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Silvermandalas

THE SILVERMAN

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Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

October 27, 1998
US CD Soleilmoon SOL 88

16 September 2012
NL Remastered MP3 self-released on Bandcamp

  1. Silvermandala 1
  2. Silvermandala 2
  3. Silvermandala 3 – [MP3]
  4. Silvermandala 4
  5. Silvermandala 5
  6. Silvermandala 6 – [MP3]
  7. Silvermandala 7

 

Credits

Photography By – Klaus Totzler

Notes

Recorded between 1996-1998.
Edition of 1000

The Bandcamp version combines Silvermandalas 5 & 6 into one track

From Bandcamp:
“Silvermandalas” was the second of The Silverman’s solo albums and simply cannot be categorised. It isn’t ambient or even drone music in the accepted sense as there are numerous sonic events occurring throughout the entire sumptuous voyage. It’s a great place to begin if you haven’t heard any of Silverman’s solo albums before- I promise you, you’ll dive in deeper. While the original album has been remastered here, it’s more to do with the possibilities afforded by today’s technology rather than any failings of the original master. Quite simply, it always sounded good…..Cover photography by Klaus Totzler.

Press Release

“Silvermandalas” is the new CD from The Silverman, and it’s his first solo release for Soleilmoon. As a founding member of the Legendary Pink Dots, The Silverman can already be heard on more than 30 of that group’s recordings spanning nearly two decades. He regularly collaborates with Kevin Cey in Teargarden, and with Christoph Heeman and Jim O’Rourke in Mimir. Born and raised in London as Philip Knight, he now resides in The Netherlands.

Using a combination of analog and digital keyboard systems The Silverman has created the seven musical mandalas that make up the new album. His debut CD “Dream Cell” was released in 1995 on the Dots’ own Terminal Kaleidoscope label. In the year following The Silverman gave live solo performances throughout Europe, warming up audiences for solo shows by his long time Dots collaborator Edward Ka-Spel. American audiences witnessed his solo improvisational performances in 1997 opening for the Legendary Pink Dots on their last tour.

“Silvermandalas develops further the musical directions already in evidence on his first CD. The cover art was designed by The Silverman, and features compelling mandala images of tree branches.

Reviews

When not making up a sizeable chunk of the musical bedrock of The Legendary Pink Dots, and surprisingly unprolific in his solo work by the standards of that group, Phil Knight has been known to settle down to produce some stunningly hypnotic recordings in his time.

Following on from the hypnagogic Dreamcell of the early Nineties, Silvermandalas opens with an untitled track which shows a fascination for the watery sound of an electric organ in the midst of a rising and fading wash of distended drums and restrained electronic noise. As is to be expected, there’s a cyclical feel to the album, as loops are rearranged, entwined and revolved into complex patterns which frequently end at a strangely distant, but conected, point from their origins. Sharing the same headspace as both Rolf Dammers and Holger Czukay’s Canaxis and the more reflective work of Coil (particularly “Is Suicide A Solution”), the second track is a concoction of drifting, half-human voice loops and snatched telephone conversation, making a particularly disorienting piece of atmospheric ellipsis.

The album is replete with the hypnotic possibilities of varied repetition, taking minimal structures and turning them into elongated variations on themselves – the simple tones of mysteriously-derived samples and synthesizer sounds assume a crystalline avian quality as a subtle bass presence makes itself known; an attenuated tribal rhythm coalesces into the virtual sounds of impossible electronic near-wildlife; a drone meets another as a reeded instrument sings to itself before arrival of a phasing pulse-beat – there’s an underlying feeling of the ritually paranormal about Silvermandalas, thoguh never so gauche as to be New Age, and too unsettling to be entirely Ambient.

By composing deeply mediatative music which draws inward before exploring outwards into the realms of minimal psychedelic trance Electronica, Knight has made a record which justifies its title – when the end finally comes in a whirl of violins, rolling bleeps and gentle propulsive rhythm, it’s the culmination of a transfixing listed, like watching ripples from a skimmed pebble which has disturbed the distended reflections of a smooth sheet of water. Zen-like in its semi-transparency, Silvermandalas is the ideal accompaniment to the half-sleeping state which, in some theories of parapsychology, is when the incubi and succubi of the subconscious can manifest themselves in modern minds as extraterrestrials. With the help of this record, they can have a far better soundtrack than the usual spooky-orchestral clichés they’ve suffered from over the years… – FREQ Music E-Zine

***

Silvermandalas, the newest solo effort from the legendary keyboardist for the Legendary Pink Dots, while not what I expected it to be, is a pleasant surprise nonetheless. The cover of the CD, which depicts a photo of trees dismantled and reassembled through the lens of a kaleidescope, is an interesting compliment to the album, a musical melange of styles.

Seven pieces (or “mandalas”) recorded between 1996 and 1998 comprise Silvermandalas, each one radically different from the other. The first mandala begins with buzzing insect-like sounds along with low, bassy thunderings. About halfway through the track, a snare is added, providing an unexpected rhythmic element to what at first listen might strike a listener as just another ambient drone piece. The third mandala features more of this synthetic insect sound, this time complimented by prettier, mellower, perhaps even melancholy tones; a minimal, somber track that includes other “natural” sounds such as bird twitterings and leaf rustlings.

