Thank you, mystery lady

Dear all,

Following my posting last weekend I do seemed to have stirred things up a little, to say the least. I was beginning to think that my words had been falling on deaf ears until I received a reassuring e-mail off-list.....

"Please remember that some of the comments being made within Shado at the moment are the views of a very small minority. I'm generally happy with the way the club operates - for sure, online ordering would make things easier but when compared with everything that you do manage to achieve in your spare time it's hardly the end of the world. As a disabled person I find it difficult to get out and about, but manage to do so without whingeing on about how much hassle it is. Some people just need to realise how lucky they are, get a life and see what they can offer, rather than just slagging off other peoples work."

So, thank you, mystery lady. I just wish I'd used the word "lazy" in my first posting, as it would have generated so many more replies!


As for the recent comments about the upcoming UFO soundtrack CD:

>Fanderson have a HUGE responsibility here, to release a CD that
>closely resembles Barry Grays original intentions.

Hands up anyone who's qualified to state categorically Barry's intentions? Knowing how for the majority of his life he was interested in all aspects of music, recording and production, as one who excitedly embraced new technology, does anyone here seriously think he'd eschew stereo in favour of mono? Surely, just because a mono TV signal was the way in which his music was finally heard does not mean that's the way he wanted it to be heard? If this was the case then the club is totally barking up the wrong tree with the CD, and we should be releasing it on a wax cylinder!

Isn't it better to have a choice? If anyone wants to listen to a compressed mono track, dig out your UFO VHSs or DVDs and listen to the music from that source through your TV. If anyone wants to hear the music cleaned up, but still in mono, turn your amplifier to mono or pull out a speaker. If anyone wants to hear the beautiful wall of sound that is Barry Gray's music in all its glory, reproduced using today's available technology, buy the CD and play it in a decent hifi system.

>If these guys have been remixing for a year I hate to think what
>they will come up with.

I would hope that someone supposedly with loads of experience in the music business would understand that it hasn't taken a year to mix the recordings. It's taken a year of people's spare time to clean the tapes, de-noise, de-click, and document the recordings, plus some mixing and editing. Of course, given the above argument I guess "Marty" would prefer the recordings in all their hissy, distorted awfulness.

>Hey -- here's an idea -- why not donate your time to the CD
>remastering? Contact Fanderson today.
>>Anthony - I sense your reply is a little mischievous, but if they did
>>come to me I would certainly point them in the right direction and
>>give what assistance I could.

Sadly, as usual, one or two loud mouths sound off on a forum such as this about what others are managing to do, yet never offer any help, advice or assistance. Luckily, in the years I've been associated with the club I've come to realise this is par for the course and not to take it too seriously, and letters like that from my anonymous correspondent above reaffirms my faith in the good nature of humanity. It's just so sad that with so much experience and talent that "Marty" apparently has, he's not willing to offer us his expertise.

So, that's my contentious e-mail for this week. Me, I'm off to deafen myself, so that I can listen to Beethoven in the way he'd have wanted me to. Sheesh!

Nick Williams, Fanderson secretary and treasurer


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>It's just so sad that with so much experience and talent that
>"Marty" apparently has, he's not willing to offer us his expertise.

Well, Marty unsubscribed from the list 50 minutes after you posted
this message, so I guess we won't be hearing a response from him.

I would think that in any case, it would be too late for anyone to
offer their expertise on this matter. I would assume that the work
on the audio portion of the UFO soundtrack CD is essentially finished
at this point?

Also, I'm sure if the issue of stereo vs. mono was put to a vote from
the Fanderson membership, it would probably result with 90+% of the
membership voting for stereo. Like I said, use of the original mono
mixes is minority opinion, and those who feel this way have mostly
been silent... until now... :-)

Marc

I agree with most of what Nick says. Like I said in a post yesterday,
who would ever have thought that any of this music was going to see
the light of day in ANY format a few years ago?? The CD hasn't even
been finished yet and already people are moaning.

In an issue of SOUNDTRACK magazine last year, Ralph Titterton of
Fanderson gave an insight into how the first Barry Gray CD (Supercar
and Fireball XL5) was prepared. At one point he was running through
tapes and cleaning off the mildew and oxide with cleaning squares to
get it into a presentable shape...must have taken hours!!! And there
is a similar article which is probably still on the Fanderson website
(as well as in one of the issues of FAB)which described all the work
that went into producing the Space 1999 Y1 and Y2 scores.

There is no one that can tell me - based on the evidence of what I
have seen and heard so far from Fanderson Records - that the final
UFO CD set won't be bloody great!

Simon Morris