Featured Album: Univers Zero - UZED

[battema]

Yep...still love it

[Scrotum Scissor]

Great tale!

Truth be told, some of my very best memories as concert-attendée came with artists that I'd previously never heard of, like Townes Van Zandt (when I was 19), Melt Banana, U.S. Maple, Jaga Jazzist (early!), Noxagt, The Flying Luttenbachers, Dead Moon, Fuzztones, Thin White Rope and Joanna Newsom.

Dunno what I'd have thought if anything as outrageous as Etron Fou or vintage UZ had struck my tabula-rasa being in real-time, but I suspect I'd might have been a bit intimidated - albeit beguilingly so. Punches in the face aren't necessarily the worst of things if you get bright ideas from them.

[battema]

Ooooh, never got to see Noxagt but would've liked the opportunity

And agreed...there's something about that live first impression with so many bands. It's just hard to beat: Ivo Papasov, Alamaailman Vasarat, Anna Meredith, Rival Consoles, Anna Von Hausswolff / Noveller, Zeal + Ardor, etc., etc., etc...

[Rick L.]

Not to totally derail the thread, but my best "surprise" live experience was Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Me and a buddy went to see a friend play at a little club in Somerville, MA. Bumped into another friend, who I play/played in some bands with and he asked if I was there to see Sleepytime. I said I didn't know who they were. Well, they came out and put in what was one of the greatest live performances I have ever witnessed. That was it for me.

[Steve F.]

Punches in the face aren't necessarily the worst of things if you get bright ideas from them.

Ding Ding Ding!

We have a winner!

[Hobo Chang Ba]

As I get older, continue to I rediscover the joy I got out of that 'so outta its or any other time' debut when I first heard it in 1978. And I really like the remix of it a lot, which for me didn't lose anything and added much.

It's currently the fave just for the atmosphere and the general 'huh' of that coming out in 1977.

I actually used to like the debut more years ago when I first discovered UZ...or perhaps it would be accurate to say I've raised my opinion on the others (especially Uzed & CDD) in the past three years or so.

Thinking about it more, I would also put the expanded Crawling Wind in my top 5, which is probably cheating, but oops.

[nosebone]

My favourite Univers Zero album alongside with Ceux du Dehors.

After all these years, that's where I stand also.

[Progbear]

Fantastic album, personally I prefer the bassoon & oboe on the previous 3.

I get where you’re coming from, but I really dig André Mergenthaler’s cello playing on this. So for me, it evens out.

[The Czar]

A really great album and my least favorite of the first five. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the hell out of it.

I would like to say thank you Steve for helping (probably) all of us have the opportunity to enjoy Univers Zero for so long. It was a great run.

[Steve F.]

I would like to say thank you Steve for helping (probably) all of us have the opportunity to enjoy Univers Zero for so long. It was a great run.

Thank you, sincerely. That's a really nice thing to read at 7:41 am.

[Buddhabreath]

My perfunctory two cents, one of the absolute top-drawer UZ albums, a real monster but Ceux du Dehors remains my favorite, perhaps because it was my first and I know it best. It probably also has something to do with the more acoustic sound on those earlier albums as well. You never forget your first kiss or your first UZ.

2. Don’t be a small minded nationalist

- good advice, now more than ever.

[Steve F.]

You never forget your first kiss or your first UZ.

or even your first UZ kiss-off!!

[Buddhabreath]

Just got a vision of Daniel Denis following you around doing rim shots.

[Steve F.]

Just got a vision of Daniel Denis following you around doing rim shots.

It wasn't even that entertaining.

[Buddhabreath]

That's why you need the rim shot...

[The Czar]

I have wondered what the reasoning for leaving cuneiform was?
"Hey let's leave the label that basically supported us almost our whole career and go to another label where the prices are outrageous for import cd copies...yeah that's a great idea."

[Steve F.]

I have wondered what the reasoning for leaving cuneiform was?
"Hey let's leave the label that basically supported us almost our whole career and go to another label where the prices are outrageous for import cd copies...yeah that's a great idea."