Other mandalas range further in elements from filgrees of keyboard swirls to Eastern-influenced flutes and rhythms to lower, bass-driven oscillations. The biggest surprise (particularly to fans of the Pink Dots) is without a doubt the seventh mandala. Fabulous high-tech beats, nearly dancy, dominate this track which is strongly suggestive of the Pink Dots) is without a doubt the seventh mandala. Fabulous high-tech beats, nearly dancy, dominate this track which is strongly suggestive of IDM bands such as Autechre, and like Silvermandalas itself, is in general entirely too short, leaving the listener longing for more. – Jessica Tibbits, Brainwashed

***

Having problems sleeping? Now, I don’t mean this record will bore-by any means. You will never sleep the same again after putting your headphones on and allowing this album to work on you. The Silverman, better known as Philip Knight, the keyboardist/abstract-noise genius of ‘The Legendary Pink Dots’ is well trained in the art of organizing layers of sound, sound he creates and is very familiar with.

He has discovered and tapped into another dimension of sound; a sound that our minds and ears can be drawn together with, connected if you will. Often we listen to a song and its easily obsereved and we’re on to the next-we’re able to tell if we love the song or if it’s bad or if it’s simply alright. This album triggers a different perspective for us-a deeper viewpoint. I could not judge this record or pick apart a ‘song’-as you may see. there are no song titles-there’s a reason…you’ll have to figure out what that reason is for yourself.

I challenge you to venture into the world of the ‘Silvermandalas’ go where very few have traveled. He has a previous record called the ‘Dream Cell’ that is out-of-print, but still able to be found through various computer searches and used record stores. It’s the album that introduced me to this very special world. Live, he is amazing. If you have the opprotunity to see him and/or The Dots (LPD) don’t miss them-it will be an experience you will never forget-you won’t be sorry. -HappyTheMan

 

 

Down In the City of Heartbreak and Needles Volume 2

EDWARD KA-SPEL

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Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

September 1, 1998
US CD Soleilmoon SOL60

  1. Even Now – [MP3]
  2. Lady Sunshine – [MP3]
  3. Find the Lady – [MP3]
  4. Inferno
  5. Illusion
  6. The Man Who Never Was – [MP3]
  7. Paradise Then – [MP3]
  8. Atomic Roses – [MP3]
  9. A Crack In Melancholy Time – [MP3]
  10. The Fool With Spanners
  11. Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine

Credits

  • Edward Ka-Spel – voice, keyboards, electronics, percussion
  • Lily Ak – lady voice
  • Elke Skelter – voice & synthesizer
  • The Silverman – keyboards
  • Christoph Heemann – sonic manipulation

Notes

Down in the City of Heartbreak and Needles Volume 2 is a compilation of tracks from rare and out of print albums by Legendary Pink Dots leader and vocalist Edward Ka-Spel, and by its name is a continuation and extension of the first Down in the City CD from 1995. Five tracks are very old, from 1984, three more are from 1993, and the last three are previously unreleased.

Track 1 is from Dance China Doll 12″ EP (1984)
Tracks 2, 3, 7 and 8 are from Laugh China Doll (1984)
Tracks 4 and 5 are from Robot Records 10″ mini album (1993)
Track 6 is A-side from Robot/Anomalous Records 7″ single (1993)
Tracks 9, 10 and 11 are previously unreleased

Reviews

Overall impression: very good. Despite Ka-spel’s vast array of songs with the Legendary Pink Dots, Edward still has an abundance of leftover odds and ends that he (thankfully) puts out as a solo artist. “Down in … Volume 2″ continues where Vol 1 left off, collecting those odds and ends from the past 14 years onto one beautifully designed digitally mastered disc. Track 1 is from the 1984 Dance China Doll 12″ EP, tracks 2, 3, 7 and 8 are from the 1984 Laugh China Doll LP, tracks 4 and 5 are from the 1993 Robot Records 10″ mini album, track 6 is the a-side from the 1993 Robot/Anomolous Records 7” single and tracks 9, 10 and 11 are previously unreleased (no dates given, but I believe they’re all 90’s works). As you can see, the cd is split about evenly between old and new. The ’84 songs are keyboard and vocal oriented, more structured and “song-like” bizarre pop ditties with the unique Ka-spel lyrical/vocal touch. The 90’s songs are generally more experimental, often lengthy ambient/noise pieces (“A Crack..” is a noisier extended re-working of the song from LPD’s “9 Lives to Wonder” album). I appreciate the balance here, the older and newer songs counterpoint each other nicely. All in all, a great sampling of Ka-spel’s many worlds and yet another must have for the LPD fanatic. – Mark Weddle

***

This collection of odds and ends brings together some highly rare tracks from various singles and EP, and (nearly) completes the CD re-release of the Laugh China Doll LP started by Volume 1. Unfortunately for completists, there are still missing tracks, so it’s still going to be necessary to hunt down the originals.

“Even Now” is an all too-brief, simple soaring melody based on a typically arpeggiating keyboard line from the Dance China Doll EP, while “Lady Sunshine” has a similar approach to heartbreak and yearning from the same era (1984). “Find The Lady”, “Paradise Then” and “Atomic Roses” are engaging, cyclical ditties which show both how much and how little the essential heart of Ka-Spel’s muse has changed over the years – especially in the case of the latter’s cheap drum-machine and keyboards arranged into bouncy apocalyptic angst, which Edward continues to re-work live on occasion.

