Demography - The Astral Archivez

Volume I - Part I

hile working with equipment brought in for the remastering and restoration of the debut album, I decided it was logical to go through my tape archives and try restoring some of the old demo masters I have accumulated over the years. In the process, I managed to locate most of the original master tapes from our mid-eighties demo sessions, as well as the original dubs from the early demo sessions. Surprisingly, the tapes were in fair condition, with only a few tracks showing the effects of their age. I transfered the majority of these tapes into the 24 bit digital realm for later archiving. In the course of all this, and due to the fact that I had previously announced an official CD release of the demo tapes, I began assembling the components I would need for a CD release. While going through hours of tapes, I managed to locate a number of cuts that I didn't even know existed. My original plan had been to release one CD with all the official demo tracks, but quickly realised that there was too much material for a single disc. On top of that, some of the tapes I needed to create a complete set were in pretty rough shape, and I knew that better material was available elsewhere, but not in my possession. I also decided that there was a fair amount of material that I had never released before that had some historical significance.

The outcome of all this is the first of two CDs. As of this writing the track list is still tentative, pending locating of better source material or alternate tracks. Below is a partial listing of what I have currently in production, but please allow me some flexibility in the final track listing. I'll list details on the remainder of the tracks in the next Commandscript. The full (tentative) listing can be found here.

The 1982 demos: Salem, Crystal, Hammerhead
Source: original high grade cassette dub
Our first professional recording sessions. The original master tape was rented, and subsequently erased. This is as close to the source as possible, and is probably the best we will ever get. The tapes are not as clean as the original would have been, but are vastly superior to the versions available on the bootleg CD released by Reborn Classics.

The 1983 demos: The Enlightenment/Master Of The Sun, The Alien, Moon
Source: original high grade cassette dubbing master
These tapes got us noticed on a global scale, and managed to make Kerrang's "Top ten demos of all time" list. Listening to them now, I question the amount of praise they received, but without them there wouldn't have been a starting point. I believe there may be an original master somewhere, but haven't seen it since 1983. There are a couple of minor aborations that have existed in every copy of these tapes ever issued.

The Pressing: 1985 outtake from the Of The Sun + Moon sessions
Source: high grade cassette dub
I discovered this version while combing through cassette tapes. This version is significant in that it contains the only evidence of a 4 hour recording session which utilised the entire band and members of our road crew performing wind chimes. We set up about 30 different chimes in a circle, then used a pair of microphones mounted on a T boom which I rotated around the room. The result was a great stereo effect, that was later destroyed during subsequent overdubbing. A scratch vocal track is also present, which was either done in studio or dubbed over at home.

1987 demo tracks: The Transient, Odyssey Of Light, Neckz In The Woodz, Til Death Do Us Part
Source: original Hi-Fi VHS master tape
The first complete recording of "Seven Moonz Of Xercez" was done at my 8 track home studio in 1987. There are several interesting things in these recordings. Aside from the electronic drum parts used only on these recordings, The Transient contains my favorite solo sections recorded to date. they have an attitude that I have been trying to replicate for over a decade unsuccessfully. The master tape contained over a dozen mixes of Odyssey Of Light, which was technically challenging to mix. I recall blowing at least one move on each pass, which at the time ruined my mix. Today I can't really tell the difference between most of the takes. This cut was mix number 5. Neckz In The Woodz has interesting solo sectionz, and this mix was the first that I did using delayed reverb on the vocal, something that has become the standard for this track. Til Death Do us Part contains a few sectionz in the arrangement that made it to tape for the first time on his recording. The demos were mixed to VHS tape, and these are from thte original master.