Steven Wilson An Update on Steven Wilson's Remix Work

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Oddly enough I've never gotten round to listening to the last two albums so yes, I'll definitely be picking those up. I'd rather next year too given that Wilson's remixes of the remaining 80's have been in limbo for so long.

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IMHO, "The Construkction of Light" and "The Power to Believe" are the most inaccessible albums that Crimson released since "Lizard" and "Islands", even though I prefer the latter two mentioned, especially after Steven Wilson's stunning remixes for both of them.
Between the two millennial albums, I easily prefer "The Power to Believe", and so does Fripp. For a while, "The Construcktion of Light" wasn't even going to be released as part of the 40th anniversary series, because Fripp was under the impression that even a remix couldn't re-harness the music from the subpar recording and performance on that album, but he may have softened up his view since then.

But above all else, I really still am anxious to hear what those other 80s albums sound like in surround! They aren't as good as "Discipline" is IMHO, but they still contain a lot of great songs spread out over both albums and should hopefully be worth the wait! :)
 
Wow, TCoL and TPtB are where KC went into UBER HYPER WARP SPEED and turned into this BEYOND stellar group...and I prefer TCoL somehow....
Now it's turned into an ..OUT OF THIS WORLD BIG BAND!!!! but the quartet lineup with Trey Gunn was UNREACHABLE!!!
 
http://lithiummagazine.com/2016/02/22/interview-with-steven-wilson-february-19th-2016/
Interview with Steven Wilson – February 19th, 2016
Posted by mikebax2015 on February 22, 2016
Mike: When you approach remixing classic albums by bands like King Crimson and Jethro Tull, albums revered by yourself and music aficionados the world over, what steps do you take to ensure you preserve the integrity but fill it out at the same time?

Steven: The answer to the first part of your question is, you refer VERY closely to the original stereo mix. There’s a lot of detective work involved in that. I’m trying to recreate the stereo mix without necessarily having the same tools and the same technology that they had at the time. And sometimes it’s hard to figure out just how they created certain sounds. Often the artist doesn’t remember, you know? If I go to Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull, or I go to Roland from Tears for Fears and ask: “How did you create this sound in the mix?” They don’t remember. It’s like 30 to 40 years ago for them. So there’s a lot of that detective work involved. That’s the first part of my answer. To be very faithful to the original stereo mix and to be constantly referring back to it. And that comes onto the second part of your question – to paraphrase it, “what am I looking to enhance?” I think the best analogy I can give is this: a few decades ago when they cleaned the Sistine Chapel in Rome, they were taking these incredible Michelangelo frescoes and were cleaning them, but they were not changing anything about the content. They were simply trying to make them shine with new clarity. That’s the best analogy I can give. I’m using modern digital tools to make the music shine a little bit brighter for the modern age. It’s a very fine line to walk, keeping the spirit and the sound of the original but somehow making it shine and gleam a little bit brighter for the 21st century.
 
The big nugget of this interview however was the brief discussion on remixing "The Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears. At least now we know why it wasn't released this year, as it took such a long time to just find and assemble all the multitrack tapes so they could begin remixing it, but I'm now more excited about this one than ever before since Steven has just said it's one of his top-10 favorite albums of all time!

It's a great album that should sound AMAZING in 5.1. Bring it on!!!
 
Finally, "Tales". I'm still puzzled as to why Steven is so apprehensive about whether the remix of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" will or will not be released, but I'm still hopeful that any barriers towards that happening can be toppled over in 2016 so we can all enjoy it.

My reading is that he got no further than a "first attempt" back in 2013. Would seem that, for whatever reason, it got shelved 3 years ago and that there are no Yes releases in the works. So I don't think it's a finished mix sitting around waiting to be released. He didn't indicate that in THIS interview, anyway.
 
