It may surprise you, (it certainly surprised me,) to learn that the Red Noise box set has hit the number 10 spot in the official independent chart and number 6 in another. Cherry Red informed me of this the other day but I only now got around to posting the news here. I find it ironic that it's taken 40 years.for the recordings to be given the attention that they are due. Maybe in another 40 years my more current recordings will be given similar rewards. 😉
ihttps://www.officialcharts.com/charts/independent-albums-chart/
It is also No 6 in the Indie Breakers Chart - https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/independent-albums-breakers-chart/
I have been listening to my set here in California and loving every minute. Sound-on-Sound has been my favorite album since my first listen oh so long ago, and this new release is divine. Loving the live tracks. What a band!
Very glad to hear that the Red Noise box set has charted. And so it should! Sound on Sound is a brilliant album, and the reissue package does justice to the source material - well done Esoteric. A particular highlight so far has been the Leicester live set (after listening to which I have to go and lie down for a while - it's tiring!). Oh how I'd love to have seen Red Noise live (I was too young) - but thrilling now to at least hear them in all their live glory, and see the OGWT footage, which at least allows one to imagine what the gigs would have been like. Fascinating to hear how 'finished' the home demos are - and Bill's solo DIY recording career direction of the past few decades can be seen as a near inevitability in hindsight, given his ability to create 'finished product' (albeit minus the hi-fi) as far back as the 1970s. I'm not sufficiently audiophile to make informed comment on the sound quality - although I feel like I'm hearing everything as clearly as I could hope to. Reverby vocals, newly audible bass guitar melodies, synth textures, percussion fizz, etc, etc. Hindsight is easy, but I think 'My Light' would have sat oddly within Sound on Sound - it almost seems to belong to an earlier - or later incarnation of Bill. Some artists feel a need to tinker with track listings on their reissues - not something I am a big fan of, and I'm certainly glad it hasn't happened here. If it ain't broke... Very happy to hear new, improved Ideal Homes, Instantly Yours, and Disposable. The first two tracks I felt were slightly, er, disposed of, on the b-side of Do You Dream in Colour? (although it made for a great EP, including Atom Man Loves Radium Girl). I've always felt they were 'album quality', and they sound fantastic in their newly mixed forms - as does Disposable. Packaging and extra content? A+ quality. Reissues can be tacky, instant revenue generators to scam the loyal fans, but a great amount of care and attention - and, dare I say it, love - has clearly gone into this box set. Again, kudos to Esoteric for that. This is such an important album for me. Lots of great music was happening in 1979, and although I was a bit too young to fully dig it all, including the Red Noise experience, I can see now what a formative period it was in terms of my musical taste. I'm so glad Red Noise has got the reissue it deserves.
Congrats! Bought it the day it was released and a few other times. This box is killer. The HD 5.1 is phenomenal. Hearing stuff I've never hear!
Fantastic news Bill & very well deserved. Note also Altered Images at No 2 in the same chart, another 40 year old band. I think early 80's music is undergoing a renaissance at the moment, love it! 🙂
Forty years ahead of the curve - not a bad place to be! 🍸
Sound On Sound did get recognition in London when it came out. It was in Nicky Horne's Capital Radio album chart for a number of weeks.
Much welcome news I'm sure Bill, in fact together with the remastered and extended 2 CD release you have both in the top 30. 😎