pale saints guitar sound/tone

7.6 on Pitchfork today is the funniest thing they've done since 8.8 for Cosmo's Factory.

Because it's too high or too low?

Too low. For my money, they're both classics and should be in the high 9s (probably 10 for Cosmo's). I hate the whole rating system anyway, though, for exactly this reason - it puts a somewhat arbitrary number on a highly personal experience.

i heard the "Sight of You" last night for the first time in may, many years. it sounded so wonderful. i think it's time to listen to The Comforts of Madness again. love this band to death!

so i had to listen, this is one of the great albums, "Insubstantial" is blowing my mind all over again and remembering why this band was so good and criminally underrated.

i had such a good time listening to this album again. i know this band is all about the shoegaze guitar sound but the drummer they had is so good. it's under all the textures of the music but man is he great. such an amazing band and made my night after a fucked day.

What Can I Do?
What Can I say?
The World Was Large
And I felt Very Small

the reissue is pretty nice, the remaster sounds good... louder, but not brickwalled, works pretty well for their sound

Yep. I bought it and I must have listened to this album more times in the last couple of weeks than at any time since 1990. Love it. 'You Tear The World In Two' is my favourite. The second CD is interesting as the songs hadn't been completely worked out at that point so there are things that just seem 'wrong' (e.g. the riff that opens 'Insubstantial' isn't there, or the clanging guitar sound at the start of each verse of 'Time Thief' is just one note instead of two. Plus Ian Masters' vocals sound much weaker without the reverb and harmonies.

I will never get over how underrated in ribbons is, I really don’t understand it. It’s absolutely perfect. Please don’t say any mean things about it.

The Spoonfed Hybrid album sounding magnificent tonight. Grim but partly prompted by reading "Boys In Zinc".

So Ian's newest collaboration Isolated Gate has a full new album out and it's lovely!

https://isolatedgate.bandcamp.com/album/universe-in-reverse

Now that's an intense illustration

what's that, my favourite LP out on my birthday?

Pale Saints - In Ribbons 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition
4AD0407

Disc 1: In Ribbons UK Version
Disc 2: Unreleased Demos & Tintwistle Brass Band Covers

Out 6 October 🎀

〰️ https://t.co/8Ea46QtIKx pic.twitter.com/L2pPCHMrqu

— 4AD (@4AD_Official) August 30, 2023

Nice!

Bandcamp preorder link (Bandcamp Friday is about here!)

https://palesaints.bandcamp.com/album/in-ribbons-30th-anniversary-reissue

I think those Tintwistle Brass Band tracks came as a 7 inch with the album when it first came out, I know I had them

They very much did.

Per Discogs: "recorded at Claptons Club, Tinwistle, 23rd February 1992."

oh wow, so happy to see this!

Oh my God, In Ribbons got a 30th year reissue today!:

https://4ad.com/news/30/8/2023/inribbons30thanniversaryreissue

I should have polled it

now it will get on all the playlists and tv shows <3

These demos are pretty interesting. Always thought this record sounded a fraction too neat and laboured over. (But I always say that sort of thing lol. Not about to claim these are the definitive renditions or anything challopsy like that.)

Here is Ian Masters talking over lead vocals on "Kinky Love" (Demo):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmVi8JeFO5M

A 15 minute History clip with talk about In Ribbons at the 7:25 mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPWk2yOpCZk

Glad to now have three readily available versions of "Babymaker" to rotate through. I've seemingly needed to hear that in particular at least yearly since I was a schoolkid. No idea what Masters is getting at lyrically but it's a strangely moving/bracing/uplifting? ditty.

> now it will get on all the playlists and tv shows <3

iirc there were prominent posters in the radio station on Neighbours back in the day - mushroom had just signed a distribution deal with 4ad

very little proof of that is to be found on the internet, very hard to even find out the name of the radio station in neighbours, but discogs has scans of aus version of the sleeve and that has a liberation logo on it...

https://www.discogs.com/master/26780-Pale-Saints-In-Ribbons?country=Australia&image=5334152.SW1hZ2U6MTA5MzI0ODM%3D

hmv had copies (copy?) in the new releases when i was there this morning and a copy of Comforts in the rack.

my copy is still in the post 8(

my copy is here, my stereo is a pain to get to at the moment, but i made the effort today

it sounds, on the stereo, muddier than the original (usually heard using earphones). or is that just me?

now working through demos, nice to hear ian's stab at kinky love.

🎵Especially for Koogs...🎵

https://gcdnb.pbrd.co/images/4xPcKYif69LT.png

I wanna tell you, you mean all the world to me...

Ha! I hope many many Australians bought it as a result (subliminal or not)

I haven't got around to listening yet, need to rectify that

If we polled this, I would pick “haunted” in a heartbeat.

I remembered buying the "Haunted" EP thanks to the above doc I posted. I think I'm going to go ahead and poll, maybe even next week, Madness hope to get a few votes as I have no idea how it will do.

Certainly a contender for best 1992 album expanded/reissued in 2023.

“Hunted” is really something, and that Flesh Balloon EP was great. Probably my peak of PS obsession, Meriel boosted then ruined the band for me.
I’d be tempted to vote for “Shell” because (a) nobody else could do that and (b) what incredible growth from the earlier stuff.

Comforts of Madness > Half Life, Remembered > In Ribbons > Flesh Balloon

“shell” is amazing too. the cello, the soaring guitar lead, the mallets… <3

xp I guess "Kinky Love" does suck, but I like "Porpoise"

Hey, very cool:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/pale-saints/looking-back-30-years-to-the-creation-of-pale-saints-in-ribbons

Thanks for that, Ned

In which world does Kinky Love suck? Recently listened to the original for the time - never realised how raunchy those lyrics were

It feels like they’re trying a bit too hard to be funny, but at the time I think I liked it.

kind surprised that it's ian interviewing there, i had him down as some kind of recluse (even though he's been in more post pale saints bands than the others probably by a factor of 5)

Ian’s EP Kingdom of Heaven (with Warren Defever under their old ESP Summer name) from a couple of years ago is astonishing. Especially for fans of Pale Saints, if you like to play those “what if Ian stayed for the third album” games

Also, the only time I heard of Isolated Gate anywhere (and their stuff is excellent) is on this board, from Ned; not a word anywhere else, not even a side note during press for In Ribbons reissue. No wonder Ian is pissed off about that in the article.

♥️

time to hit Bandcamp while I still can

Side note: does anyone remember the Institute of Spoons website from ~20 years ago which used to load with an audio file of Ian announcing the name?