Remastering Of The Sun + Moon - Part 1

Given the fact that Sacred Blade is busy digitally rerecording their debut album, I was recently asked why I was also rereleasing a remastered version of the 1986 release, and wouldn't one or the other be sufficient. I thought that I would share with you my views on this subject, as the decision to release two completely different versions of the same material was a difficult one.

Of The Sun + Moon - the original

"The echoes of my past lives, now float in the recesses of my mind..."

It's funny how music has the ability to latch itself onto memories of a particular time. For me, Anne Murray's "Buffalo in the Park" triggers thoughts of my first house; looking out over the ravine in wintertime, being woken up by my father to feed visiting raccoons in the backyard. Even thinking of the melody for "Seasons In The Sun" (Terry Jacks) brings back a vision of sitting on a swing, overlooking a northern bay of Saltspring Island, where my family spent many a summer in my youth. The island embodied a lot of important milestones in my life: signing my first autograph on one trip over, writing several of the band's first songs*1 outside the cabin where we stayed, falling in love for the first time... Other songs evoke memories of old friends and places, and the songs that unlock these places have a special meaning to me as I grow older. I understand the attachment people can have for music, and how important these old recordings can be. It was for this reason that I decided to reissue the original version of the album, despite my personal feelings about the recording. If only one person had the kind of attachment I have to many recordings, they deserved to have the opportunity to own the original.

I have been receiving requests for the original recordings to be released on compact disc for years. Our former label was pressing to get the rights to a CD release, and other labels had taken the initiative to release unofficial versions of portions of the debut on CD, albeit poor quality recordings mastered off of vinyl. As we now had the exclusive rights and our original master tapes in our possession, it seemed reasonable to release a remastered version of the debut on CD. I was apprehensive however, about creating an unlimited number of these discs, due to the impending release of what I consider the "proper" version of the album. This was how the idea of a limited edition was born.

With a decision to rerelease the album comes a number of new considerations: do you go back and remix the album, possibly rerecording sections that are felt to be substandard, do you try to enhance the original recording with overdubs, or do you simply remaster the recording, to get the best results from an unchanged original master. As a music lover myself, there are characteristics of certain recordings that attract me. Often, these same traits might be defined as imperfections by the artists who created them. Remixed albums often lose this essence, and because of this, I felt that a rerelease of the original "Of the Sun + Moon" was justified and why I decided not to mess with the mixes or performances, as I would have liked to. Those who identified with this album could have a CD quality version of it, while the rest of the world could get to know the newly recorded version, which would be better, in my opinion.

Even during the recording process, I was unhappy with the results we were achieving on the debut album. Recording, for the most part without a contract and with no available budget, created a difficult environment to work within a professional studio, which expects to be paid for its time. We were therefore under severe time restrictions, and due to the complexity of the project and my demand for high production values, this was not conducive to getting the best results. Despite all the adversity we encountered in production, we managed to complete the project, and finally released what would become our debut album. It is an accurate reflection of the times, but in no way is it representative of Sacred Blade in 1999, the year of its rerelease on compact disc. For its time, the album received good reviews, better than I felt it warranted, but I guess that others, like myself with other artist's work, could see beyond the imperfections in these recordings and accept the offering as it was.

Of The Sun + Moon II- redefining the vision

I had decided in 1994 as I progressed on the production of Seven Moonz of Xercez, that a rerecording of the debut album was appropriate. Not only would it reflect the musicianship and song development that the current lineup offered, but it would also be more consistent with the production levels that were being reached on the second album. Given that we now had our own production facility where time would not be an issue hampering the creative process, I began sequencing the first album material in preparation for recording, which in theory should take very little time, given our thorough familiarity with the songs. However, any time you begin reexamining your work, the temptation to begin changing things comes up, and pieces of the original work that had been acceptable before now had to be brought up to today's standards. Thus, the reworking process began on all levels. The basic arrangements of the songs, and each subsequent part offered a myriad of new possibilities in production. Pandora's box had been opened, and it was now my job to make decisions as to how far to go with revisions, and what to leave in its original state... but I'll detail all of that at a later date.

Of The Sun + Moon - the remaster

For now, I offer you the remastered original album, imperfections and all*. It is a time capsule. For those of you who already know it, I hope it will bring back good memories. For the uninitiated, this was the foundation, our first major venture into the recording industry. I hope you can overlook the flaws and see the intent that lies beneath. We have included all the original artwork found on the 1986 gatefold release, including the lyrics. We have also added a few photographs from this era of Sacred Blade. Stay tuned for new information on this definitive CD release.

*okay, so I fixed a few technical problems, like eliminating a lot of noise. Careful attention was paid to maintaining the sound of the original recordings.
*1 The Alien, Moon, Hammerhead (now The Transient), Master Of The Sun to name a few.