MICHAEL NESMITH
THE PRISON
Original 1974 vinyl mix
RMW 544
Transferred from a near-mint LP on Pacific Arts PAC-101
Recording courtesy of Scotty Balls Productions
Restored at Remasters Workshop, February 2010
Allmusic review:
"The Prison" is a brilliant multimedia concept marrying the personal and inner visual experience of Michael Nesmith's novella with the aural medium of an equally original soundtrack. Earliest pressings came housed in a 12" by 12" box set. The short story was presented in an LP-sized booklet with the music featured on the respective A and B sides of a single long-player. As opposed to much of his previous recordings, Nesmith's approach is decidedly more ethereal as the songs drift and dance one into the other with purpose and subjective intent. While Nez's prose as well as the songs' overall lyrical content are not inextricably linked, they aptly balance the respective chapters that correspond to each of the LP sides. The music is a definite departure from the straight-ahead country-rock leanings that Nesmith had exhibited with his First and Second National Bands. Even the copious contributions of David Kempton's ARP synthesizer and the metronome-esque Roland drum machine can't dismantle what are some of his most heartfelt and affectively enchanting melodies to date. "Hear Me, Calling" and "Dance Between The Raindrops" capture much of the Southwestern and Tex-Mex motifs that would continue to evolve on "From a Radio Engine to a Photon Wing" (1977) right through to his "Tropical Campfires" (1994) long-player. The sage advice and thematic moral of "The Prison" deal directly as well as metaphorically with achievement and existing through experience rather than fear. "Elusive Ragings" is pure existential Nez, with a decidedly more personal slant toward relationships and the otherwise inner turmoil of humanity. These concepts also directed "The Garden" (1994), which was a continuation of this story, although neither are mutually exclusive or necessary to the other. The short story and the music are independently compelling when experienced individually. However, when practiced as complementary media, "The Prison" is nothing short of a quiet revolutionary occurrence.
*****
Processes: 32-bit recording, decrackling, declicking, light denoising, pitch correction, downsampling to 16-bit. Tracks split on sector boundaries in CD Wave.
Track listing:
01 Opening Theme: Life, The Unsuspecting Captive
02 Dance Between the Raindrops
03 Elusive Ragings
04 Waking Mystery
05 Hear Me Calling
06 Marie's Theme
07 Closing Theme: Lamp Post
The original mixes of the songs on this album are different from ones that would replace them on subsequent reissues.
We regret that full artwork is not available for this post, however, Scotty Balls Productions has supplied a CD label which replicates the LP label.
Please preserve the lossless quality of this material.
Enjoy!
Remasters Workshop