wahr
vorgarten interessant sich vorzustellen, dass bei rough trade im gleichen jahr COLOSSAL YOUTH herauskam… die artist-house-ausgabe kam 1 jahr später und sah so aus: kurz danach klopfen atlantic, warner und cbs an. ulmer entscheidet sich für cbs und unterschreibt einen vertrag über 3 alben.
eigentlich gar nicht so verschieden im sound, die beiden. ulmer überbordend, young marble giants reduziert, aber beide mit diesem knöchernd-trockenen sound. große platten sind sie beide. vor zwei jahren hatte sich co-produzent mayo thompson in der wire nochmal zu „are you glad to be in america?“ geäußert:
I listened to Are You Glad To Be In America? the other day, and that mix is a goddamn mess, dude. This is tidy and clean compared to what we had going in that thing, we were fighting the elements and the circumstance in the studio, trying to get that guitar as big as it was, and the voice as big as the man. Tough, tough, tough with the outboard gear you had in those days. There was [Ursa Major] Space Station [effects processor], you could make lots of images of a guitar, and that was as close as we could come to getting that big. (…) I admire Blood deeply. Blood had the power of truth behind him, every time he touched the instrument, it was sorta like, you better listen to this. He came and visited us in the studio when we were recording Kangaroo? and my guitar was leaning against my amp and he was on his way out and picked it up and put it back down. I was playing Ernie Ball Slinkys [guitar strings], and he was playing telephone wires [laughter]. But I was pleased to get to know Blood, he was a very dignified fellow. I hope he’s doing well.
vielen dank, und das mit der vergleichbarkeit mit COLOSSAL YOUTH über den trockenen sound stimmt natürlich. interessant, wie sehr der live-eindruck von ulmers spiel die leute damals herausgefordert hat, da kamen ja dann immer die hilflosen hendrix-vergleiche, auf die ulmer ja sehr allergisch reagiert (überhaupt nicht seine ecke). ich finde sein spiel auch sehr viel integrativer, immer vom band-sound her gedacht, nicht von seiner gitarre aus. was die mixes angeht, erklärt er sich selbst nicht für zuständig (und bringt ein interessantes ry-cooder-zitat mit, was ja auch wieder zeigt, wer damals dieses album wahrgenommen hat):
PSF: Are You Glad to Be In America came out on different labels (Rough Trade and Artists House) with different mixes. Are you satisfied with either of the released versions?
JBU: To me, it’s all the same music. I can hear through all of it. I don’t hear the mix, I hear the music. The mix is very personal, like you see a woman and somebody might like her shoes or her dresses but you still see the woman. (laughs) I don’t hear the different versions. I don’t hear that. I mixed both of those records so it sounds like the same shit to me. I know they must have something there because we were trying to definitely get a different mix. I heard Ry Cooder say ‚that first mix was the baddest thing. Nothing’ll ever touch that.‘ He’s slick, man! There might be something there but I can’t hear that yet. I know it’s something different. When I’m going in to make a record, I’m always trying to figure out how to make a certain mix. Once it gets to a certain point, I’m just agreeing with everybody. I’ll be waiting for the co-producer to jump in there! I’d be trying to get the music straight and getting everything to line up and make sure anyone isn’t playing what they’re not supposed to be playing and get that out of the way. Then I’m ready for someone else to step in.
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