re-mastered "The feeding of the 5,000" out now

THIS remaster sounds quite a lot better, still needs a bit finetuning - but everyone and just keep talking, the link to the penny-in-the-sky-with-angels was great, thanx, I've been searching for stuff like this but somehow managed to miss it.
Reading the interview shook me a bit, on one side I feel confirmed about people struggling against all odds, but growing older and getting somehow "reasonable" - on the other side I start thinking about this "hard line" along which they worked their asses off for nearly 8 years - while everybody else signed major company deals - only to end up in maggie-the-greatest-bastard-that-we-have-England. I went to England in the early 90's, already too late - but really, it was depressing.
They did lots of things, not only the music, and even if we regard them for what they achieved, we will never really understand what it means to act and fight/struggle like they did, or what it means to step back from the line and feeling defeated after all that was done.
But I guess I will have to reread the interview more than one time to get a point of view, if it's really mr. pennies way to deal with the past - ok., but buying the re-releases now, just for the new stuff or the better quality, would make ME feel like a part-time-punx, so I'll keep on worshipping my old stuff.

(and because Lil threw a look over my shoulder just a moment before: she didn't say that you're british, rien, she wrote you SOUND british and it's quite an experience to watch her doing "british warfare" with the local boneheads sometimes...)
(and for this remark I was rewarded with a well aimed can end missile - so much about anarchy & peace.)

 

Rien: your entitled to your opinion of Crass, Ungov is entitled to his, as with anything, dont take it too seriously. theirs more important things to worry about than debate the credibility of a band, this is no different to debating the legitimacy of the exploited or sex pistols as being associated with underground punk culture. Its silly and unnecessary and based purely on the individuals perception of punk. To hold any band on some sort of pedestal is in my opinion asking for disappointment. Start your own band and put yourself on the pedestal, therefore if you fuck up, you have only yourself and your band mates to blame.

I also believe bands such as Disorder and Chaos UK should be revered more highly than Crass purely on the basis that they did what they wanted without trying to convert everyone to their way of thinking, I see Crass as pretentious wanks that rammed their views down everyones throats. As Rob Miller of Amebix said: "The primary way we change the world is through the relationships we have with others."

To me that makes more sense and Anarchy and peace

 

That's something I honestly don't understand. I've had Feeding on vinyl, played it to shreds, and then bought it on CD. The sound quality was pretty poor and it always annoyed me that whoever mastered the thing made it sound so tinny. Now that it has finally seen a decent mastering it bursts out of the speakers with great energy, like it should. Why would buying that make you feel a part time punx? Because you buy the same thing twice? Because bands like Pink Floyd milk the remastering cow completely dry with a new pointless remaster of Dark Side Of The Moon every five years and give the whole remastering process a bad name?

To my ears Crass albums have been badly mastered from day one (Christ - The Album is the worst of all) and it's about time that got fixed. I don't feel ripped off or cheated because I'm getting something that's fundamentally better. (Like I wrote earlier, it would have been nice if the new releases were cheaper than other CDs, but they're not. Okay. As I see it, Southern/Crass obviously can no longer afford to be as generous as they were 30 years ago, since they're now as good as broke. Sign of the times, I'm afraid.)

Ah, frightfully sorry, old boy. Bit of a blow there. Awfully silly of me. Eh... Pimms? Anyway, back in the real world English is my third language, so I'll take it as a compliment.

 

Very true.

 

Christ the Album isn't bad because of the mastering, its bad because its shit, like every other Crass release post Stations (save a couple of singles)
I'm sorry but as far as re-mastering anything is concerned, particularly punk music is a cop out. Punk is supposed to be raw abrasive and dirty, not clean, pristine and digitalised. My biggest problem with punk bands from the 90's to present day is the turn to digital recording... its fucking awful. Punk music should feed off the raw energy that only analogue can provide, computers take away the energy, destroy the original sound wave and make it sound like a fucking pop song. Why on earth would anyone want that?

 

Have you heard the difference between the old and the new Feeding? The old one is tinny, no bass, no dynamics, no energy. A bit like AM radio. The new one has bottom-end, definition, and is still as raw and dirty as fuck. But yes, of course it's digital. I see your point about digital sound and in the early years of CDs that was certainly true. But digital audio has improved a lot since and I have no problems with it anymore.

 

I dont want to ruin it any more than punks have already ruined Crass for me

 

Vice Mag: So as of now the nine members get an even split?
Rimbaud: Yeah. And nine members have ownership of all of the assets, i.e., all the hardware, like the tapes and all that shit, the ninth member being Southern, representing John Loder’s original stake.

