PRICE:
$34.00
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Blissard
FORMAT
4CD BOX

LABEL
CATALOG #
RACD 110CD RACD 110CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
1/29/2012

This 4CD luxury set is the second installment in an ongoing series of Motorpsycho re-issues that started with Timothy´s Monster in 2010. In a 2011 poll Blissard (released in 1996) was voted the 25th best Norwegian album of all time by 100 Norwegian artists, making it the third most highly rated Motorpsycho album on the list after Timothy´s Monster (which came in at 13) and Demon Box (placed at 21). There's no doubt that Blissard is one of their most experimental and alien albums. As Tommy Olsson points out in the booklet, Timothy´s Monster was a tough act to follow, and Blissard was a tough record to make. It all started with night sessions in Trondheim in late 1994 with Helge "Deathprod" Sten as engineer and co-producer; the working title was When the World Sleeps. Nobody seems to know exactly when and why these recordings were dropped, but a European tour and new songs written as two-guitar pieces were probably key factors. After a couple of festivals and a short European tour in the summer, Motorpsycho decided a new studio environment was needed after years spent at Brygga Studio in their hometown of Trondheim. It was a well-rehearsed unit that headed for Stockholm´s legendary Atlantis studio with the intention of making a "hi-fi" album, something that would prove difficult considering the band's previous sound ideals. Long sessions and various problems put a strain on things, but they managed to record 11 songs in an exhausting week. Mixing was completed the next week. Rodeløkka Studio in Oslo was the next stop for re-recordings and overdubs; they even changed the key of The Nerve Tattoo and re-recorded all of its parts, except the drums, before finishing and mixing seven songs with Ulf Holand at the controls. The final album would consist of these seven songs, one Atlantis mix, an ambient guitar-loop piece by Deathprod, and a four-track recording from the initial Trondheim sessions. Released in February 1996 to all around positive reviews, it won them their first Norwegian Grammy. In addition to the original album this box set gives you two full albums of what could have been, a unique insight into the workings of this amazing band. Disc four is a selection of B-sides, rehearsal tapes, and studio doodlings never meant for release but still relevant in this context. Twenty-two tracks are previously unreleased.