Underground Radio

New Rock Opera Reviews

I've added several new reviews of important rock operas including Lou Reed's Berlin, David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, Greenday's American Idiot, Crack The Sky's epic Machine, Styx's band-destroying Kilroy Was Here, Wishbone Ash's concept album Argus, Klaatu's Hope, Joe's Garage, Tommy, SF Sorrow, Brainpool Junk and more.

Following on Lou Reed's Transformer, Berlin was pretty much career suicide. It's a dark album, with song cycle about two desperate characters Jim and Caroline trapped in a marriage of drugs, depression and abuse. Read all about it in More Rock Operas.

If you've got other rock operas you'd like to see reviewed, let me know! I've got a few more classic 70s albums queued up. 

Now Streaming

Now that Underground Radio has been remastered, I've released it digitally for download and streaming. The album is now available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Deezer, Tidal, etc. I've used CD Baby and BandCamp for distribution. Bandcamp features embedded mp3 lyrics, a 45 page Digital Libretto and 5 bonus instrumentals all for $5.

Here's the Spotify version but choose whatever service you prefer.

Remastered Album

I've long felt that while Underground Radio was well mixed, it wasn't well mastered. In fact, it wasn't mastered at all. Mastering is a separate phase of production during which a talented engineer listens to your album and makes adjustments to the overall sound, as opposed to the individual instruments or vocal tracks.

It turns out that at least some of the mastering process can be automated through the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other buzzwords. So I used a nifty automatic service called LANDR. I think the songs came out punchier and louder. I also fixed two niggling things that bothered me in the title track and adjusted the album artwork to better show the "ring wear" of an old vinyl album. You can listen to the remastered songs here at rock-opera.com, over at SoundCloud or download them free from Box.

Here's a comparison of the original version:

And the remastered version:

Now you can definitely hear all three chords!

All of this was done in preparation for the music to be distributed digitally on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Deezer, Tidal, etc. I've used CD Baby and BandCamp for distribution. Bandcamp features embedded mp3 lyrics, a 45 page Digital Libretto and 5 bonus instrumentals all for $5.

Video: C'mon Eva (instrumental)

Here's a new video we've posted on YouTube where I play a live solo to "C'mon Eva." It only took 19 takes!  No pressure.

Libretto Now Available

You can order the Libretto directly from Amazon for an introductory price of just $5.95. It's the size of a high-quality indie comic book with 45 pages including more than 20 original b&w illustrations. It also has all of the lyrics, song notes, a summary of the story and background on the project.

You can also download the full color PDF version from Box.

Listen to the Music - Free!

Listen to all 22 tracks of the remastered rock opera, plus 5 bonus instrumentals, online at Soundcloud.

Or download a free ZIP file of MP3s from Box.

The music is open source can be shared freely under the Creative Commons license.
 

Bonus Instrumentals Now Available!

There are five bonus instrumental tracks. You can listen and download tracks individually from Soundcloud.

You can download a ZIP file of MP3s from Box. 

Feel free to share these files however you like as it's all published under a Creative Commons open source license.