(Neo Prog) Big Big Train - Goodbye to the Age of Steam [2011 Remaster + bonus tracks] - 1994, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Случайно обнаружил, что имеющийся у меня диск отличается от старой раздачи на .
Предлагаю вашему вниманию переиздание ре-мастер 2011 г. в новом оформлении с полностью отсканированным буклетом.
Кроме того, диск дополнен тремя треками, которых не было как в оригинальной, так и в японской версии.

Обратите внимание, что в записи принимали участие весьма известные в нео-проге персоны (что почему-то не указано в тех же Прогархивах), Martin Orford (IQ, Jadis) и Nick D'Virgilio (вездесущий).

Страница в Прогархивах:
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=405

Официальный сайт:
http://www.bigbigtrain.com/

Big Big Train Biography

Big Big Train have released six albums including the critically acclaimed The Difference Machine (2007) and The Underfall Yard (2009) and an extended length EP Far Skies Deep Time (2010).

Big Big Train was formed in 1990 by Andy Poole and Greg Spawton.

They were joined by Ian Cooper (keyboards), Steve Hughes (drums) and Canadian vocalist Martin Read. Initial influenceson the band’s music included Steve Hackett, Anthony Phillips, It Bites and Prefab Sprout. A demo cassette tape of the band’s first songs, recorded on 8-track, was released in October 1991 and was followed by live performances. The demo tape ‘From the River to the Sea’ was re-recorded and released as a self-financed demo CD in May 1992, following which BBT played some higher profile gigs in England.

In January 1993, a second demo tape, ‘The Infant Hercules’ was released and the band then spent the next six months writing the music for its first proper album, ‘Goodbye to the Age of Steam’. This was recorded in a hectic two week period in July 1993. Soon afterwards, BBT signed to the progressive rock label GEP, where they found themselves as label mates of IQ.

'Goodbye to the Age of Steam' was a big leap forward for the band, both in terms of songwriting and recording quality. The response to the album was very positive, culminating in a licensing deal in Japan where the CD was re-released in 1995, with a bonus track.

http://bigbigtrain.wordpress.com/article/big-big-train-2vkajp0w64qlx-3/

Goodbye to the Age of Steam (1994)

Goodbye to the Age of Steam was mostly written in 1992. I was studying classical guitar at that time and the obvious result of this can be heard on the two instrumental tracks - Expecting Snow and Dragon Bone Hill. However, most the album originated as classical guitar pieces which were ‘orchestrated’ for the band.

Musically, Age of Steam was heavily influenced by Spectral Mornings and Defector-era Steve Hackett, It Bites, The Cure and Prefab Sprout. Like much of the band’s earlier work, the music was inspired by progressive rock but also incorporated a wide set of other influences.

Lyrically, much of the album was on the theme of people losing their way in their lives. The album title wasn’t linked to this, but it conveyed a feeling of pathos which fitted themelancholy natureof the songs.

The album was recorded by Rob Aubrey at Parklands studios, only BBT’s second time in a 24-track studio. Recording commenced on the 17th July, 1994 with guide tracks so that Hughes had something to play his drums against. The band briefly decamped to a village hall with a better acoustic setting to record the drums and these were completed over three days from the 19th July. The recording budget was tight and most days, the band worked until 3 or 4 in the morning. Martin Orford of IQ assisted with vocal arrangements and additional production. Work was completed on the 15th August.

Wind Distorted Pioneers, the trees which break cover and grow above the natural treeline but get battered by the elements for their trouble, was chosen as a metaphor for the theme of the album and became the title of the opening song. The lyrics were influenced by Ted Hughes. Wind Distorted Pioneers segued directly into Head Hit the Pillow, a ghost story based onreal events from my university days.

Edge of the Known World is about the drunks on the parkbenches who have lost their way in life, the ones in every town.

Landfall, the next track, is slightly off the lyrical theme and is more of a political song.

Dragon Bone Hill is a pastoral but complex musical interlude.

Blow the House Down is an elegy for all the casualties of the Falklands War. The track consists of a long instrumental section, bookended by two piano passages. The section of music from 4.07 to 4.38, which is repeated later on in the track, was taken from an instrumental track called Hoarfrost, composed in 1988, years before the band was formed, and retrieved from an old tape which was found lying around.

Expecting Snow was a brief interlude between the two longest pieces on the album. This was the last thing written for Age of Steam,demo’d in one evening just before the band went into the studio. It was inspired by an Alan Garner novel, the Stone Book Quartet. Garner’s other great book, Red Shift, was the inspiration for Blue Silver Red. One of the musical motifs from this piece originated in the closing section of Kingmaker, the last track onBBT’s earlier demo tape, The Infant Hercules.

The final song on Age of Steam, Losing Your Way, drew together the lyrical and musical themes of the album. Most of the tracks are revisited in one way or another. The closing stages restate the middle section of Dragon Bone Hill before the album ends with two chords from Expecting Snow.

On the 14th August, just prior to completing the mixing, BBT spent an evening at an outdoor festival. Aubrey was the sound man for the festival and played much of the album over the PA. Former Genesis guitarist, Anthony Phillips was in the audience and told the band that the music sounded “very accomplished”.

Big Big Train came to the attention of the new GEP label because of the involvement of Martin Orford in the recording sessions. Goodbye to the Age of Steam was subsequently released by GEP in 1994. Two years later the CD was licensed for a Japanese release with a bonus track,

Two Poets Meet, taken from the sessions for theband’s second album, English Boy Wonders.

In January 2010, the band announced that Rob Aubrey was remixing Goodbye to the Age of Steam for re-issue.

For the re-issued version which was released in April 2011 in a digipack format, Goodbye to the Age of Steam was remixed from the original master tapes by Rob Aubrey & Andy Poole. The original artwork was replaced with new images by Jim Trainer inspired by the lyrical themes of the album . The album includes three additional tracks. Far Distant Thing was recorded in 1992 with Rob Aubrey for a local radio station session. Expecting Dragons is a new arrangement and recording of themes from Dragon Bone Hill, Expecting Snow and Blue Silver Red. Losing Your Way incorporates an instrumental section excluded from the original album version of the track.

- Ian Cooper / keyboards
- Steve Hughes / drums
- Andy Poole / bass
- Martin Read / vocals
- Greg Spawton / guitars, keyboards

Backing vocals: Rob Aubrey, Ken Bundy, Gary Chandler, Sally French, Stuart Nicholson, Martin Orford, Mandy Taylor

Windchimes: Steve Christey

Drums on 'Expecting Dragons': Nick D'Virgilio
Flute and keyboards on 'Expecting Dragons': David Longdon

Recorded at Parklands Studios, Denmead, Hampshire, UK between July and August 1993.
Additional production and backing vocal arrangements by Martin Orford.
Remixed by Bob Aubrey and Andy Poole from the original 2" inch multi track tapes between January and July 2010.
Mastered by Bob Aubrey.

Cover artword by Jim Trainer. Design by Andy Poole.