1 - There's seeing it announced and actually seeing some sort of believable progress and constant updates, which is more than has ever happened with this thing. This is what we've been actually waiting for.
2 - The MCIS reissue's sound quality blew the original out of the water. While there have been snafus like the Pisces bonus disc, and bad vocal takes on Plume and Dreaming, I wouldn't say any of them sound bad; their worst crime is being remasters of stuff that mostly never needed remastering. Most of the bonus stuff has been great. And seriously, as much as I love MI and MII, people listen to the pre-master over the original for a reason and I shouldn't have to explain that MII's sound quality has never been top-notch. IMO it'd have to be pretty fucking terrible to be worse and I really don't expect it to be that bad.
3 - He has never said anything about including the original released MII mixes. Find me a source. Back on the Nexus website he said that he's going to finish the rough mixes and bring the M1 mixes in line with the cleaned up versions.
4 - I'm honestly guessing he had some sort of disagreement with Vasily Kavanof, and the fact that he's actually asking for artist suggestions is an indicator that using Linda for the artwork is not a foregone conclusion.
5 - Now he seems to be indicating a Blu-Ray release. To that I say "yeah right", so that's understandable.
6 - Because - and I'm sorry - IMO your posts used to be much more interesting, insightful, optimistic and speculative. You actually used to be one of my favorite posters on here with interesting points of view, and now I feel like everything that comes out of your fingertips in this thread is cynical as all fuck, and it's miserable and disappointing to read, no offense. I'm not trying to tell you what to write or how to post but I just feel like drive-by shitposting is beneath you. I mean that as a compliment.
I might well be setting myself up for a fall by expecting something great that isn't going to come, but I also don't see the point in expecting and assuming the worst. I've been waiting for this too long. At the very least we'll have a complete tracklist and if the new mixes are bad, fuck, there's always the originals.
Last edited by Shadaloo; 10-23-2018 at 11:53 AM.
Well I am also in the "I'll believe it when I see it." Billy pulled this "I'm going to release the archives" and "I'm making a Machina reissue" before many years ago. Then nothing. Billy has mentioned many projects that end up never happening, so I would be skeptical as well. Also, the bonus discs of the reissues are remastered by a separate masterer from the album remaster. The album remasters have been great, but the bonus discs are bit loud and brickwalled, which is a shame. I hope they can fix Machina I and not overblow MII remaster. The pre-master of MI is loads better. I do hope Billy follows through with all of this, but it is still all 50/50 for me as relationships seem to fall apart with Billy and ideas are left abandoned.
Totally fair and I get it. But even though most of the reissues had delays, they did get through the catalogue until whatever legal snafus happened. I do believe him when he says there were issues.
A thing I've come to accept though is that announcing projects or releases and then not following through isn't just a Billy thing, it's a rockstar/pop artist thing. Not everyone obviously, but I mean....Tapeworm, Fragile 5.1 edition, Tension DVD anyone? 4.14 Scream? Wish reissue? The Cure In Orange on DVD? Billy stands out because of the sheer number of things he has plans for, yeah, but that's because when there's a fire under his ass he wants to do twenty things at once and always has.
And when he doesn't think anyone cares or there's a lack of interest, that's when things get shitcanned like ChicagoKid or Day For Night. He gets depressed and then unmotivated - that's something that happened before MCIS, when he was struggling with writer's block. But when he's riding high on success and happy, then he seems to typically be more productive. And in the last year he's put out a solo album, got most of the old band back, had a surprisingly successful tour, is putting out a new album, and hell, today on IG he says he's starting work on Machina and wants to post impressions and photos as he goes.
I don't know about anything else, but I really think Machina is happening.
As for the bonus discs...well, we'll see. I mean, the Dark Globe CD was good, the MCIS bonus discs were okay to my ears. I feel like it was just Pisces and maybe parts of Adore.
Last edited by Shadaloo; 10-23-2018 at 03:16 PM.
Just came across this as well...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpRxwv9lTKJ/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Oh no "The end is the beginning is the end" has disappeared from Apple Music!!!
I need to find my purchased copy somewhere...
Crib notes from the last few days of archive digging. I'm holding off on listing all the stuff he says he might put out one day etc. etc.