As the market for recorded music was diminishing greatly, Daniel saw his royalty checks going down to 20-25% of what they had been circa 2005 or 2007.

His take on it was 'You're cheating me'. My explanations for the state of recorded music were met with mostly angry silence. Much fun and hilarity followed.

Kavus, Ian C and Aymeric all witnessed the culmination of it. It was .... something.

They can interject or not as they wish.

[Buddhabreath]

Ugh, well now I know why my stupid rejoinder fell flat.

[NogbadTheBad]

As the market for recorded music was diminishing greatly, Daniel saw his royalty checks going down to 20-25% of what they had been circa 2005 or 2007.

His take on it was 'You're cheating me'. My explanations for the state of recorded music were met with mostly angry silence. Much fun and hilarity followed.

Kavus, Ian C and Aymeric all witnessed the culmination of it. It was .... something.

They can interject or not as they wish.

It was a thing to see, ... from a distance.

[Trane]

As the market for recorded music was diminishing greatly, Daniel saw his royalty checks going down to 20-25% of what they had been circa 2005 or 2007.

His take on it was 'You're cheating me'. My explanations for the state of recorded music were met with mostly angry silence. Much fun and hilarity followed.

Kavus, Ian C and Aymeric all witnessed the culmination of it. It was .... something. They can interject or not as they wish.

I missed the event itself at the Auberge (since I usually rented an old house in a neighbouring medieval village and didn't get there until 2PM), but I know Martin (Alucard) also witnessed it.
But in the same mid-afternoon, I spend an hour with Chantal (not sure she was yet aware of the incident, coz she didn't say anything about it), and then another hour with Daniel who spent roughly a half-hour telling me things about it, as if I was already aware of it, but didn't "catch" most of it. It later clicked in.

Surely Daniel regrets his decision, nowadays.

[Steve F.]

But in the same mid-afternoon, I spend an hour with Chantal (not sure she was yet aware of the incident, coz she didn't say anything about it)

She is absolutely and certainly the instigator of his worst behavior.

[Trane]

uuuhh!!!... nothing

[The Czar]

Wow. that is unfortunate. You would think he would see that cd sales took a hit during those years.
But after 2008, we got Relaps, and the remixes of 1313 and Heresie.
I hope he wasn't too hard to deal with...and they were worth it.
I love em

[calyx]

But after 2008, we got Relaps, and the remixes of 1313 and Heresie.

Perhaps Steve will correct me on this, but my impression is that we got Relaps partly as a result of the diminishing sales/revenue alluded to above. Before that, Daniel seemed reluctant to release any archive live material, but found that a live CD wasn't such a bad idea, after all. In the end, it turned out great for everyone (I guess - certainly it was very well received by the fans).

There were other plans including anoher remix, that of Ceux du Dehors, which for a while looked like it would come out as a combo with a DVD of a 2008/09 concert at Le Triton, but the latter is another project that fell by the wayside (no pun intended). Eventually, that was realised (if only partially), so far only on vinyl, but I wish I could have used all the material I had amassed for the booklet from interviews with most of the musicians involved. Apparently the label and/or Daniel decided they didn't want liner notes.

[Steve F.]

Perhaps Steve will correct me on this, but my impression is that we got Relaps partly as a result of the diminishing sales/revenue alluded to above. Before that, Daniel seemed reluctant to release any archive live material, but found that a live CD wasn't such a bad idea, after all. In the end, it turned out great for everyone (I guess - certainly it was very well received by the fans).
.

You have a better memory than I do and I don't remember the exact trajectory of things, but what you say might be correct. Basically by this point I was not having much fun dealing with DD and I tried to keep it as 'whatever you want / whatever you say' as I possibly could.

I do remember we must have been speaking about the reissues of 1313 and Heresie by the point we were speaking about Relaps (I can't remember the order of things and I am too lazy to look them up), because I asked DD, "With this live stuff that you are interested in being released (Relaps), are you certain you don't want to do expanded reissues of UZED and Heatwave and use that material there?" He said he had no plans for expanded / remixed versions of those two, so I suppose that that means that he was happy with them as they stand.