other... and we're actually talking about the same thing.

What I consider to be the "First Version" / "Promo" is the one you consider to be the "Mispressing". I also was lucky enough to get one of the 2,500 copies of it... strangely enough in a Borders Book & Music Store.

What I've classed as the "Second Version" / "Final" version is the regular commercial release (the one which starts w/ "The Lovers")


When "misspress" came up - I was talking about the version which, although it has the tracklisting which begins w/ Elysian Feels... it really is the standard release (which begins w/ "The Lovers")

So - the only version that I don't have is the one listed here (http://www.discogs.com/release/229146) which seems to have shorter versions of the tracks off of the "Misspress" / Rare Version. The Galaxial Pharmaceutical webpage didn't list track lengths, so I always assumed that the promo and the "Misspress" were absolutely identical (because they have the same songs)

[purlieu]

For simplicity's sake, I call the "mispress" the Abbey Road Version, as tracks from it ended up as "Abbey Road Version" on The Otherness and it was mastered at Abbey Road. Anyway, three versions:

Final version that got released.
Abbey Road version that was sent out as the first batch of UK promos (I got mine about a month before the leak) as well as 2,500 copies being sold in the US.
Leaked version - this is the third one you don't have. This is different, and is the one most were reviewed from. The discs were sent out in the same sleeve as the Abbey Road one, as Cleopatra had already printed the sleeves and couldn't be bothered to make new ones, but the tracklist is unique. It is essentially the same as the final version, only the tracklist is as so:
1. Elysian Feels
2. The Mello Hippo Disco Show (containing eight bars cut from the final version)
3. Goodbye Sky Reprise
4. The Lovers
5. Go Tell It To The Trees, Egghead
6. Yes My Brother
7. Guru Song
8. Osho
9. Her Tongue Is Like A Jellyfish
10. Meadows
11. High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh
12/13. The Galaxial Pharmaceutical (this was split into two tracks during the silent bit).

And to make this even sillier, here's a list of versions available:
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness - Abbey Road Promo
The Future Sound Of London - The Isness - Incorrect tracklist promo
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness - final mix promo
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness Sampler - promo, contains edits of tracks
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness - release in burgopak case
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness - release in jewel case
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness - 2x12" vinyl
The Future Sound Of London - The Isness - Abbey Road version, "accidental" release
The Future Sound Of London - The Isness - final version
Amorphous Androgynous - The Isness & The Otherness
Amorphous Androgynous - The Otherness

I'm missing three versions.


Right, I'm going to update the website with something about this on to make it simple, as it is very confusing.

[joethelion]

Oookay...

so if I've got the Abbey Road Version and the Final Version -> then I'm really not missing anything from the Promo? save for the fact that Mello Hippo has eight extra bars and Galaxial... is split w/o the silence

Anyone want to hook me up with the Divinity EP? If not a spare copy, maybe then decent mp3/flac/shn ?????


...please?

Just so I can complete the ol' playlist

[purlieu]

Right, this is as unconfusing as I could make it:
http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/whichis.htm

[purlieu]

Anyone want to hook me up with the Divinity EP? If not a spare copy, maybe then decent mp3/flac/shn ????? I'm gunna check with their management next week to see if this will definitely never be released. They're usually alright about non-released stuff being shared and such, so we'll see. I'm surprised it's not around on the net somewhere, though.

[purlieu]

Check this at 9PM (GMT+1):
http://www.sr.se/p3/live/
FSOL's gig from Arvika last year. Setlist from Alice + Isness.

[undarrenworld]

So - the only version that I don't have is the one listed here (http://www.discogs.com/release/229146) which seems to have shorter versions of the tracks off of the "Misspress" / Rare Version. The Galaxial Pharmaceutical webpage didn't list track lengths, so I always assumed that the promo and the "Misspress" were absolutely identical (because they have the same songs)

Ok we had for the sdame thing different words.
Yes u miss this third version, which i have...
PM me and i can make u complete...;)

[purlieu]

The show tonight was... interesting. Six tracks from Alice In Ultraland, and the first word that comes to mind is... funk. A couple of straight up psych-funk tracks, three of them have a strong groove, and the other sounds like something from Led Zep III.
This is going to be an interesting release.

[joethelion]

I totally missed that performance!!

...but I hope it'll show up somewhere on the net

[purlieu]

http://fsol.disenchanted.com

[joethelion]

I wasn't sure if it was ok or not to post that website

The show was great - kinda simultaneously what I expected and what I didn't expect you know?

[purlieu]

I have no idea if it's ok or not either. So long as it doesn't get a billion hits I'm sure it'll be fine.
I really dig the show, but I wasn't expecting such a 70s vibe. I was still thinking 60s psych.

[joethelion]

I'd say the most shocking bit was the pretty laid back version of "Elysian Feels"

[mmm skyscraper]

The Arvika gig was really nice. Can't wait for Alice in Ultraland.

I still don't have the Isness though. oh well.

