{"id":483,"date":"2015-10-23T09:12:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T08:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conedm.nl\/?p=483"},"modified":"2020-04-10T09:27:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T08:27:15","slug":"new-album-88-in-the-shade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conedm.nl\/?p=483","title":{"rendered":"‘New’ album: 88 in the Shade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cover88-small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

‘88 in the Shade<\/strong>‘ is the reconstruction of an imaginary album that might have been released in 1988, the year in which all of the songs on the album were recorded.\u00a0After so many years it is difficult to analyse why none of these songs saw the light of day as they were recorded or earlier in time. But fact is, none of these songs, except for the short instrumental “Drive<\/strong>” were ever released before. “Drive” was included\u00a0on the 2004 compilation album “Almost Lost<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

So now, almost 3 decades later and after a process of carefully digitzing, mixing and mastering \u00a0“88 In The Shade” was recreated, a full length album with songs the world did not hear before.<\/p>\n

Looking back it is to be noticed\u00a0that after the recordings for the \u201c2<\/strong>\u201d album in the second half of 1987 there were a dazzling amount of ideas floating around, contributing to a strange and\u00a0broad range in styles, moods and variety of the songs on this album. In some ways maybe even reminiscent \u00a0of the Beatles\u2019 “White Album<\/strong>”\u00a0 that was released 20 years earlier.\u00a0“88 In The Shade<\/strong>” only represents a small segment of the recorded material during that period. Ewald’s attention\u00a0and focus of composing and recording music had already turned to instrumental music for audiovisual productions. The \u2018regular\u2019 songs became less important, maybe contributing to the fact that none of these songs were released before.<\/p>\n

The album opens with \u201cAs Years pass By<\/strong>\u201d an introspective, dreamy song with semi-intellectual lyrics before the listener is abruptly pushed into \u00a0a completely different atmosphere, a raunchy rock \u2019n roll song with the introduction of the\u00a0\u201cJohnny Struggle<\/strong>\u201d character, someone\u00a0operating on the self side\u00a0of society and according to the vocalist in dire need of a relationship.
\nThen after the rather abrupt ending, there is another mood with the very Lennon-esque track, \u201cDandelion<\/strong>\u201d fading into sound effects before the funky \u201cKiss Me<\/strong>\u201d starts, with some of Ewald\u2019s most explicit lyrics.
\n\u201cDrive<\/strong>\u201d is a short instrumental with a plethora of styles and mood swings.
\n\u201cStay<\/strong>\u201d is beautifully melodic and pleasing, another songs with Beatlesque influences, while the following track \u201cIrene<\/strong>\u201d is certainly one of the album\u2019s highlights and delights, with its historical setting telling the story of a local witch hunting crowd\u00a0obstructing\u00a0the relationship\u00a0between a man and woman.
\nAnother song clearly inspired by British 60s and 70s pop is \u201cOf All The Things<\/strong>\u201d. The next song introduces yet another style, reggae, with the track \u201cIn My Place<\/strong>\u201d. The relaxed mood and low timbre vocals result in a pleasant effect.
\n\u201cIn My Place<\/strong>\u201d is followed by one of the few tracks that clearly show contemporary 1988 influences: \u201cBizarre<\/strong>\u201d. The hard and prominent beat might give the listener in the mid 2010\u2019s a somewhat uneasy feel, yet the sampled and a heavy electronic drum sound give the song its defining edge and the melodic character is still there.
\nAfter \u2018Bizarre<\/strong>\u2019 the listener is\u00a0lured into the album’s final, the\u00a09 minutes running epic piece: \u201cA Miracle<\/strong>\u201d, closing the album. The song starts out as a catchy pop tune dealing with the \u201cmystery of life\u201d passing all kind of different styles until the songs ends in a long fade out where the music gradually disappear into nature, symbolising life and nature are indispensably connected: old life fades into nature to make way for new life.<\/p>\n

Compared to its predecessor \u201c2<\/strong>\u201d this album contains a lot of technical novelties. Except for “A Miracle<\/strong>\u2019 \u00a0all tracks were still recorded onto 4 tracks, but \u2018bouncing\u2019 had practically disappeared as a broad range of musical instruments allowed for the music to directly be recorded to a stereo track tape and the other tracks on tape could be used for vocals, sound effects and guitar. Originally the tracks wete recorded to a Tascam 246 recorder. The exception being \u201cA Miracle<\/strong>\u201d that was recorded to 8 tracks (using the Tascam 238). The instruments on this recording were: Yamaha DX7, TX7, TX802, Roland MKS-100 and the Alesis HR-16 that had replaced the Roland TR-707.<\/p>\n

Listen to the album on Spotify.<\/p>\n