Sound poetry / Poésie sonore / Text-sound composition etc.

[impulse manslaughter]

Thinking of buying the Larry Wendt VOD box. Only have the Slowscan split cassette so i'm not sure what to expect.. Anyone here knows if it's (not) worth getting..?

[Duncan]

Thinking of buying the Larry Wendt VOD box. Only have the Slowscan split cassette so i'm not sure what to expect.. Anyone here knows if it's (not) worth getting..?

I've heard good things.  Musically, I expect it'd be worth it but I heard people speaking about the recent Henri Chopin collections as being embarrassing from a visual and presentational point of view which, for a project of this scope, you'd certainly expect not to be the case.

[Johann]

I agree that the Chopin does leave something to be desired in terms of its packaging, a strange choice on VODs parts since they have reproduced sleeves in the past (maybe it would've made it to expensive to buy? No clue). But personally to me the act of reissuing so much material that is either not easily accessible or price prohibitive outweighs flaws in design. I hope someone will publish a nice collection of Chopins visual work, in English, to fill in those gaps.

The Wendt seems worthwhile, I've heard nothing but good things. Wish I could afford it.

[Duncan]

I agree that the Chopin does leave something to be desired in terms of its packaging, a strange choice on VODs parts since they have reproduced sleeves in the past (maybe it would've made it to expensive to buy? No clue). But personally to me the act of reissuing so much material that is either not easily accessible or price prohibitive outweighs flaws in design. I hope someone will publish a nice collection of Chopins visual work, in English, to fill in those gaps.

The Wendt seems worthwhile, I've heard nothing but good things. Wish I could afford it.

Do you have the Chopin? I don't.  I heard that there isn't actually any kind of marking on the records to tell you what you're listening to?! something to that effect.

Agree with your key point about availability, of course, and don't especially care too much about visual things over audio content...but none the less I do think that things like VOD trade in one kind of commodity fetish for another.  I hate when reissue collections end up becoming prohibitively priced rarities in and of themselves.  I've harped on about this in all sorts of other threads but I have no idea why so many collections of rare works get pressed onto big, expensive vinyl or tape sets when the whole project would probably fit into a few cheap, sleek and beautiful sounding CDs.  Just taste I suppose.

[impulse manslaughter]

I love vinyl but for these archive boxes CDs (or tapes for more obscure acts) would indeed be the better option.

[Johann]

I agree that the Chopin does leave something to be desired in terms of its packaging, a strange choice on VODs parts since they have reproduced sleeves in the past (maybe it would've made it to expensive to buy? No clue). But personally to me the act of reissuing so much material that is either not easily accessible or price prohibitive outweighs flaws in design. I hope someone will publish a nice collection of Chopins visual work, in English, to fill in those gaps.

The Wendt seems worthwhile, I've heard nothing but good things. Wish I could afford it.

Do you have the Chopin? I don't.  I heard that there isn't actually any kind of marking on the records to tell you what you're listening to?! something to that effect.

Agree with your key point about availability, of course, and don't especially care too much about visual things over audio content...but none the less I do think that things like VOD trade in one kind of commodity fetish for another.  I hate when reissue collections end up becoming prohibitively priced rarities in and of themselves.  I've harped on about this in all sorts of other threads but I have no idea why so many collections of rare works get pressed onto big, expensive vinyl or tape sets when the whole project would probably fit into a few cheap, sleek and beautiful sounding CDs.  Just taste I suppose.

I picked up the Vol. 1 box of the Chopin, I'd like to get the Vol. 2 but couldn't afford both at once. I made a calculation that if I were to buy them later Vol. 1 would end up costing more since it'd probably be percieved as more "Valuable". It seems there is culture of people that buy these kind of things, as well as Slowscan in bulk and then price gouge the rest of us. Bit shitty, but what can you do I guess.

I actually would much prefer that it had been released on CD, at least then it could be consolidated to one volume. I just picked up the Walter Marchetti CD box, its 4 CDs and a large book packaged in a vinyl box. Pretty nice work, only complaint is that "Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio" is missing from the CD version but included in the Vinyl version, meaning you have to track down an individual copy of that album. Bit cheap of them IMO, but whatever, the content serves its purpose. It should be noted that they (Alga Marghen) also did not include any of the original art in either of there "complete" works, I must say though, the CD version is more aesthetically pleasing than the LP version, where in place of just black text on white paper, its huge blown up pics of Marchetti on every sleeve**. A choice I personally do not understand, and a version of the LP I would have no interest in owning. What's most unfortunate is that Alga Marghen did a tip top job with the Francois Dufréne Oeuvre Désintégrale box set, which can be picked up for a very reasonable price still on both LP (if you don't mind a little damage to the packaging) and CD.

Back to the VOD Chopin, Regarding the track listing, It is only on the vinyl itself or in the corresponding book that comes with it. The book actually is quite nice; It consist of writings on Chopin in English/French and a full track list of the LPs included with Vol. 1 (If someone has Vol. 2, is the writings the same or does it contain different text?), the rest of the book is filled with full color copies (unless of course the original was b&w) of the different sleeves and j-cards of the releases.  

The most aggravating thing about the release is that while the label choose good materials, and high quality sleeves that easily could display the releases name on the spine they instead chose to leave them white (the sleeves contain no information anywhere and simply have a basic uniform design). This causes the listener to have to take out every sleeve to find the LP they desire to listen to. While this isn't an end of the world complaint by any means it also does not make for the easiest listening experience. Overall, if you can find a copy for a reasonable price before the gouge hounds get them all, I'd recommend it. At least until someone puts out a corresponding CD alternative.