With the chronological order of the songs abandoned and a sprinkling of alternate unreleased versions, City Of Heartbreak 2 is constructed as a work in its own right rather than just a straightforward compilation. “Inferno” and “Illusion” are two early Nineties pieces of lengthy Ambient Concrete layering and reflective mythological worrying placed in between the older material along with “The Man Who Never Was” (now re-released as a 7-inch on Anomalous Records), a downbeat track which could have come from the contemporary Pink Dots release 9 Lives To Wonder. The same applies to “A Crack In Melancholy Time,” which is an ominously Ka-Spellian reworking of a piece from the same album showing that what constitues a solo release is more a matter of mixing than the norm with other musicians.

“The Fool With Spanners” and “Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine Number Nine” close the CD with shimmering, vindictive ennui, and that old favourite, a backwards-looped radio abstraction respectively, completing what in any other hands could be a set of detritus and ephemera, but here is testament to the seemingly boundless creative energy of one of the great musical artists of the underground. – Antron S. Meister, Freq E-zine

 

The Blue Room

EDWARD KA-SPEL

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Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

October 27, 1998

US LP Soleilmoon SOL 87

side a

  1. Scarlett Cross [MP3]
  2. Supper At J’s [MP3]
  3. A Roman Candle [MP3]
  4. Design Fault [MP3]

side b

  1. Hotel Y [MP3]
  2. Cause And FX [MP3]
  3. Mosquito Munch Fandango [MP3]

side c

  1. Gemini [MP3]
  2. Shall We Share Water, Brother? [MP3]
  3. The Blue Room – [MP3]

side d

  1. They Came, They Saw, They Scarpered (Parts 1-3) [MP3]

 

***
Cover ImageOctober 27, 1998
US CD Soleilmoon SOL 87

  1. Scarlett Cross [MP3]
  2. Supper At J’s [MP3]
  3. A Roman Candle [MP3]
  4. Design Fault [MP3]
  5. Hotel Y [MP3]
  6. Cause And FX [MP3]
  7. Mosquito Munch Fandango [MP3]
  8. Gemini [MP3]
  9. Shall We Share Water, Brother? [MP3]
  10. The Blue Room – [MP3]

 

12 November 2012
NL MP3 self-released on Bandcamp

  1. Scarlett Cross 03:57
  2. Supper at J’s 10:11
  3. A Roman Candle 04:12
  4. Design Fault 04:31
  5. Hotel Y 12:26
  6. Cause & FX / Mosquito Munch Fandango 08:38
  7. Gemini 03:12
  8. Shall we Share Water , Brother? 09:49
  9. Blue Room 03:06
  10. They came, They saw ,They scarpered part 1 11:22
  11. They Came , They Saw , They Scarpered Part 2 05:22
  12. They Came , They Saw , They Scarpered Part 3 02:49
  13. Wounded Knee 06:49

 

7 May 2024
NL/UK remastered MP3 self-released on EK’s Bandcamp

  1. Scarlett Cross 03:53
  2. Supper at J’s 10:01
  3. A Roman Candle 04:11
  4. Design Fault 04:31
  5. Hotel Y 12:26
  6. Cause & Effect / Mosquito Munch Fandango 08:38
  7. Gemini 03:50
  8. Shall we Share Water Brother? 09:48
  9. Blue Room 03:06
  10. They came, They saw ,They scarpered part 1 11:22
  11. They Came , They Saw , They Scarpered Part 2 05:22
  12. They Came , They Saw , They Scarpered Part 3 02:49
  13. Wounded Knee 06:49

 

 Credits

  • Edward Ka-Spel – voice + instruments
  • Nienke Poiesz – voice/lyrics on “The Blue Room”
  • Raymond Steeg – engineering, mixing, sound wizardry
  • Frack Verschuuren – engineering on “A Roman Candle”

cover and layout- Rachel K.
cover painting- Nienke Poiesz

Notes

Vinyl edition limited to 1000 copies.

From Bandcamp:
1997. Times were hard, the house was tiny, the Ka-Spellian studio had shrunk to a
what could be fitted onto a tiny table on a platform where the stairs turned. Normally a session meant wearing a coat as heating wasn’t so effective but still cost a fortune.
Despite all that “The Blue Room”still feels like a fresh album.  Initially meant as part of a trilogy of colours, but the 3rd part was never finished.
Included in this Redux edition is a previously unheard piece “Wounded Knee” which is from the time. -EKS

Just before the Year 1,000 BC a great civilization collectively decided that there was no future on the planet known as Earth. Within the space of a few short days, scientists designed and technicians created a fleet of spaceships to take them to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. They didn’t make it – the entire armada crashed into a lesser moon of the planet they called Zob. All traces of this civilization vanished forever.

Just before the year 0, a mysterious bearded man irritated an unpopular but influential monarch by telling him that a great man was going to be born who would change EVERYTHING. The mysterious bearded man was beheaded. The great man was born, changed EVERYTHING and was executed.

Just before the year 1,000, an entire multitude of people renounced their worldly possession and settled for a life of poverty. Others, fearing the worst, jumped from high towers. Usually the latter action proved fatal. Just before the year 2,000 a few thousand people retreated to their rooms and meditated on “The Blue Room”, the latest album by Edward Ka-Spel, singer with The Legendary Pink Dots.

