michael wrote:"(assuming this sonic disaster of an album ever saw the inside of a studio)". Heh. Actually I've only got a copy of a copy of that album. Does anyone have it on record? What does that sound like?
I was listening to this the other day. Actually, the mix is a bit spit and sawdust (the vocals are pretty buried) but it doesn't have a layer of sonic murk running across most of the album in the way that "Realistes" does, or songs like "Look At You Now, You're Crying", it's just a bit amateurish. Perhaps one of the characteristics of Comet Gain is that you always remember them sounding worse than they actually do. Though I still say it's a bit pointless doing a fancy double edition of a 50 minute album.
But thanks to the magic of the modern world you can make up your mind yourself. I always regret not buying that cheap vinyl re-issue of Tigertown Pictures when it was out a year or two ago, I think I'd momentarily gone off them a bit and missed it and now it's a bugger to get again.
michael wrote:Also, does anyone have "Fingerprint Ritual"?
I have, but I haven't really given it my full attention yet. I keep getting put off by the long version of "Breaking Open The Head", which is a great song on the album but, shorn of it's chorus, just seems to plod and drag rather than having the kind of pulsing effect I think that they were after. The other songs are pretty good though, especially "Dignify the Signified" or whatever it's called, but I have a tendency to put it on from the start and then not get past the first one.
As regards the style, I loved "Paperback Ghosts" but think that, rather than these more psychedelic stompers, the best alter ego to the current autumnal, Byrdsian feel is found in their faux-Northern Soul style extravaganzas, a la "Kids At The Club" and the like, of which they probably don't do enough. I'd like to hope they haven't abandoned that completely. I wonder if the "Autumnal/Psych" distinction isn't overthinking it a bit and it's more just a mix of loud ones and quiet ones.
Also regarding Stereo Sanctity, I've really enjoyed a lot of those articles as well (though I haven't gone through it all) and I thought that his reason for the coming round to "Paperback Ghosts ("
disliking a Comet Gain LP at this stage feels like disowning a family member") was funny and rung very true.