[purlieu]

Thanks to the wonderful world of eBay.com (which I'd suggest people check *cough*), I've landed myself a rather nice promotional copy of a little album called Alice In Ultraland. Here are a few thoughts to keep you tied over - I don't think there's much need to put samples online (as I did for The Isness), as you'll realise when reading that ten tracks/samples are available on the Disenchanted FTP or official site already.


The Emptiness Of Nothingness - A track that used to be called The Otherness, The Emptiness Of Nothingness is a pretty groovy instrumental piece based around an electric piano loop, with some drumloops, vocals and other sounds nicked from Divinity ("The Isness resampled and looped"...?). The song works very nicely as an opener in the way Elysian Feels did - in fact, the structure of the piece is very similar.

The Witchfinder - A segue (memories of FSOL!) into the next track, The Witchfinder, which was until now known as Zep (Good Love) - some slightly bizarre vocals from Gaz who, once again, sounds like a different singer, this time doing a Robert Plant impression, which suits the slightly Led Zep feeling of the track - bluesy acoustic guitar and harmonicas. The track's a bit more electronic sounding on the album than the live version we've heard, but it's still a good - and very interesting - piece. Dougans and Cobain finally cross into the world of rock.

The Witch Hunt - Another segue, and we've got a fast breakbeat and some eastern sounding violin - quite a fun, sinister sounding little piece with some jazzy overtones that come in later in the track. Drops out after a couple of minutes, which is wise as it sounds like an interlude - a very bizarre interlude.

All Is Harvest - Still being bombarded with tracks I know, this 'ere is Air, in its full near-seven minute glory. A slow moving piano and string led piece, this is probably going to be one of my all-time FSOL/AA favourites. The mix is a tiny bit cluttered in places, which is a shame, but that doesn't detract much from the track.

The Prophet - The old version of Yes My Brother with heaps of organ and guitar on top - the funkiest thing the band have produced to date. I'm really fond of this track, and have been for some time now - far, far better than the original track that turned up on the Abbey Road version of The Isness. Great stuff. Ends with another FSOL-remensicent soundscape at the end with a couple of sneaky samples from Life Form Ends! File alongside the Dead Cities scream in Meadows.

Indian Swing - Another track we've heard live, no surprises so far! This track, however, is definitely stronger in the studio, unlike The Witchfinder, of which I prefer the live version. Here, all the Indian instruments - flutes, strings, sitars and tablas - really get room to breathe and the track sounds fuller and more well rounded.

The Seasons Turn - Spoken sample, some organs and samples, followed by some of Gaz's vocals... look how the seasons turn, when the sun returns and some other stuff, and it's gone again. A really beautiful little interlude, which works in the same way Goodbye Sky (Reprise) did.

High And Dry - Track three from the EPK promo! She used to live on the east side of town, she's coming round. I had feared this song was lost forever! Best surprise so far! A really uplifting guitar-led track, with a gospel choir in the middle (which, for once, actually works!), and some Strokes-esque disorted vocals. This is an excellent piece, although I imagine it'll be a Divinity-esque opinion splitter.

Yes My Brother (You've Gotta Turn Yourself Around) - Absolutely nothing to do with the old Yes My Brother, here we have some more bluesy acoustic guitar and a really full sounding breakbeat, with some backing vocals, dirty guitar and harmonica later in the piece. File alongside Billy The Onion and The Witchfinder. Really groovy, and one of the best tracks so far.

In The Summertime Of Consciousness - Interesting introduction: eastern flutes, jazzy saxophone, really dry vocals from Gaz (no excessive FX this time!)... this is really fucking weird. The melody is downright odd and a bit uneasy, some lo-fi drums come in. No, there's not really any way I can accurately describe this song, as it's gone into some electric piano with distorted vocals now. I love this, simply because I don't understand it. At all.

Billy The Onion - Slide guitar, funky organ and that delicious electronic fuzz bass - the funk's back and really fucking great. Another track I love from the Arvika show, and luckily is pulled off really well in the studio. Really dirty, in the best possible way. Shame it lacks the really distorted bass from the end of the live version!

Another Fairy Tale Ending - Strings and synths open this piece which is the soundtrack to the current Amorphous Androgynous mini-site at the official site. Strings and choirs build up alongside some soft sounding electronics, leading to a piece that's not entirely unlike Everyone In The World Is Doing Something Without Me from Dead Cities. Really, really beautiful, nothing else to say.

The World Is Full Of Plankton - Along with All Is Harvest, this is the track I was most looking forward to on the album after hearing the clips online. This is the album's epic, at eight minutes long. Beginning with some piano, synths and messy guitar, the piece soon tidies itself up into a surprisingly Beatles-like chord progression, which slowly begins to gain momentum as Gaz starts intoning another bizarre tale, about how we're all small and insignificant. The track moves majestically onwards, and sounds as massive as The Galaxial Pharmaceutical without being anywhere near as complex. The track dies into some birdsong, before building up again for its climax at seven minutes. I hope the final record comes with a lyric booklet, as I can't understand a word he's singing in places.

The Wicker Doll - Spooky vibraphone intro, followed by synths and lo-fi piano which also feature on amorphousandrogynous.com - a very mournful piece plays adding a very resigned but beautiful end to the album. Sounds like nothing else the band have done (again!), other than hints of Requiem from Translations.

