Loop - RFD

One of the great EPs of the late 80s.

Yeah sure, 'Thief of Fire' etc. What a great format the EP was back then - AR Kane, Band of Susans, Loop, MBV...

Bugger! The reissue of A Gilded Eternity didn't make it to Maine.

Same goes for Texas...

I'm thinking it just didn't come out Sateside. Hope the delay is short.

I think it's on Reactor like the other three... I think just delayed?

I ordered them both from Aquarius and got an e-mail that they had both set aside for me, they were actually just waiting for one of the older reissues to get back in to send my order out. So apparently a few places got it.

Heard Fade Out for the first time yesterday and holy shit its good.

Yeah, that's the one to get, I reckon.

I reckon you need them all. Really.

Yeah, probably. Saw them on the Fade Out tour and it was all long-hair and loudness, thick smoke and strobes, and then those guitars just flailing out and ripping holes in the fog. Good times.

That sounds awesome. Sadly, I never got to see them, living in the sticks of the States when they were a going concern.

ATP or someone else with some influence needs to get a Loop reunion going...

How the FUCK have I never heard their version of Mother Sky before?

Just ... wow.

Actually, the better question is: how the fuck have I listened to so little Loop at all? One of those terrible teenage oversights that I've never quite made up for. I should try harder, I guess.

you've got a lot of things you've done wrong lately, grimly!

I've got a lifetime of 'em, dude. But surely listening to Loop is doing something right?

Cheers, anyway :)

as i've mentioned elsewhere, i spun my copy of a gilded eternity (only loop i know) @ 33rpm for a few years before noticing 45 RPM on the labels...

moral: you can listen to loop and still be doing something wrong :)

"However, The World In Your Eyes did make it, and is absolutely fabulous despite lacking in information (just tracklisting and recording dates; what ever happened to liner notes?)."

How about credits for all the freakin' covers? Music is great though and it's dirt cheap for a 3CD set (packaging is weak so I guess that's part of it.)

My package with all four of these reissues is due to arrive Friday! Can't wait.

Still hoping A Gilded Eternity shows up here one of these days...

It's arrived in my local shop. Will pick up soon.

I've got to call around tomorrow.

A Gilded Eternity finally made it to Maine today. Feels odd retiring my cassette version, but time marches on. I will say that nearly twenty years with a well-played tape means it is odd hearing these songs at the proper tempos without warping and slowdown.

My package ended up being delayed a couple days, but I now hold all four reissues in my hands. Cannot wait to dig into these. I still have only heard the odd song or two, but after hearing all the samples on Aquarius' website... I knew I needed this band in my life.

I can't imagine just discovering Loop and having these reissues at hand. I hope you enjoy, and have something light and fluffy to detoxify with.

Yeah, I'm really excited to dig in. I've always had Spacemen 3 pushed at me as THE band of this ilk to know and love, but I just really haven't been able to get excited about them. Loop, however, wow. The handful of songs I've heard have pushed a lot of the right buttons.

^ Yup: that's exactly how it is here. Just fucking fantastic.

Is there a Main thread? Hampson's post-Loop work is really underrated IMO.

I guess there is:

Search and Destroy: Main and related projects

a diamond bullet right thru the forehead

Was listening to the World In Your Eyes reissue the other day and loving it all over again.

You should be listening to World In Your Eyes everyday Ned. The other day is just not gonna cut it!

I've now made it through the three main albums and bonus discs and am still totally enthralled with this band. There have been so many highlights its hard to choose my favorite at this point, but I believe I'd have to mention the third Peel Session on A Gilded Eternity as a particular high point. I love the production on those tracks and I really like the texture of those three songs. Reminded me a lot of Jesu. Ready to dig into the The World In Your Eyes reissue next.

Time to fish out the Loop CDs again. That live album needs some more props.

The version of "From Centre to Wave" on there is currently doing my head in.

I hope that in the 20 year revisionist reshuffle of this scene, Loop and Thee Hypnotics come out ahead of Spaceman 3.

It'll take a mighty revision indeed for that to occur.

Can anyone give a comparison between these and the original vinyl? People are saying that they sound great (and I'm sure they do), but are they better than the old LPs? Sorry if I've missed such a comparison, but I think I've only seen references to CDs (and I confess to having skimmed). I've read Hampson talking about how the mastering is better, so I'm interested how they compare. And they're going for 9 pounds on Amazon UK

i would be interested to know this as well. why did everything sound so bloody terrible and stuffy back then?

well, I think a lot of things sounded different back then, as I had a very crappy stereo system as a teenager.

I just blasted my Gilded Eternity LP and it sounds great to my ears. Hence my question about whether these CDs sound better. My collector's instinct wants me to buy them, but do I really need them?

I note there are plans for vinyl reissues according to the website (although it's not clear if they will be remastered in any way):

it is planned to do a limited run of 180g pressings, but these will only be repros of the original lps without the bonus material

I never heard the vinyl - I either had original cassettes or vinyl copies on cassette, so I can't properly compare. They are obviously much better sounding than my tapes after all these years.

They're also distinctly better than the high quality vinyl-ripped mp3s I had of the Collision and Black Sun EPs.

So is Wolf Flow basically included on these reissues?

Yeah, it's scattered across them but all nine tracks are there.

I bought a fancy CD player just for the reissues. Loop rules, Spacemen 3 drools. Hippy shit must perish... play standing up or get lap rot.

Why yes, all three versions of "Burning World" on The World In Your Eyes remaster are TOTALLY FUCKING ESSENTIAL.

Whoooo! My brain feels like ooze now.

Hmm now I wish I had all this stuff loaded on the iPhone for instant listening.

Again, I can't stress how GRATE these remasters are. All are essential.

^^^^^^^^ this

If it weren't for the Neil Young Archives and the Beatles reissues, the two that came out this year would've been a lock for my number one reissue. They are wonderful.

I was a little hesitant to pick up the A Gilded Eternity reissue since it was basically the album plus the relevant Wolf Flow Peel tracks but the second disc benefits tremendously from the improved sound. The demos are pretty worthy on their own too - not just underdeveloped versions of the album tracks.

I have one of the worst head colds I can remember - all clogged and foggy - and playing Loop at high volume seems to be the only thing helping. Fighting fire with fire.

These remasters are still the bomb.

Agreed - Very pleased with the 2-disc Loop remasters. They did the dreamsludge psychotrance thing as well as anyone. Between them & Spacemen 3 you can surf the bliss to however many bardos there are.