Progress Report / October 24th 2006

"Photo: Musician Chris Meloche (a member of the Outward Sound Ensemble) is in the UK for a few shows and staying at Simon's house. He is here seen with one of the Stormbringer tape masters prior to them being shipped down to Abbey Road. The label is actually only a couple of years old and was put on when we first played the tape. Prior to that the reels had no identification whatsoever, which is why they had been so hard to locate..."    pic: Simon Robinson

"This is one of the original Stormbringer tape boxes." pic: DPAS Archive

Progress Report / November 3rd 2006

A productive day at Abbey Road on October 30th saw Glenn Hughes (in between the Dudley and Northampton shows) get stuck into the Stormbringer tapes as if he'd left the studio just the week before rather than thirty-plus years ago.

The material sounded astonishing; the studio recording quality is a lot lot better than Burn, much more defined, and the one thing everyone who came into the studio said during the day is that it was hard to believe the material was from 1974 - it sounded so contemporary. Glenn really wanted to do Holy Man and started out on that, but he soon got into the vibe and in all five songs were done during a long session. The results sound really excellent and there will be a few surprises for fans of this particular album to pick up on, as Glenn brought up some new vocal lines and other unheard bits and bobs, as well as emphasising different aspects of the material.

I left the engineer finishing the remaster of the original album, before copying the quad masters. We'll then have a look at timings and work out a final track list for the new edition. The photograph here shows EMI's catalogue manager Nigel Reeve, Glenn, and Abbey Road's remastering engineer Peter Mew. Also shown is the original tape box for the quarter inch album production master for the album.

words & pics: Simon Robinson. (Click the pics to enlarge)

Questions & Answers / November 11th 2006

• "It's great to read that the mixing sessions are going so well, and I can't wait for this release: I always much preferred this album to Burn, I feel the songs from Burn worked much better as live tracks. My request (as a details nut): could the new packaging have shots of tape box details a la Machine Head?" Timothy Campbell

I did photograph the boxes (see the shots at the top of this page) Tim, but there is nothing on them at all - indeed we didn't even know they had the album on as they weren't catalogued. The group had already worked out what they were going to record, so no alternate tracks or left-overs as on pre-Mk 2 days. Simon

• "Just seen the report from the Stormbringer session. I'm sure a lot of people are asking 'why Glenn Hughes?' The Mk3 albums sounded tinny and light, and everyone wants to hear a harder edge to things. Interesting to hear your thoughts on what Glenn has added to make a better sounding album. Just hope he hasn't brought himself up and knocked David Coverdale back!" Neil Cutler

The only thing I can really say is that I can't stop humming the tracks now. As the album was very much centred on some of Glenn's ideas, and is an album he felt very close to, to me he seemed a very appropriate person to be involved. He's given the tracks a bite which the old album mix lacked and while it may be early days, these could well turn out to be the best bonus mixes since RG worked on Machine Head. Glenn was also very respectful of DC's work (they are good mates) and the new balance sounded excellent to us. Simon

• "Is it yet known if the remastered Stormbringer will have a vinyl release?" Andy Butler.

We don't know. Burn attracted a lot of interest from vinyl collectors, but the situation may be different two years on. I'll see what EMI feel about this. Simon

June 2008 :

Here's a shot of the work in progress on the Stormbringer reissue sleeve. At first, with the actual artwork long gone (and we can't find where the painting is) the plan was to re-scan an original mint LP sleeve. To try and reduce the amount of retouching work, the original EMI poster was overlayed.

Just as this work was about to begin, a contact at Warners in America discovered a large format transparency of the painting in their files. This will now be scanned in LA which should give a really high quality result. The reissue is going for the blue tint of the American sleeve, as this is how it was meant to look.

July 2008 :

A few more reels of 16 track masters have just surfaced and EMI are looking at the possibility of getting listening copies to see if these yield anything more than the tapes which Glenn did the remixes from.

The second image shows what was clearly the inspiration for the illustration, a heavily hand tinted copy of the famous original photograph of a tornado, taken in July 1927.

November 2008 :

The wheels are turning on the Stormbringer remaster. There will be a 2 disc limited slipcase edition with original quad 4.1 mixes and other goodies, including Glenn's excellent remix work, video elements and more.

Q - I'm wondering if the bonus Stormbringer disc is an SACD or DVD- Audio (DVD-A)? Tov Arne Stegarud
A - It is neither. It is a DVD carrying 4.1 audio tracks, NOT a true  DVDA or SACD. This is what EMI tell me. Simon

There is a double gatefold vinyl edition planned, also limited. These are available to pre-order from dpas mailorder (anyone who ordered before this was posted will automatically be shipped the 2xCD edition). Once the two disc Ltd Edition has gone, the title will be issued as a lower priced 1xCD regular edition with the album, remixes and a few other items. It looks like the old CD version is being deleted so if you prefer the softer CD transfer, and haven't got this, best order sharpish. Glenn has contributed some text for the booklet, and a super big transparency of the original sleeve painting has been unearthed in America to use on the reworked sleeve. EMI say they have put Stormbringer back a couple of weeks to February 2009 due to scheduling pressure.

November / December 2008 :

The first exclusive look at the remaster vinyl edition of  Stormbringer. The photograph shows the outer and inner gatefolds,  with another shot of the two inner bags. EMI have tried to make the  sleeve look and feel as it would had they issued this album in a  gatefold back in 1974. The lyrics have all been moved to the inside,  with band images given a period look. The inner bags have all the  material which appears in the CD booklet. There will also be colour  labels (not shown). We do not yet have a pressing quantity for what  will be a limited edition, but release is expected in February 2009 to tie  in with the new date for the CD.

You can pre-order this now at dpas mailorder.

Q - Oh no! I hope it's not too late, but I hope you guys remembered to make sure that the remastered 'Stormbringer' LP includes a copy of the poster that was included in the Japanese versions back in the olden days. Whew, I sure am glad that I caught you in time. (er..let's hear it for greedy fans). Jeff Breis
A - Jeff, we're lucky they let me do inner bags, I think the poster idea might be a step too far, so best leave it for the people who have the original! Simon