Quote from: catharticprocess on July 31, 2011, 04:09:31 AM
Fuck, man. Get "Will." So damn good. Seriously, you can listen to that one a couple times in a row every day for a month.
"Why is Hunting Lodge so amped up about the DAIS Records pressing of the "WILL" LP ? Because after 32 years, the album has finally been released as intended:
In the spring of 1983, shortly after the master tape of "WILL" was shipped off to the pressing plant, we received a call from "NIM" (Nimitr Sarikananda), the mastering engineer at Frankford/Wayne, who was greatly concerned about the recording he was listening to. Had something gone wrong in shipment to make it sound this way? Nim had mastered countless records since 1971, but had never encountered such a sonic nightmare. After hearing his description of the sound, we assured him that it was INDEED "supposed to sound like that". He said that there would be NO WAY that he could cut a master from a source with heavy, distorted bass careening violently between speakers, without greatly bringing the bass down, or by drastically reducing the overall volume. Since we were belligerent former punks, always on the lookout for THE MAN trying to co-opt or ART (!) we informed him that he was not to touch a distorted hair on the head of our perfect magnum opus.
We had borrowed JUST ENOUGH money from one of our families to press the album, and had not budgeted for test pressings. After all, that was just another way for THE MAN to nickel and dime themselves to wealth on the back of the proletariat! When we received the boxes of LP's it was suddenly apparent as to why test pressings are so strongly recommended; the records were pressed at such a low volume that the mid-to-high frequencies were engulfed by surface noise, leaving your ears nothing to latch onto but the throbbing (yeah, I said it) bass. Quick! To the Roche Bar for a label meeting....
Lon & Skott sat down with Thomas Nordstrom (designer of the album cover), to try to figure out what to do about this near disaster. The design was originally going to be devoid of details – with just "HUNTING LODGE" on the front cover and "WILL" on the back, with label designs being text-free isolations of the front and back cover art. The only way that you could even tell the A & B sides apart was to guess that they would correspond to the cover images (or to read the run-off track). It was decided that Tom would design an 8 ½ X 11 insert that would serve as liner notes, onto which we would attach a disclaimer about the sound quality, which is what was done. All albums shipped thusly.
The DAIS Records reissue shows how the original pressing of "WILL" should have sounded if we had been savvier about the record pressing process. First off, legendary L.A. studio wizard Michael Rozon, who is responsible for the "in-your-face" sound quality of many Bastard Noise releases (and associated projects), performed his voodoo on the master tape. He didn't re-invent the sound - he brought to life a tired old master, and insured that the resulting output could be pressed well onto vinyl. That's where Josh Bonati stepped in and cut a BRILLIANT, perfect vinyl master. Hearing this new pressing for the first time – LOUD! - pinned me to my couch for the entire length of the sides. I felt as though I should stand up to turn down the volume (speakers are gonna rip! Is that my neighbors pounding on the door?!), but sat engulfed in an intense maelstrom of sound that had me looking over my shoulder and seeing phantom shapes move in the dark corners. WILL was finally a living, breathing entity...IT LIVES.......
The packaging is a faithful reproduction of the original – the Xerox toner smudges on the letraset lettering were not Photoshopped out! Analog, Honey. Even the messages on the original run-out tracks were reproduced. The only omission from the original is that the disclaimer is no longer needed on the insert."
Too bad
Demolition Addiction material will never see light of day. Saw them open for
Shadow Project in 1992 or 1993. Excellent!