A new update from SW on his remixes courtesy of his monthly email newsletter. Now before you get your hopes up, there really isn't anything in this update that we don't already know, but still, it ties everything together as far as what's definitely going to be released, what's finished but unreleased, and what's expected for the rest of the year:

Over the last few months I've been busy touring and starting to write for my next album, so there hasn't been as much activity with new remix projects, although there are at least two in progress (see later in this item). However, a few previously completed mixes still remain unreleased; Roxy Music's debut album, Tears For Fears’ The Seeds of Love, and two 80's King Crimson albums. While I've had no confirmation of release dates I keep my fingers crossed that these will see the light of day some time in 2016.

In the meantime, some existing remixes are being repackaged. Firstly, Universal are reissuing my remixes of two Steve Hackett albums as separate three-disc editions, following their inclusion as part of the Premonitions box set last year. Both Please Don't Touch (1978) and Spectral Mornings (1979) will be released on 27th May, and contain a remastered CD of the original mix and bonus material, a CD of the 2015 mix, and a DVD containing the 5.1 remix.

Prior to that, my remix of Jethro Tull‘s classic 1971 album Aqualung is being reissued on 22nd April 2016. This new edition will be in the now familiar 2CD / 2DVD hardback book form to bring it into line with the other releases in the series. Please note that while I did not have a say in the decision to reissue the set, I was at least able to take the opportunity to replace the somewhat controversial mastering that was applied to the 2011 edition with my own approved mastering, so the mixes are now exactly as they left my studio. There are also 3 additional 5.1 surround sound mixes that were not included on the 2011 release: “Just Trying to Be”, “Wond'ring Aloud, Again”, and “Wind Up” (early version).

The Jethro Tull reissue project will continue with the band's breakthrough second album Stand Up from 1969. The series has moved along swiftly and efficiently, so I hope to have this one completed in time for it to be released towards the end of the year. Also in the pipeline is the fourth in the XTC surround sound series, for which most of the work was done late last year. More news on that one soon....

:banana: :banana: :banana:
 
A new update from SW on his remixes courtesy of his monthly email newsletter. Now before you get your hopes up, there really isn't anything in this update that we don't already know, but still, it ties everything together as far as what's definitely going to be released, what's finished but unreleased, and what's expected for the rest of the year:



:banana: :banana: :banana:

So sadly......no Tales this year! :(
 
A new update from SW on his remixes courtesy of his monthly email newsletter. Now before you get your hopes up, there really isn't anything in this update that we don't already know, but still, it ties everything together as far as what's definitely going to be released, what's finished but unreleased, and what's expected for the rest of the year:



:banana: :banana: :banana:

So sadly......no Tales this year! :(
 
So sadly......no Tales this year! :(

Maybe, maybe not. The fact that "Tales" wasn't mentioned could mean that it's not coming out this year or it potentially is but SW is not at liberty to say so right now.
Keep in mind that news of certain remixed albums was kept secret until closer to release time like "Octopus", "Songs from the Big Chair" and even some of the Yes titles. ("Relayer" in particular comes to mind.)
We're only finishing up March, and we still have nine more months of this year left, so a lot can change between now and the end of the year.
The good news that I see from this update is that at least the Jethro Tull and XTC reissue series will continue to move forward, which is wonderful as those remixes are some of the best SW has produced so far, and then if we throw in those four (still) unreleased mixes as possible releases for this year, we could have another very good year indeed! :)
 
...we could have another very good year indeed! :)
which bring me to think - how blessed are surround aficionados around the world, to have such persistent, contributory
and constant in his actions, workaholic and on top of this all - very talented guy, named simply... SW :)
 
which bring me to think - how blessed are surround aficionados around the world, to have such persistent, contributory
and constant in his actions, workaholic and on top of this all - very talented guy, named simply... SW :)

Exactly! I used to think it couldn't get any better than the classic 70s prog remixes he was generating for us, but then, the "Songs from the Big Chair" and XTC remixes took everything to a whole new level, and that's what I really want more of, more surprises, especially from artists or genres not currently available in surround sound! :)
 
there are one important but somewhat not much noticed in general, trend - in last 2 years we got seems seriously growing club
of followers of SW in pro-scene among new generation of artists/producers, who opened for themselves and now starts bring to
fans the beauty and advantages of surround mixing. and that's great.
 