This goes to show that Charles Darwin was right after all.

***

2024 remaster:
Uploaded to Edward Ka-Spel’s own Bandcamp page
“A rather drastic remaster for this album from 1998. This is the Redux version including tracks from the long out-of-print vinyl edition plus an exclusive piece from the sessions.”
-EK

 

Reviews

In his inimitable style, master mythologer and spinner of eerie Millenial tales for The Legendary Pink Dots here presents some further solo efforts. There’s the hissing, steaming clockwork music box of “Supper At J’s” with unsettling reflections on the state of virtual 1999, which rises and falls from song into semi-orchestral concrete-samplescapes as the lead-in for an album which includes the disturbingly groovy “Cause and FX”, with its misguided protagonist with his “cute Colt .45/splits a mole-hill from a mile” and a penchant for saving the world, whether it wants it or not.

Edward Ka-Spel knows his psychopaths as well as he knows his lyrical dreamers, and The Blue Room features several of each. The arrhythmic drum machine and mocking New Ageisms of “A Roman Candle” combines scathing, sardonic half-believed cynicism with a yearning for human warmth ; “Design Fault” manages the astounding trick of pulling a melody from what sounds like “D’y Ken John Peel?” and, through judicous use of echo, plus one of the more stumbling, minimal drum machine patterns and sample loops of recent years, with the poetic, sub-religiose revolutionary nihilism of the lyrics, makes for the best Ka-Spel track since the awesome Tanith and The Lion Tree album. “Hotel Y” has a shuffling, brushed percussion loop and watery, self-despairing lyrics about the end of a relationship which seem to form a good proportion of Ka-Spel’s solo songs, before another extended instrumental suite which moves from upbeat stabs of brassy samples into washes of blanched atmoshpherics and recycled, glitched sample loops which converge into discordant babel.

What refreshes, as ever, is the variety pulled from the keyboards and samplers, the compositional deployment of a distended rattle here, a pulsing loop there and the cunningly peculiar use of vocal and instrumental effects which transform EK’s voice from the hushed tones of an existential coward into the demonic giggle of a maniac with the space of a single song Sparking emotion and inventive discordia alike, The Blue Room establishes its own self-contained universe, bearing a passing resemblance to the mundane reality, populated by melancholic lovers and vampire suitors, earnest declarations of re-incarnated eternal love to a soundtrack of mellow Jazz and jet engines at take-off; and the guest vocals of Lisa, who provides the stirring title track with both a different voice, and a reference back through Ka-Spel’s past albums and their guests.

There’s even “Shall We Share Water Brother?” – which is part Vangelis, and perhaps part Heinlein’s Stranger In A Strange Land if the post-Messianic mood connects to the reference in the song title. Strangely familiar as Ka-Spel’s alternate world maybe, it’s probably best not to live there too long for the sake of sanity- though, compared to the dissapointments of this one, it’s an intriguing place to visit. – Freq E-Zine

Lyrics

Scarlett Cross

Her vampire lover kept the ritual
sacred every moonless night
she’d cast her clothes in all directions
dance with lanterns, freeze with fright
when his uncanny gaze would catch her
through lacy curtains, locked outside

yet always she would raise the window
always silent, in he’d fly
and on those virgin sheets, she’d spread
herself and call him to her
with those pearly hands
her vampire lover hovered sobbing
but he never chose to land

and come the mourining she would wake
untouched alone
tucked deep inside her bed
she’d see the window
locked from inside
see those virgin sheets were
ruby ruby red

Supper at J’s

13 plates, a goblet + we’re bleeding from the wrists.
J said ‘Go ahead, have one more for the road’-
it came to this.
and one by one we knelt before him,
one by one we kissed him on the mouth.
Our eyes averted as if it was the first time
But hey, it’s 1999 + J has lawyers in the fold
+ J’s accountain can recite
the greatest story ever told.

There is no need to walk the mean streets
patching wounds and saving souls
Because just like midas everything we touch
is turning gold.
Just like it did the last time.

Type http:/ you’re chosen, broke
But closing in on satan with a stun-gun
sweeping demons from the screen.

This is your entrance to the kingdom
use your fingers just for him
+ be quite certain your reward is lying
deep within – just like it did the last time.

And if I kick him hard enough, now will I see him fly?
If I stare hard at that bastard will he shrivel up and die?
And will I walk the waves & carve my name on tablets in the sky?
Will they remember me with reverence until they pull the plug on time.
Now back again and forwards – shift
a bouncing ball – two facing walls.
Now back gain and forwards –
It’s just a game, eh, J? (hit delete)

A Roman Candle (transcribed by the Plasma Twins)

Praise the lord and pass the ammo. Firewalks, god damn. Could build a
fortress with this hammer. We’ll peel away the night.
So lay me down, lay me down. I need to feel your fire.

We’ll line the corridors with lava lamps. Madonna’s retro band dig
the weather. Revolving plastic prophets.

aohhhhh. touch me. lay me down, I need your fire. Lay me down, I need
your fire. I need your hands all over.

Dark faces in the headrow, jealous eyes spy from the stars. Down by the
west wall, they were scraping someone’s bugged chocolate bars. so will
you die with me? I promise you a fortress with a wall that’s ten miles
high.

Lay me down, I need to feel your fire. lay me down, I need that fire.
lay me down, I need your fire. (lay me down) I’m wired up, and your
finger’s on my detonator. My detonator’s itching.