-Confirmation that the reissue will likely consist of:
Vinyl:
-Resequenced album
-Original versions/mixes of MI/MII
-1, maybe 2 discs of relevant extras
CD:
-The above plus a live show (Bill's mentioned he likes the 2000 South Korea performance) and video.
A "Super Deluxe" edition:
-God help me
-The name of the album is apparently just going to be "Machina", no subtitles.
-Currently the album would be "About 34 songs long."
-Extras won't be included on streaming services, just the re-sequenced album
-Saturnine is not part of the re-sequenced album
-There is only one version each of Lucky 13, Slow Dawn and This Time. This Time's drum track was apparently recorded off Jimmy's first take.
-About 7 versions of Glass And The Ghost Children exist
-About 8 of Blue Skies Bring Tears
-"Tons" of alternate versions of Wound
-There are alt versions of White Spyder
-Sacred + Profane was written and recorded very quickly, no real alt versions except scratch lyrics
-Found a bunch of Arising rehearsals, and an acoustic Age Of Innocence
-Found a studio acoustic version of The Imploding Voice recorded on the same day as Untitled
-Found two Acoustic versions of Vanity
-Found a home piano version of I of The Mourning with vocals, and piano versions of "a host of songs"
-Found some studio takes of Pale Scales
-There's an alternate band version of In My Body
-Brought up a few previously unknown songs called Jester's Dance and Aldo Novocaine
-Raindrops + Sunshowers was much more straightforward went through a bunch of changes before becoming the album version
-Wants people to send in Machina fanart and is going to start sharing clips starting today
Here's his list of Machina songs put together with fan help. Check out Whyte Spider:
I'm just going to keep this post updated with interesting finds and comments.
Last edited by Shadaloo; 12-02-2018 at 05:49 PM.
Knights of Malta:
Digging the backing singers on the chorus.
This is really bad...(IMO)
Hits play... listens for two minutes... turns off.
No. No, no, no no. I'm sorry. But no. These new songs get worse and worse.
This is empty benign soft rock pop music. I feel nothing, but embarrassment.
This is just not for me. I'll just stick to waiting for my Machina boxset.
I actually.. like it! I could do without Billy's vocalizations, but Katie + Linda's backup vox sound great. These 3 songs have caught my attention better than anything since Zeitgeist
Well, that's a fucking weird one, to be sure. Reminds me of Zwan.
In the new interview in Kerrang, Billy says they’re planning another new album after Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1:
https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/bil...umpkins-album/
Wait, you mean they're planning a follow up to an album conveniently titled Vol.1 ? No way!
I doubt it will happen... Not really feeling Knights of Malta but I grew to somehow enjoy the other two tracks released so far so maybe I'll come around
Few more listens in. It's a very strange track, like a more interesting Aeronaut. At first listen it was atrocious to my ears but then I imagine someone like Prince singing it, cheesy lyrics and all, and it doesn't seem so bad. Not any kind of grower or keeper for me, but I listened to this into Silvery and it's a fair way to start an album for what that's worth.
I've accepted Jimmy's drums are going to sound butchered for the entirety of the album at this point and that's the saddest thing for me.
Those woo-woo's have got to go, that's my other real major gripe.
Video's comments are disabled and won't actually show the numbers of likes versus dislikes, so yeah NOT a good sign. Must be getting slammed.
Combine that with the fact his latest IG post makes a specific point of saying "We know we won't always make music you'll like" means I think they saw a mixed response coming.
This "reunion" album looks like it may equal the Pixies "reunion" album in terms of suckage and embarrassment
Don't understand how other people find the other two songs (Solara and Silvery Sometimes) good...they pale in comparison to the material in Oceania. I think this may be the first SP album I don't buy (I got Monuments but I could had done without it to be honest).
I really liked Silvery Sometimes (the song, not the video) and I'm hoping the rest of the album is good, but I also find myself hoping that this is them shaking the cobwebs off and getting comfortable writing together again. I'm sure they were rusty and half (most?) of these songs were likely leftovers from Billy's solo album or the Day for Night sessions like Solara. Hopefully Vol. 2 is where they find their footing again as a band. Time will tell...
Head Carrier is alright. Worth checking out....
I'm listening to this song again and it's almost Widow Wake My Mind levels of cringe....
The "wo wo wo wo wo wo" is horrible! Whoever agreed this sounded good was terribly wrong...