BOC: Imaginos slotting & Magna carta Records

[BREVARD Adrian R. (MSMail)]

Theo Said -

"I agree totally that Imaginos would have been a blockbuster for BOC.
Personally, though, I think the timing would have been best [blest
with hindsight, mind you] if it had appeared after Agents or
Spectres, simply 'cause BOC was still riding high on the success of
Reaper and Godzilla."

Ah we disagree here.  BTW Theo get Hoey's Bug Alley if you haven't
already, real crunchy cover of Black Magic Woman, with Gary doing vox.

Then Jason Said -

"Don't forget too that (i think in the Cosmic Debris interview from
the tBS page) AoF and onwards was the start of the band getting out of
the "BOC's
inferno" that the 1st 3 LPs created along with their band imagery on
tour
in those days and to focus on not heavy "in the bad sense" music
production."

I agree more with this.  Stylistically I put Imaginos in the same
category with the big three.  Releasing it after OYFOOYK flows better
for me, but hey I+m not CBS records (and damn proud of it. 8^).

Now this may only make sense to me but this off topic stuff (that I
inadvertaently started) leads me to an idea.

"Tom Tully yelled:

>ADRIAN, I NOTICED YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE NEW SHADOW GALLERY CD. HOW
>IS IT AND WHERE DID YOU PURCHASE IT AT. I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR QUITE A
>WHILE FOR IT. I LIVE IN CLEVELAND OHIO

Carved in Stone has been out for a while.  Like most Magna Carta  albums
you won+t find it at a Best Buy or Circuit City. You need a real record
store like Towers or HMV, anyone that sells stuff you won+t hear on a
radio.  Count me as opposite to Jerry and Craig, I think its pretty
good, not earth shattering but not bad either.

Jerry Says -

"Hm, apparently some differences in musical taste here. I got 'Carved In
Stone' because of the positive reviews - I hate it! It's so pretentious,
many simple pieces (not unlike AOR) stuck together with a tape of
progrock -
it holds no emotions for me."

Guess you probably don+t like Dream Theater either.  I+m not knocking
your taste Jerry but my experience has been that this new brand of prog
metal is either adored or hated, very little in between.

Then Craig Shipley said -

>Tom,

>I'm not Adrian, nor do I play him on TV. I picked up my copy of Carved In
Stone from Tower  Records in Vienna VA. It is on the Magna Carta label
and should be easy to
obtain either thru  Tower (if you have one locally, that is) or from one
of the many on-line
services like Ranjit or >Wylie (AKA Bananamoon; try our resident
CD-monger first).
>IMHO, these guys don't hold a candle to the best American prog-rock band in
a long time and that be Mastermind!  Try Mastermind IV: Until Eternity
first and be
blown away!!
>
>Craig Shipley
>craigs at pyyramid.com

Hannging out in my hood agian Shipley?  A friend was recommending some
Mastermind, hmmm see if I can find it in a listening post.

Craig said  "the best American prog-rock band in a long time and that be
Mastermind!"

Well depends on your definition of Progressive.  Dream Theater,
Threshold and SG I put into the progressive metal movement.  For sheer
progressive rock no one beats King's X my friend.  8^).

Then Jerry chimed in again>

"Great choice! :-) What about Enchant? Not as heavy, but still great.
Didn't
they release their second album recently?"

I like the Enchant also, though I haven+t been able to secure a copy of
their latest.  I loved their work on the Yes Tribute (Magna Carta).
Enchant and Steve Morse are the best on the tribute.

Whew ok mail out of the way, the long road leads me to this idea.  Magna
Carta records is a label producing/distributing some young prog and prog
metal bands, Shadow Gallery, Enchant, Magellan, Lemur Voice, Altura.  In
the last year or two they have brought together various artist and bands
to produce Tribute albums for groups such as Rush, Yes, Genesis, Jethro
Tull and Pink Floyd.  Some are note for note renditions while others are
dramatically changed.  If there was any label with the balls and
convictions to do something with Imaginos, ie., re-do it in its original
unabridged form or a recording of what was actually packaged, they might
be the right choice.  On the tributes they+ve done they have used people
like Steve Howe, Steve Morse, Stu Hamm, members of Dream Theater, Shadow
Gallery, Fates Warning, etc.  They can certainly line up the talent and
they aren+t afraid of producing music that dosen+t have the "radio
ready" feel to it.

Now this leads me to some questions for Al.  Given that Imaginos was
started as a solo project how did CBS end up with the rights to the
songs?  Were you personally still obligated to CBS or did you choose
them because of past business dealings?

AB

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