There’s a place for us ( your finger’s on my detonator ) A little north
of here, it’s made for us. (your finger’s on my detonator) I want you
there. I want your hands right here.

Design Jault (transcribed by the Plasma Twins)

filling in the space, only filling in the space. case they catch me
empty-handed. killing time and losing base. got to run now cause those
idle hands are cradling my face. find me drifting into sabotage,
dreaming of escape. now this is heresy against the revolution. i’m
feeling faintly proud cause i don’t believe in anything. i said i’m
feeling faintly proud cause i dont believe in anything. anything that’s
allowed. this is against the revolution. catch me there before i am
channeling. you better hold me down or chain me up. you can’t contain
me. spirit of the universe is drowning me. i feel i am clinging to a
cloud. the rusty courts of my industry are strewn across the ground. i’m
losing touch now. i cut the cord now. this line is grinding to a halt.
this is where the empire falls. this is against the revolution. i’m
losing touch now. i cut the cord now. this line is grinding to a halt
now. this is where the empire falls. (now this is heresy). we are
against the revolution.

Hotel Y (transcribed by the Plasma Twins)

What would you do if i slammed the door, vacated to this perfect space,
made my escape? And you never saw it coming. what, what would you do, if
I told you that it’s over now and it never really started? Now, I long
to fly away. Don’t worry now, for this is simply make believe. My death
wish- it’s a lie. And it never, never, will be uttered. See, I just
can’t understand. Can’t understand the joy I am feeling now. cause it’s
all so undeserved. It’s obscured. but, the voices, the voices keep on nagging.
They are eating me alive. They are teasing. I don’t know the reason why.

why now? why now? why now? why now?

Cause and Fx

Mincing through the magnets like a ballerina
did you scan my magnum.45?
it splits a molehill from a mile +
no-one gets away alive
So do you read me?
any shadow in my ribcage?
if I flash a card, will you drop your guard
+ say ‘sir now, that will do just nicely.
like the suit.’
come on in I have the class of ’99
so baby take this hulk to cuba
I got hostages, no humour.
When I count to nine, it’s ali akhbar boom
boom boom ba
Be no compromise
up there begins the great solution
read my name in lights
in headlines eight miles high
I got the whole world on my side
it’s for the people, only for the people
so how about a “thank you” people –
I do it all for you.

(Lights! Action! Read me, nine miles high)

Mosquito Munch Fandango

(instrumental)

Gemini

When I look into those eyes
I see the sadness of an ancient soul
World weary.
Yet, you’re learning from mistakes
Still many, many, many lives to go.

And I’m bound to be there with you
because we’re bound up like a double rose,
and sometimes we are choking
but this is the path we chose.

If I had the chance to start over again,
I’d choose the same
I cannot live without these chains…

This is where I shall remain
For all eternity.
This is of my volition
We’ll never die.

Shall we share water brother? (instrumental)

The Blue Room (transcribed by the Plasma Twins)

A corner of the blue room will be mine. though you froze me in the shadow,
though you try to turn away, i will stay a statue to remind you of the thing
that was. what once we were, the things we had and held and felt. the knives
you threw. the lies you fed. and all the promises you made. for i hate the
way i am left here in a corner. while the wound still bleeds and my heart
still aches. and i still need to scream over you. and i know you need it
too. for i hate the way you pretend not to see me. how i crumble, how i
rust. the way you claim that you no longer care. but, i can see you just
don’t dare to look back at me. and at the crust, the garbage of a good life.
but, this corner will be mine. for in the blue room, there’s no time.
there’s no future. nothing’s passed. for in the blue room, love and hate,
lies forever.

 

 

The Pre-Millennial Single

THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS

<< back to the Combined Discography

Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

August 25, 1998
US 12″ Soleilmoon SOL74

side 1999

  1. Hellsville ’98 – [MP3]
  2. Needles (Version Sirius) – [MP3]

side 2999

  1. Andromeda Suite ’98 – [MP3]
  2. Abracadabra ZZZZ – [MP3]

 

August 25, 1998
US CDEP Soleilmoon SOL74CD (alternate image)

  1. Hellsville ’98 – [MP3]
  2. Needles (Version Sirius) – [MP3]
  3. Andromeda Suite ’98 – [MP3]
  4. Abracadabra ZZZZ – [MP3]

 

26 November 2012
NL extended remaster MP3 self-released on Bandcamp

  1. Hellsville ’98 06:09
  2. Needles (Version Sirius) 10:03
  3. Andromeda Suite ’98 11:04
  4. Abracadabra zzzz 05:54
  5. Nadelstadt Live 05:51

 Credits

  • Ryan Moore- drums
  • The Prophet Qa’Sepel– vox, keys
  • Silverman– keys
  • Niels van Hoornblower- flute, sax, wind instruments
  • Martijn De Kleer- guitar on Nadelstadt
  • Edwin von Trippenhof- guitars on all other tracks
  • Nienke Poiesz- vox on Abracadabra zzzz
  • Frank Verschuuren- sound engineer
  • Halekka Malaizhista

Notes

The Legendary Pink Dots return with a brand new four song extended play CD and 12 inch single, The Pre Millennial Single, heralding the coming millennium and satisfying fans’ requests for recorded versions of three particularly popular songs. The live interpretations of these songs have changed so much since the originals were done that the band wanted to rerecord them, particularly because they’ve become stage favorites in recent years. The recording techniques used in the studio faithfully reproduce the live sounds and arrangements. The fourth song is remixed from their forthcoming album Nemesis Online.