(http://www.viceland.com/int/v17n8/htdocs/anarchy-and-peace-litigated-490.php?page=10)

 

Of course Southern makes a profit on mail order, because they don't have to pay a distributor. That's pretty obvious. But ON TOP OF THAT the money from songwriting royalties/ownership is equally divided between the ex-members AND Southern, since Southern gets the late John Loder's 1/9th share. That's what the Vice quote is about. Those royalties come from ANY kind of CD sale, downloads, airplay, sheet music, cover versions, etcetera. In short: Southern gets BOTH. They are record company AND band member at the same time. I don't think many professional record companies get a deal like that.

Or did you expect the ex-members to give EVERYTHING to Southern? Because as far as I know that's NEVER been the case, not even in the 'Pay No More' days. Musicians have to eat too.

 

so, where to start - with this: right now i am very pleased to see this discussion going on, because i think it's important, and the proof is already given by the same person who wrote:

graced my little punk being with this priceless gem of insight:

so thanks, kaaos for your silly and unnecessary individual perception of punk.

after last night's discussion with the people here where i live i guess I can say: for "us" the important thing about crass is first their activism, starting with the stencil-spray propaganda they brought up all over the country, their direct support like the zig-zag gig, stop the city ect. and last but not least the crass label and the glorious acts of desinformation like thatchergate or lovings "our wedding".
absolutely unique until today, joe strummer eat your lousy brigate rosse shirt & rest in peace...
second place: their position about the punk "movement", holding up the mirror against all odds incl. hippie-bashing and even if i can't agree with every crass-statement: wow, what a fucking brave resolve...
third place: the music, i guess i still don't really like the sound, low quality or not, somehow i am just mesmerized by the accuracy of the lyrics and the pure anger of the sound.

subject rerelease: 12 quid is 13,86 euro, nearly the copy-cost for our next germans-out-of-afghanistan campaign, the 64 page booklet makes me curious too, but to enjoy the remastered sound we would need better audio equipment than we could afford, besides poor old boy gobble would feel like a part timer (remember television personalities?) and the gimmick-puzzle-collect-them-all-thing really leaves a bad taste - so i think we will not buy it.

yes, reading the interview with penny-in-the-sky (and for this, gobble: sorry for the bombardment! )
gave me something to think about putting bands and people on a pedestal for whatever they have done in a far away past. and checking out ungovernables link to southern buisness and the comments of happy customers - yes, i too would have prefered to see something less buisnesslike - just for the sake of crass' old times.

 

lil'apple, Crass suck and so do you, nothing compares to Complete Disorder on record, only hardcore punks know this shit eh innit!
GLUE CIDER DESTROY AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

HARDCORE PUNX DONT LIKE FUCKING STUDENTS THERE 'ORRABLE!

 

take this wild one:
sniffin' glue is opium for the people! \m/

 

I just explained to you they make money on other things too.

A fair point. Crass obviously can't do that as Crass, since the band no longer exists, but individual ex-members could. Or other bands on the Southern label.

I think the idea is that if they don't re-release (at whatever price) the existing old vinyls and CDs will just be bootlegged and/or sold at inflated prices on Ebay and such. For example, there's a secondhand cassette of Feeding on Ebay for $25 at the moment. Ridiculous. AFAIK they want the material to stay available. The previous CD releases from 1995 are already pretty difficult to find in shops and are outrageously expensive (Stations Of The Crass on Amazon: $45, Christ - The Album: $192 !!!). Compared to that the remasters are cheap.

I agree, but musicians still have to eat. Are you saying that a punk musician should never make money from his/her music? That everything should be done on a strict non-profit basis? If a punk band can make enough money to concentrate on their music and tours, and don't need a job on the side to pay the bills, then I have no problem with that.

 

Of. Which. Southern. Is. One.

If you're thinking of a career in economics: don't.

I'm ranting?

I'm not worshipping anybody, I'm giving my opinion.

What are you? The Spanish Inquisition? I didn't know I was on trial here.

Thank you.

And again.

Of course it is. Bye.

 

What a fucking shitty argument. PUNK ROCK IS NOT A FUCKING JOB, neither is anarchism.

Hey i'm a webmaster and i have to eat too, so maybe it's legitimate if i put ads all over anarcho-punk.net, because i have to eat !!!
i'm an activist but i have to eat, maybe i should be paid when i go to protests ??[/quote]

now that's a shitty argument i am a musician and i love to play anarch-punk music if i could make a life by doing so hell i would be glad to and i think if people did offer you money for protesting you would except it too