Shona (bootleg) Michael Brook jump to: credits | tracks | notes | images | related

Credits

Sine Records
3 July 1995

Manufactured within the EU.
All tracks published by Opal Music.
Recorded during the Lanzarote Music Festival, December 1989.

Packaging copyright 1995 Caroline International Ltd.
Design & Art Direction @ Definition.
Photography by Neill Furmston @ Definition.

Tracks

1. Urbana (Urbana / After Image) (Brook) 14'20
2. Productivity (Red Shift) (Brook) 8'18
3. Err (Ultramarine) (Brook) 4'18
4. Shona (Shona Bridge / After Image) (Brook) 11'28

total duration: 39'42

Notes

A Russian pirated edition exists, coupled with tracks from Captive.

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UPDATE: Breakdown recieved an email from "Lianne & Carla" on 2 February 2001 objecting to our categorization of Shona as a bootleg. They do not give their full names or whether or not they are associated with Sine Records, or if they had anything to do with the Lanzarote Music Festival video, issued by Hendring in 1989.

They state the Shona cd was issued with

"full knowledge and participation with Brook's then managers / publishers (in 1989) Opal Music Ltd."

Further,

"the other cd releases coming from the recordings of Roger Eno / Harold Budd / Larraji were all originally engineered by Brook. It was also discovered when the cd releases were done that Opal Music had neglected to register some of the tracks with ASCAP / MCPS and this was only corrected on the release of these cds."

Richard Chadwick explains (19 February 2001):

"The situation with the Lanzarote recordings is as follows. The performances were all filmed and recorded with a view to them possibly being released commercially. In the event nothing happened, and then, some years later, Michael was told that a video was commercially available. A couple of years after that, we discovered that a bootleg, i.e. unauthorised recording was available on CD. As the recording contained unlicensed compositions, I contacted the Anti Piracy Unit of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ltd in an attempt to prevent further pressings being made until such time as the royalty situation had been clarified. I also contacted Sine Records to enquire what rights they felt they had to release the recordings. They told me that they had a signed contract with Nick Locke, who was a member of the film unit in Lanzarote and had obtained copies of the recording. Sine Records' agreement with Nick Locke was signed in good faith on Locke's assurance that he owned the recordings. I subsequently contacted Nick Locke asking to see a copy of the agreement, which he said was in his possession, proving his ownership of the recordings. Locke promised to let me have a copy of this agreement but, despite several reminders, it never materialised. We finally dropped the matter as being of insufficient importance to pursue. Michael Brook has never been paid any royalties by either Nick Locke or Sine Records."

"Consequently, both Michael and myself maintain our position that these are bootleg recordings. If Nick Locke, Sine Records or whoever is making money from the video or CD is prepared to produce any legal documentation showing that they do in fact own the rights to the recording, we will reconsider our position in this matter."

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Michael Brook states in an interview in the Eyesore pages that this cd is indeed a bootleg, albeit a very elaborately packaged one - well enough to be distributed in legitimate stores and online retailers.

Breakdown correspondent Geir Teistung reports two other cds taken from festival recordings were released in 1995: Agua by Harold Budd and Nightgarden by Roger Eno.

Breakdown correspondent Hoby reports that the seemingly erroneous track listings are actually Brook's own working titles for the pieces at the time. What follows are some notes about the seemingly unfamiliar track listings for this cd:

• As on Live at the Aquarium, "Urbana" begins with "After Image" (uncredited here).
• The track here titled "Productivity" is the working title of the piece that would appear on Cobalt Blue as "Red Shift."
• The track here titled "Err" is the working title of "Ultramarine."
• The track here titled "Shona" is the working title of "Shona Bridge."
• The last track, "Shona," winds down with a reprise of "After Image," fades out quickly and cuts to applause.
• The studio versions of "Urbana," "Red Shift," "Ultramarine," and "Shona Bridge" appear on the 1992 album Cobalt Blue.

Images

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