Mick Clarke on CD and Vinyl
I'm not the downloading type. As in almost never. And the few times I did it was either for a piece I'd written on rockzirkus.de (which has been taken off the net just recently and I have no idea wether it'll be back) or just a plain test (coupon inside the LP-sleeve - but I never used the downloaded file). That's me.
Now, Mick Clarke. I've been on board the MC-train since around the end of the 80s. And I didn't pay any attention wether it was the Mick Clarke Band or the man on his own. Up until around 2007, the releases came from labels such as Taxim, Appaloosa or Line. Taxim was probably the label who really pushed Mick Clarke into awareness (at least on the European circuit). Around the end of the 2010s, there was a cut in labels and most seemed to have gone to Rockford, which I take now as being Mick Clarke's own imprint.
There was a catch, however. While not impossible, the releases were quite hard to get. At least I couldn't find any in my neighbourhood shop. At the time, I probably relied on the big river, but I can't really recall this any more. But it got even worse. For a while all you had to listen to, was new music on downlaods. No LPs, no CDs, just files from wherever you where pointing your browser at. And not too far in the past, I realized that there was mention of CD and LP releases on his website (see Mick Clarke - British Blues Guitar) who release the new music of Mick Clarke.
The media seems to be CD-rs and lathe cuts. Now, I never had problems with lathe cuts, but apparently they are not as sturdy as proper vinyl pressings. The fact that I was handling lathe cuts and CD-rs never occured to me as it was never a benchmark for me. From the production side, this is as good as can be. Slight problems with the sound originate probably from the studio side. Judging the CD "Blues Before Sunrise", it's clear, that this is not a polished to death item. And quite rightly so. Maybe a touch of more brightness would have done the trick, but overall, this is what I want.
elasticStage are not doing any fiddling with the files they get, what you hear is what their client has recorded or got his paws on. So it's fair to say, you get what the artist wants you to hear. Maybe limited by their home studio or, if they went to the length, an external studio. When you order from elasticStage, be prepared to wait a few weeks, but don't get nervous, it'll all get to you in time. The sleeves and inners are excellent, no cheapo stuff there.
As for me, I'm very glad that the break in releases had an end for me and that I can again listen to Mick Clarke's output in a decent way (and I do not call downloads decent, wether mp3, flac, wav or whatever fancy file comes down the line). And "Blues Before Sunrise" brings back Blues and Bluesrock at its best.
If you're interested in elasticStage, here's the way to go: Create, Buy & Sell Custom Vinyl & CDs | elasticStage
Cheers
Roland