**upon further investigation it does mention that the inner sleeve of the LP is the full color version of the original, while this is obviously better than just the face it still makes me wonder how easily it would be to find the LP you were searching for unless you had the faces that correspond memorized. Maybe someone who owns this version could provide a comment on how it's actually put together.

[impulse manslaughter]

Peter Downsbrough LP arrived here yesterday. I now have all 3 Van Abbemuseum releases (other 2 are Lawrence Weiner & Robert Barry). Great material for those into spoken word/poetry.

[ddmurph]

Thinking of buying the Larry Wendt VOD box. Only have the Slowscan split cassette so i'm not sure what to expect.. Anyone here knows if it's (not) worth getting..?

I really liked it. I've only given it about two full listens since picking it up when it was released so I'm a little hazy on the specifics right now. I'll dig it out later and maybe comment a bit further. I wasn't at all familiar with him before the box set. I've no idea how it compares to his later stuff. I essentially got the box for free. A VOD subscriber friend of mine tipped me off to an offer VOD were doing on the last batch of releases. It was cheaper to get the full batch (two Henri Chopin boxes, Larry Wendt box and Osamu Sato LP ... this last one's not really my bag but, as a wiser man than me says, two out of three ain't bad) than it was to get just the two Henri Chopin boxes (which is what I was primarily interested in). Frank VOD was sound enough to let me in on the offer despite not being a past subscriber. He gets my infinite gratitude.

Re: Henri Chopin packaging ... I can see where people are coming from here but the booklet is great and having this material available again overrides any criticisms on the packaging front for me. Definitely a case of it's what's on the inside that counts. As an aside, both Henri Chopin boxes and the Larry Wendt box all have the same uniform packaging, including the inner sleeves. Again, doesn't bother me but I can see why people might have an issue with it. In fact, both Henri Chopin boxes even have identical spines so you have to take them off the shelf to check which one is which!

I do think that things like VOD trade in one kind of commodity fetish for another.  I hate when reissue collections end up becoming prohibitively priced rarities in and of themselves.

Absolutely agree with this. For the most part, I've no real interest in having a fancy box for my record shelf (notable exception being that Charley Patton Revenant CD box but that's a whole other level). I'd much rather an affordable CD box set with decent booklet (e.g. those Pica Disk box sets). That said, all due respect to VOD for doing things their way. Does seem like a genuine labour of love.

(If someone has Vol. 2, is the writings the same or does it contain different text?)

I got both volumes direct from VOD on preorder (as mentioned above) and only got one booklet for both boxes. I presume it's the same book for both if you get them separately.

Walter Marchetti ... only complaint is that "Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio" is missing from the CD version but included in the Vinyl version

The vinyl box doesn't have a complete version of Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio either. It's missing the first track, Da Nulla E Verso Nulla, just like the CD box. I don't know why this was left off. As far as I know, the contents of the CD and vinyl versions are identical (I have the vinyl version). The only differences are the track ordering and the book, which comes with the CD version but not the vinyl (but can be bought separately). I just checked discogs and the tracklisting for the vinyl box is wrong. The tracks on the Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio LP should be "Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio" and "Song for John Cage", both of which seem to be on the CD box (?). If you want a complete version of Per La Sete Dell'Orecchio, make sure you get the Cramps CD or original Vandalia LP. The Alga Marghen LP is the one from the box (incomplete).

**upon further investigation it does mention that the inner sleeve of the LP is the full color version of the original, while this is obviously better than just the face it still makes me wonder how easily it would be to find the LP you were searching for unless you had the faces that correspond memorized. Maybe someone who owns this version could provide a comment on how it's actually put together.

I never found any issue with this. The faces are ordered counter-clockwise according to LP. Titles are also on the spines. At the risk of contradicting myself above ("fancy boxes"), I think the LP box is stunning. I actually really like the outer sleeves with the faces. It recontextualises the LPs as part of a collection (others might have a problem with this but I think it works here). I'd probably feel different if the original artwork wasn't reproduced on the inner sleeves though.



More on topic, that Revue Ou box is amazing. Full agreement on Michael Barthel and D Nyoukis. And that Carlfriedrich Claus CD mentioned in the first post is incredible.


Some other (mainly compilation) recommendations (all should be easily available in original or reissued versions) ...

Poesia Sonora (https://www.discogs.com/Various-Poesia-Sonora/master/65592) ... I think this was reissued late last year (my version is the one from the early 2000's, I presume last year's reissue is pretty much identical).

Voooxing Poooetre (https://www.discogs.com/Various-Voooxing-Pooo%C3%AAtre/master/861301) ... reissued by Recital a few years back, should still be around (no-one seems to care about CDs anymore!)

Phonetische Poesie (https://www.discogs.com/Various-Phonetische-Poesie/master/386896) ... again, CD reissue from years back seems to be still readily available.

Rumpsti Pumsti stocks a bunch of Gertraud Scholz Verlag. I've only got the Bobeobi: Lautpoesie CD (https://www.discogs.com/Various-BOBEOBI-Lautpoesie/release/907176) but that's great. Whole bunch more there on my wishlist for a long time now also ... some day.

Also, if you can track down a copy of Arf Arf - Clanguage (https://www.discogs.com/Arf-Arf-Clanguage/release/4296095), I'd highly highly recommend it. Rumpsti Pumsti used to have copies but doesn't seem to anymore. There's a Tochnit Aleph DVD from a few years back also but I haven't gotten round to picking it up yet. This has just reminded me to bump it to the top of the wishlist.

And following on the Rumpsti Pumsti / Tochnit Aleph tip, that Franz Mon LP from a few years back is awesome. As is the Valeri Scherstjanoi stuff.



Lastly, I wish someone would reissue that Futura Cramps box (https://www.discogs.com/Various-Futura-Poesia-Sonora/master/65573) but it would probably be a pretty massive undertaking.