Hellsville 98 is a new interpretation of Hellsville, originally released by Play It Again Sam in 1990 on The Crushed Velvet Apocalypse.

Needles (Version Sirius) first appeared as City of Needles 1990. It was recorded by Edward Ka-Spel and The Silverman as an instrumental song for a cassette-only release called 4 Days. In 1992 they rerecorded the song with the full band line-up, and added lyrics. Two years later the original version of the song was renamed Nadelstadt when 4 Days was issued on compact disc by the Terminal Kaleidoscope.

Andromeda Suite 98 was originally released in 1994 on an obscure Portuguese compilation CD called Trinity, after which a remixed version appeared in 1995 on the double CD Chemical Playschool 8 & 9, released by World Serpent Distribution.

Abracadabra zzzz is a subtly different mix of Abracadabra, a song on the forthcoming Nemesis Online album with added vocal sounds.

The vinyl edition is limited to 1256 copies, and features cover art different from the compact disc version.

KHASTRANIZHTAVALIEZHTA

***

From Bandcamp:
Pre-Millennial Angst a-plenty as the Dots made new recordings of some of the live favourites. Somehow “City of needles” still didn’t quite match some of the monstrous live renditions – just the lack of an audience to recite the story to I guess.  Even so, it’s a solid pebble in the vast LPD discography. Here you can find it extended with “Nadelstadt Live” which was exclusively released on the “Gothic II” compilation and is now very rare. -EKS

 Lyrics

Needles (Version Sirius)

Take a seat son. There’s something I really must tell you. Now me and your Ma, we’ve always been positive people, haven’t we son? But for the last year or so, it’s all been a facade. We’ve been putting on a brave face. It’s a sick world we live in. This is a sick neighborhood we live in. And there comes a time when you just have to stand up, take your life into your own hands, decide for change. That’s why me and your Ma, have decided to go to a new place. It’s a place called Sirius. Now you can’t drive to Sirius, son. Can’t walk there, can’t get an aeroplane there. Only one way to Sirius son, and think of it a bit like closing your eyes on all the sickness and the degradation, and when you open them up again, you’re in this garden! Where everybody there loves you, where everybody supports everybody else. It’s that kind of place! So now I’ve come to the point of this little talk. Are you coming along? Think about it. I don’t want to force you into anything. I’m not that kind of father, am I? I’ve never forced you into anything in your entire life. I’ve only ever been there for you. Making sacrifices for you. When you were down, when you needed someone, who was there with a shoulder to cry on? Me, always me! Always there for you, always listening. And now, just once, I’m asking you to listen to me. What’s it gonna be? Don’t look at me like that, son! You can trust me! I mean, God knows, I’ve been there for you your whole life, you should be able to trust me by now! I’m not asking for a snap decision. You can take a day or a week if you need it, just be sure, we’re going! AND YOU’RE INVITED! Only, if you really wanna stay here, in all this shit! Well, that’s your decision. I’ll even help you, I’ve gotta pocket full of sleeping pills. You just take them in the garden shed and when you wake up, we’ll be gone, you won’t have to watch. But remember this, when you wake up, you’ve gotta deal with it all by yourself from then on. No shoulders to cry on then, son! You’ll be facing yourself! You’ll be facing your fear! You’ll be standing in the presence of your fear! And boy, you’ll feel it pressing in from all sides! Before you, behind you, beside you, beside you….
(Transcribed by tanith R. gyle)

 

 

Nemesis Online

THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS

<< back to the Combined Discography

Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

September 22, 1998
US CD Soleilmoon SOL75

16 March 2013
NL Remastered MP3 self-released on Bandcamp

  1. Dissonance – [MP3]
  2. Jasz – [MP3]
  3. As Long As It’s Purple And Green – [MP3]
  4. Ghost – [MP3]
  5. Under Your Wheels – [MP3]
  6. A Sunset For A Swan – [MP3]
  7. Is It Something I Said? – [MP3]
  8. Zoo – [MP3]
  9. Fate’s Faithful Punchline – [MP3]
  10. Cheating The Shadow – [MP3]
  11. Abracadabra – [MP3]
  12. Slaapliedje – [MP3]



Cover ImageUS LPx2 Soleilmoon SOL75

side a

  1. Dissonance – [MP3]
  2. Jasz – [MP3]
  3. As Long As It’s Purple And Green – [MP3]
  4. Ghost – [MP3]
  5. Under Your Wheels – [MP3]

side b

  1. A Sunset For A Swan – [MP3]
  2. Is It Something I Said? – [MP3]
  3. Zoo – [MP3]
  4. Fate’s Faithful Punchline – [MP3]

side c

  1. Cheating The Shadow – [MP3]
  2. Abracadabra – [MP3]
  3. Slaapliedje – [MP3]

side d

  1. 10th Shande – [CAD3]
  2. Schatten – [CAD3]

Credits

  • The Silverman – keyboards, loops, devices
  • Niels van Hoornblower – horns, flutes
  • Ryan Moore – bass, drums, guitar, loops on tracks 1 and 11
  • The Prophet Qa’Sepel – keyboards, voice, loops, destroyed lyre
  • Edwin von Trippenhof – guitar and guitar mutations
  • Frank Verschuuren – sound devices

Cover by Elke P.