So sadly......no Tales this year!
That may not come as a surprise. As far as we know from Steven's interviews there are no further Yes surround mixes on the horizon. To change that SW has to be asked to work on more albums (he would would like to do Drama e.g.). Tales from Topographic Oceans was never finished and there might even be missing tapes. Besides that, not all (former) band members agree about the quality of the album (Rick Wakeman has said).
 
That may not come as a surprise. As far as we know from Steven's interviews there are no further Yes surround mixes on the horizon. To change that SW has to be asked to work on more albums (he would would like to do Drama e.g.). Tales from Topographic Oceans was never finished and there might even be missing tapes. Besides that, not all (former) band members agree about the quality of the album (Rick Wakeman has said).

AFAIK, there's definitely not any tapes missing for "Tales from Topographic Oceans", so whatever the issue is in bringing that one out, missing tapes is not one of them.
 
I'm just thinking out loud here....and maybe there's some piece of information that I've overlooked, but we seem to have conflicting information regarding Topo Oceans. Steven has said that there will be no future Yes releases with his 5.1 remixes. Other sources seem to claim (or perhaps speculate is a better word) that a 5.1 release of Topo is imminent. Is it possible that SW is no longer involved with Yes but that someone else (like Jakko perhaps) has taken over the task of 5.1 Yes mixes? If so, then it would explain why Steven is saying we won't see a remix from him but that others are saying that a release is coming soon.
 
I'm just thinking out loud here....and maybe there's some piece of information that I've overlooked, but we seem to have conflicting information regarding Topo Oceans. Steven has said that there will be no future Yes releases with his 5.1 remixes. Other sources seem to claim (or perhaps speculate is a better word) that a 5.1 release of Topo is imminent. Is it possible that SW is no longer involved with Yes but that someone else (like Jakko perhaps) has taken over the task of 5.1 Yes mixes? If so, then it would explain why Steven is saying we won't see a remix from him but that others are saying that a release is coming soon.

There's a lot I know. There's even more I don't know, but one thing I'm fairly certain about is that If Jakko Jakszyk has or will be brought on board to remix some Yes albums, "Tales from Topographic Oceans" won't be one of them. Even if Wilson's remix is not finished yet (probably pending revisions from the relevant parties before a release is possible), there's too much work that's already gone into the remix already to just have it completely scrapped and bring in someone else to do the exact same thing. They are either going to put out Wilson's mix or they won't, and I'm also fairly certain that if they really are this hesitant about releasing "Tales from Topographic Oceans", they definitely won't be interested in doing the same for any other Yes albums.
 
I just had a quick listen-through to the part of SW's recent interview with Bob Harris where they talked about his remixing work, and while he didn't share anything as far as what he was working on at the moment or what will be coming out this year, he did talk about some artists that he didn't feel would benefit at all from remixing, and specifically name dropped groups like the Monkees & AC/DC, so if any of you wanted Monkees or AC/DC remixes, sorry, it ain't gonna happen (at least not from SW anyway…)
 
I dunno - seems to me the AC/DC of old (Bon Scott era) would sound excellent in quad or surround. Once they had Brian Johnson, seems there music became a lot more dense and probably would NOT sound good in surround... just my opinion of course.
 
I just had a quick listen-through to the part of SW's recent interview with Bob Harris where they talked about his remixing work, and while he didn't share anything as far as what he was working on at the moment or what will be coming out this year, he did talk about some artists that he didn't feel would benefit at all from remixing, and specifically name dropped groups like the Monkees & AC/DC, so if any of you wanted Monkees or AC/DC remixes, sorry, it ain't gonna happen (at least not from SW anyway…)

NO MONKEES????? BUMMER!!!! :(

I feel as if that was a direct response to my 8/17/2015 post on the 2015 Wishlist (https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ound-Predictions-Wishlist&p=258364#post258364, post 167) where I wished for a surround version of "Pisces, Aquarius..." even though I was pretty sure it wouldn't happen.

However, for the Monkees fans out there, SpecWeb produced a really good surround version of that album. :music
 
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