Overall - the record seems a little more cohesive as an album as opposed to The Isness, which was stylistically all over the shop; this definitely sounds like the work of a group who've got a direct focus - not only stylistically, but there are only two shorter piece, which The Isness was chock full of - it's mostly 5 or 6 minute long stuff here. However, for me this is also a downside, as it loses the playful adventurousness that The Isness has, which is one of the reasons I love that album so much. Otherwise, other than a couple of tracks in the (weaker) first half going on a little too long (the second half is distinctly the better half), there are no complaints. Most of the tracks on the album are downright excellent, and I love the overall feel to the record. It may be a little more popular with Isness-haters, but I still don't see it winning them back too many fans yet. The album is less psychedelic and more groove-based overall, but it's still not an obviously electronic record; I'll be very interested to hear how the press react to it. With all the little random atmospheric sections between the tracks, and the Divinity remix that is The Emptiness Of Nothingness, I wonder if a lot of this WAS the intended 'Isness from a FSOL perspective' record that guys were going to release that eventually turned into another Amorphous Androgynous album, or if there were, at least, moments of that involved. I'll give it a Pitchfork 8.7 on first listen.

Favourite tracks: High And Dry, In The Summertime Of Consciousness, The World Is Full Of Plankton (ha, just like The Isness, the actual 'songs' are my favourite tracks again!).
Least favourite tracks: The Emptiness Of Nothingness and The Witch Hunt are the only ones I'm not too bowled over by. Indian Swing isn't that outstanding, either.

Some interesting notes album the album... the tracks are published by Earthbeat Productions - a name we haven't seen for a while, and the first time something's been published with that name. The back cover is a pretty old photo, the one of their faces seen through pieces of glass at their feet... the photo was around and used to promote Translations. Catalogue number is ALICE001.

And for anyone asking if I can leak it online, I'm afraid not. I don't think it'd go down to well with their management, who help me out with the site, and it's copy protected and I can't rip it onto the computer anyway, so eh. Be patient, I'm sure a leak will appear sometime.

[joethelion]

wow - that sounds absolutely great...


although I am a bit worried with the long tracks, but as long as it's not all just Galaxial Pharmaceutical over and over again, then I can't see there being any big complaints you know?

btw - what did their management say about sharing Divinity EP?

I notice that it's up on ebay, but I can't do paypal...


(edit)
...and I wonder how many variants of this album there will be :p

[purlieu]

Bah. The Galaxial Pharmaceutical is my favourite song ever!
I've not asked about Divinity yet - there's been a few things going back and forth with their manager lately and he's been quite generous with some stuff so I'll leave it until times are quite. To be honest, the tracks aren't anything particularly new anyway.

[joethelion]

well - Galaxial Pharmaceutical isn't a bad song by any means...

I just never seem to be able to finish the Abbey Road version. I much prefer the second version, where the song appears to play out - then builds back up off of that phone bit

[mmm skyscraper]

Someone is selling the Arvika show on ebay.

What is this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000A29K1S/qid=1124022092/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl15/102-9921426-5306546?v=glance&s=music&n=507846)? Is it the same Divinity talked about before?

[purlieu]

I just never seem to be able to finish the Abbey Road version. I much prefer the second version, where the song appears to play out - then builds back up off of that phone bitArgh, I hate that version, largely because of the guitar solo bit - firstly it sounds like the climax of the song so confuses me that it's in the middle (and makes the ending a bit... dead), and also the way it comes in just before the fade out is really, really badly cut. I did better cuts in Music Tech A Level.

The Divinity single on Amazon is probably just the promo one, although it's down as being on Caroline on one other site - chances are it was penned for release and then never put out. You could try buying it but I considerably doubt it'll ever be shipped as as far as I - and the band - know, it doesn't exist.

[joethelion]

hmm....

well it has been a long time since I've listened to either tracks closely, but I'll but them on again later today...

and yea - I am thinking that's just a cock-up by Amazon. Sometimes releases that were originally going to be released on date "x" but never show, aren't always removed from the site

Best example was UW's "Twist" single (no no no - it never came out, not even promo's)

[purlieu]

Bought it today. It's been put out as another "FSOL present Amorphous Androgynous" release, so will be in the FSOL section of yr record store. Artwork's nice but very, very unFSOL.

[monkeygra]

I also was lucky enough to get one of the 2,500 copies of it... strangely enough in a Borders Book & Music Store.

hey, dude, me too. Borders all the way.

i didn't even know there was a "more official" version of The Isness until about a year after i bought it. unfortunately for the situation, i also think the rare "Abbey Road" version is significantly better than the final version. it's one of my favorite albums. it seems to have a better sense of whole than the rest of The Future Sound of London's albums (yes, i know it's technically Amorphous Androgynous), rather than a collection of songs. that's also why i usually prefer FSOL's extended singles to their albums, but that's just me.

unfortunately, i haven't been able to get as much into Alice in Ultraland.

EDIT: i take that back, i've been listening to it again now, and it really clicked for me this time. Awesome Album, Great Job!

by the way, i know the last post on this topic was over a year and a half ago.