MP3 Richard Gordon - Heroism: The Annals of 2006 - Masterpiece Edition

Progressive instrumental rock-comic book.

16 MP3 Songs in this album (61:01) !
Related styles: ROCK: Industrial Rock, ROCK: Rock opera

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Details:
Heroism: The Annals of 2006 â Masterpiece Edition

Album Credits:

All music written, and all instruments performed by: Rich Gordon, except drum programmes on track 1 âIntro Track â âWelcome to Nexus Cityââ, track 7 âSynaesthesiaâ and track 11 âInvertiaâ.

Sound Effects on track 1 âIntro Track â Welcome to Nexus Cityâ, track 4 â âNews Report 1â, track 10 âDialogue 1â and track 13 âDialogue 2âsampled from Apple Inc. âiMovieâ sound effects bank.

Engineered, produced and mixed by Rich Gordon at Vector Sigma Studio, Fife, Scotland.

Mastered by David MacFarlane, Perth, Scotland.

Please note: the original edition of âHeroism: The Annals of 2006â is still subject to copyright â 2006 Richard Gordon.

About the concept:

Heroism: The Annals of 2006 is an âinstrumental rock-comic bookâ. Each song in the album is the theme song for a scene in the comicâs storyline. It has also been interspersed with âdialoguesâ and ânews reportsâ to add pointers to where the story is.

The story is not integral to the music, though it does help to get a grasp of the musicâs thematic attributes.

In short, the story is set in the fictional city of âNexusâ, in 2175, where superheroes are created through the process of genetically modifying humans with the addition of a substance called âDivine Xâ to their blood, which enhances their physical and mental capabilities to a superhuman level. These genetically modified humans basically serve as a superhuman police force in a world that has descended into a state of total anarchy. Terrorism has reached an all-time high with the coalition of terrorist groups, commonly referred to as âThe Collective Uprisingâ.

The main character, Malcolm Danes, is drafted in to replace his predecessor as Nexus City Guardian, âJohn Taylorâ who is killed in the first scene in the story. Malcolm, after his treatment with the performance-enhancing substance, becomes the ultimate superhuman and unearths the dark secret behind the onslaught of terror being exacted upon the world. The man responsible for the formation of the super-human police force, âJohn Ewlerâ, with whom Malcolm is a great friend, is simultaneously responsible for funding the terrorist activity, in a bid to control the world and prevent it from becoming unbalanced.

Malcolm ultimately unearths the truth and, whilst not exactly saving the day, puts it right, with Ewler committing suicide.


About the album:

âHeroismâ started out back in 2004 as a simple idea to create another album. Hot off the heels of having released my first EP â âThe Annals of 2004â, I set about pushing further the boundaries of what I could achieve as a musician. At this point I never considered the idea of making it into the concept record that it eventually became. In fact, as a recall, I had considered the possibility of it becoming a double disc release â one being instrumental and the other vocal! However, one thing that was clear from the outset was the title, âHeroismâ, and each song was to have a reference to superheroes in some shape or another.

The first song on this record to be written was âSynaesthesiaâ. It originally started out with the title of âThe Bat Personâs Blues Explosionâ, and it sounded far more âconventionalâ than it ultimately ended up being. I actually performed the original version to a nonchalant audience shortly afterwards, and at that moment I realised it needed a little modification.

It was in early 2005 I realised that I wanted to create more than just a record. I began to feel that the concept of just compiling songs about different subjects together was quite empty, and that with no visual or other sensory stimulus to accompany music, there was something quite drab about it. This was also coupled with the fact that I had the burning urge to do something really unusual through music. I can honestly say that Heroism was a highly unique experience for me in that I basically smashed together so many different genres of music and made them sound as gritty and dirty as possible to get the feel I wanted from the record. Without the concept of the comic book, it seems likely that the record would have sounded highly abstract, and I also expect that I wouldnât have achieved the sound I did.

Whilst I was ultimately happy to have released a full album, with the related success of putting it on a professionally-manufactured CD and the initial success of the albumâs launch, I was never entirely satisfied with the production quality. This was due to my limited experience and the very limited capabilities my studio set up actually had â a 4-track recording device some poor microphones and a keyboard were the accompanying devices to my guitar rig.

It was in October 2008 that I (after having a dream that I was doing a âcover versionâ of a song from Heroism) I realised I ought to re-record the album and give it the much-needed attention it deserved. It was very much inhibited by the poor recording quality and the lack of live drums, and I set out to correct this, but also to retain the original feel of the record. In February 2009, I completed the project in its entirety.

Fundamentally, nothing has really changed from the original recordâs composition. Each song is still arranged in much the same way it was, although the recording values are much better and the sound benefits from being far clearer than it ever was. Iâve embellished a little in some of the tracks, adding things that I probably would have done back during the original sessions had I the means to do so. In the dialogue tracks I made the most of using sound effects that improved the feel of them and deepened their contextual setting.

The only exception to my ânothing has really changedâ statement is the song âEdeniaâ, which has had a dramatic facelift. The original version was quite heavily arranged and cluttered, and whilst the composition was right, I was never happy with how it sounded. I stripped it back to a very basic arrangement this time around because of this, and now I can honestly say it is one of my favourite compositions on the record.

The music may be finished now and happily left to obtain its seat in history, but I am certainly not done with this project. Iâd very much like to do a sequel to it, or to see some form of graphic version of it produced. I am also probably going to actually write the story behind the music (and that is the story upon which the music is based, not the anecdotes of how the album was made) and publish it privately, somehow.