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Subtle Sabotage

by m.a.o.

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1.
Tree Of Iron 04:35
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2.
Living In A Garden 04:39
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3.
The Space Between Days 03:29
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4.
Subtle Sabotage 06:48
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5.
10,000 ft 06:01
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6.
Tuz Tcholu 13:22
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about

This album was recorded in 1982 and originally released in 1983.

There were two versions of this album. The original version with no percussion and eight tracks, and the updated version (this one) with added percussion and six tracks.

The master tapes for both albums are now lost, and the digital versions were recovered from the vinyl.

This was m.a.o.'s first album. As far as I know most of the records were lost to landfill, and there are probably less than 20 copies of it in existence today.

It is the first official release I was involved in and marks the beginning of the association that would become Tranceport. One further m.a.o. album would be released - Retro Picnic (1991).

Sonically and musically the album now sounds to me like something from a bygone era. I had doubted whether I would ever be able to present it to the world, but technology has advanced hugely in the last few years, and I'm pretty satisfied that the music is faithfully reproduced after restoration.

Even so, I think it's fair to say that much of it is still pretty rough around the edges, but for anyone wishing to trace the history of Tranceport it may provide some clues.

In the album credits below I have reproduced the original liner notes from the album sleeve. Crimson Hue was an early iteration of my alter-ego who would emerge in a different guise for the album Gravity, Bones and Shoes (2002). Lucid Stride was Alan Martin. Henri (Byrdland) Montana was John O'Hare. Pablo Canvasses was Bobby Gillies (our first public appearance together). Neon Aura was Eona Murray Aitken. Sunne Sunne was Alison Henderson. Widgie (Rotund) Bolivar was Michael Cobley.

Technical notes - The original vinyl album was pressed twice. We were not happy with the first pressing, so we remastered the whole thing, changing some of the tracks entirely and adding new parts. Alan Martin took the newly mastered tapes down to London to supervise the cut personally. What you hear now is an accumulation of the original recordings made at 7 1/2 ips on reel to reel, the copying and mastering at 15 ips carried out at CaVa, in Glasgow, the cut made by Boppin' Bob at CRT in London supervised by Alan, the pressing made by EMI at Hayes in Middlesex, and the analogue capture made by myself using a Project Genie Mk 3 deck through a Mission Cyrus 1 amplifier into an EMU 0404 USB DAC. From the DAC WAV files were created at 44kHz 16bit in Sonar 7, then the files were imported into Adobe Audition 3 where iZotope Ozone and RX3 VST plug ins were used to clean and master the final files.
To say the audio has had a long journey since it left our minds and fingers back in the early eighties is a bit of an understatement.

Read an interesting review here gnosis2000.net/reviews/mao.htm

credits

released April 14, 2014

Produced and recorded by m.a.o. at the Aural Blancmange Studio, Dumbarton and mastered by Brian Young at CaVa Sound Workshops in Glasgow.

Crimson Hue - vocals, keyboards.
Lucid Stride - keyboards.
Henri (Byrdland) Montana - bass.
With -
Pablo Canvasses - guitar on Subtle Sabotage.
Neon Aura - keyboard on Living In A Garden.
Sunne Sunne - percussion on Subtle Sabotage.
Widgie (Rotund) Bolivar - percussion on 10,000ft.

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Peri Urban UK

Like all musicians I wished I had the same number of limbs as an octopus. My wish was granted, but not in the way I had hoped for. My cephalopod partner is an enthusiastic volunteer from the worldwide animal charity Save Humans From Themselves. We share a special kind of love. ... more

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