Notes

Recorded at Centrally Heated Farm
Vinyl edition limited to 1998 copies.
The bonus tracks on the vinyl (“10th Shade” and “Schatten”) were recorded by Edward and Phil after the completion of the rest of the album. They were incorporated into “Chemical Playschool 11
The working title for this album was ZEITGEIST.

***
It’s December 31, 1999…five minutes to midnight. Five minutes to the big one; an occasion to be marked in some way, remembered, related to the grandchildren in the years to come. The trouble is that I’m not a party animal. Give me a red nose, a glass of tequila, an armchair, and I’ll be happy to watch the festivities on TV.

The trouble is that they cut the power off in August. My needs are simple. As long as I have enough to eat, a little to drink, a reliable supply of cigarettes, a warm room, a decent book, and a TV, I’m happy.

And what I need right now is a slice of toast, lightly buttered, smeared with cream cheese.

The trouble is that they cut the power off in August. It was like this…A rumor persisted that all the computers in all the world were set to go berserk as the clock chimed for the twelfth time on this very night. People panicked and withdrew all of their money from the banks in July.

The result? I’m sitting here, four minutes away from the year 2000 with a TV that does not work, toaster that does not toast, and Goddammit woman, I will complain about it! Whose idea was it to board up the doors and windows anyhow? Just take a peek through the crack. There’s nobody there. It’s a wasteland out there. Sorry, I shouldn’t take it out on you. Hey, my grandfather’s old watch says it’s time. Let’s light those last cigarettes and sing our song together…1,2,3:

The dog just ate the margarine,
She’s writhing on the floor.
Snatched it when our backs were turned
She won’t steal anymore

And if I was the only boy in the world,
And you the only girl
We’d fight like hell.

O.K. It doesn’t rhyme, but at least it’s ours.

DEZHTIHAVAZHKOSTZHINARA

***

from Bandcamp:
1998.A stone’s-throw to the end of the Century. Everything somehow felt so URGENT.
What if the computers stopped when the clock struck 12 on the fateful night?
Would we playi “spot the lemming” pointing at high towers? Would Arnold Schwarzenegger save us by punching Satan?
It was hard not to ignore the calendar and The Dots created this album in a very swift month before dashing off to America to promote it.Sometimes the energy is enthralling, sometimes it sounds like a little more time was needed. But this was a RACE against time.
So much to say…so little time to say it…

Reviews

Overall impression: excellent! LPD are back with a wonderful new album, just one short year since “Hallway of the Gods”. I was a bit afraid that the level of psychedelic splendor and beauty achieved by the previous album would be difficult for the Dots to match or surpass, but “Nemesis..” has indeed surpassed “Hallway..”, and is yet another great album to add to the huge 14 year backcatalog of great albums. This album is a nice assortment of the various LPD styles which, generalizing, could be split up into two categories:  drum propelled “rock” songs such as “As Long as it’s Purple and Green”, “Is it Something I Said?”, “Zoo” and “Abracadabra” and quieter, more subdued and achingily beautiful melodic songs such as “Ghost”, “A Sunset for a Swan”, “Fate’s Faithful Punchline”, “Cheating the Shadow” and the lullabye “Slaapliedje”. Everyone and everything sounds perfect … Edward’s poetic tales and vocal delivery, Niels horn melodies and Edwin’s guitar (which really shine on “Fate’s Faithful Punchline”, my favorite track), the Silverman’s loops and melodies, Ryan’s loops, bass and funky drumming … everyone plays their part perfectly. The result is sublime bliss:  jazzy, psychedelic, folky, experimental at times … the balance between playful, sad and manic moods is just right and there are no bad tracks (although “Is it Something I Said” does get a bit too noisy and hectic). The artwork by Elke Peucker and Robert Osten is equally beautiful. One of my favorites of 1998. Mp3 snippets of all of the tracks are available at Brainwashed. Sing while you may … -Brainwashed.com

Lyrics

Dissonance

Driving the pack, from the rear, with a trumpet, with an axe. Driving to the precipice, windswept and wet with starving neglect. Eternally carving my cause on a landscape that’s blighted and scorched. I’m blighted and scorched with the truth, we don’t listen, we shoot, from the blindside. It’s a landslide, but in hindsight, I thought it was easier. But it’s all much too late to turn back, I must face an eternally fateless way in a place where my orders echo my torturous ghosts. In a space with no windows, I’m counting the touch. All this time to reflect on my crimes to humanity. I’m screaming profanities, just give me a chance to start over again. I confess, yes, I’ll do it again.

Jasz (instrumental)

As Long as it’s Purple and Green

There’s a riot in the cell block… bugs are sliding down the phone. Mutating sores and spores and shellshock-virus Martha hunts alone. We’re wearing spacesuits on the subway. We take our pleasures from a screen. Care you for something intravenous? Go ahead! I’ll plug you in … Christ I need a cigarette but there’s no door etched on this glass. You see, these standard regulation suits are cheap – they have no class. I’d like to ride a horse through Utah blowing smoke rings five miles wide, but they cordoned off the airport and I cannot get a ride. “Get a life!” you say. I’m trying. I’m insured up to my neck, and if the whole world just capsizes, just be sure I’ll collect. And if I want to visit Venus all I have to do is click. You see, this mad chaotic universe is at my fingertips. And one day I will bring you discipline. I’ll save you with this disc. Like me it is incorruptible. Like me, it takes no risks.

Ghost

Blood on the door, blood on the stairs, blood on the floor, blood in my hair, turn around and white light guides me twist and fall and kneel beside me nothing is sure, visions impair, I’m sick to the core, and walking on air Nothing is real, no one to hold, nothing to feel except for the cold.

Under Your Wheels 

Your white eyes, they never judge me, they just fix upon a place that’s far away, deep inside you, and I wonder will I ever have the chance to walk there too? But you’re tongue-tied, you always have been. Our conversations, they have been far too few. No going back now, at least we have the time now to explore what’s happening deep down inside you, what’s going on here inside me too. We’re not dock-tied, we’re individuals, and angel, all I asked was “set me free”. But not this free.

A Sunset for a Swan 

Johnny with the roving eyes sits bored upon the riverside, as Juliet, his future bride, jumps naked in the water. Figure eights and scuba dives, deep down she’s blowing suicide. She squeaks and metamorphosizes movie stars and slaughters. Johnny’s staying serious, his face is kind of frozen, one eye is completely closed, and one eye is wide open. It swivels from a sunset to a swan. It weeps for every goddamn thing that’s wrong. When Johnny’s holding Juliet, it’s like I hold my cigarette. I squeeze it, choosing to forget the warning on the carton. I flick it from the window ledge and stuff it on the waterbed. The black smoke rises overhead, then settles over London. I am staying serious, my face is kind of frozen. One eye is completely closed, and one eye’s staying open. It swivels from a sunset to a swan. It weeps for every goddamn thing that’s wrong. When Johnny’s holding Juliet, it’s like he holds his cigarette. He hangs her from the window ledge, and blows her over London. She’d pick a star and pirouette, she’ll turn a cartwheel on my head. I grit my teeth, put up with it, because it’s all for fun.

Is it Something I Said?

The phone rings… 3 A.M. I’m pretending I’m asleep – could hear you creeping .. And laughing as you dropped my name like bleeding snakes, like poison, like the hell-fire that you paint in vivid colours. Well I guess that he’s a saint while I’m the one that’s in the way. The one that keeps you tangled up in chains. So very much I have to say.. I can’t make it. Well, it was only yesterday when you told me that you loved me. Will you write it? I need to see it – black and white. I’ll read it. I will read it once again and maybe one day I’ll believe it. But will you tell me where you’ve been – everything in detail, every second, every moment. Every thought. I need to know. It’s just because I love you. Well, isn’t that enough?

Zoo

No pets allowed! No pets allowed! That’s what the placard said so they left us out her floating upside down, our ankles bound. Protective coating, cos we’re very cute – but sinters here don’t hesitate. They shoot! (It’s raining crocodiles). And I really want to sleep with you but cannot stand them watching. They encourage us outside the glass – throw barbie dolls and stockings. Oh, but I’ll retain my dignity and gaze up at the moon until my buddies come and rescue me. We will rise! We will find a place that’s just for us.

Fate’s Faithful Punchline

Lined up between the arrows at your heart – is this a charmed life that I lead? Now could it be that some place. Some time, you will stop believing and things that once were charming will feel like sand against your eyes? When I walk into your space, you’ll see a thief by night. To send away or lock away or run away from… Will there come a day? Will we have the courage just to walk away while something still remains? Will we keep it pure? Now let this death be noble. Let this death be grand. Don’t keep it on a lead… When I think of you I want to see you on a summer day. My treasure. My lover. Together. Alone.

Cheating the Shadow

Jello man cuts comers, creeps unseen between the sheets. When you’re asleep, he creeps inside you. He’s sinking in his teeth. He’s breaking legs! He’s laying eggs… you should see him play the organ. He whistles “Dixie” no your pipes, and you (?) – you simply die of fright. He slithers clean away and not one single soul survives. Now I’m starving in my shrinkwrap. I’m lying in the road. I know he won’t get me, because I will live forever!

Abracadabra
(No Lyrics available)

Slaapliedje

Can’t stand this cage cos there’s no place to fly to. My future’s been cancelled, my past’s just a lie. You say, “Do it alone”, and I’m trying like hell to rise up from the ashes, be somebody else. I shout my rage from the rooftops, burn down this shell, but you smile from the gallery, ringing a bell. And I jump, and I’ve jumped but the bars are still there. I know deep inside me you don’t really care. You say, “Sleep baby. Sleep. It’s all just a dream.”

 

 

Share the Day/Dream Stealer

EDWARD KA-SPEL

<< back to the Combined Discography

Cover ImageRelease date and tracklist

June 1, 1999
US 7″ Brainwashed BRAIN002

  1. Share the Day – [MP3] [BRAIN008]
  2. Dream Stealer – [MP3] [BRAIN008]

 

 

Credits

  • Edward Ka-Spel – vox, keyboards, toys, acoustic guitar
  • Lisa – lady voice

Notes

The second brainwashed 7″ single. Limited to 1,027 hand-numbered copies.
Yellow vinyl, comes with sticker and post card.
Cover Artwork by John Beck.
Postcard Artwork by Daniel McKernan.