In 1983, Texas rocker Joe Ely undertook a radical experiment. Renowned for his ferocious live shows and his groundbreaking fusion of country and rock, Joe went into his home studio outside of Austin and began to explore the frontiers of electronic music-making, via then-cutting edge tools that included a Roland drum machine and an Apple II personal computer. Utilizing a combination of electronic tracks and live musicians, Joe crafted a series of new songs that borrowed from his roots-rocking origins while simultaneously embracing the emerging new technology of synthesizers and computers. The tracks may very well have been among the very first in pop music to utilize a personal computer in this fashion. At that time, the idea that a musician could record a record in a home studio was not only revolutionary, but many in the music establishment found it incredibly threatening. Joes record company at the time, MCA, was not as enamored of the finished product as was Joe, and they summoned him back to re-record the tracks…this time in a more traditional manner (i.e an establishment owned studio). The result was 1984’s Hi-Res. To this day, Hi-Res remains the only one of Ely’s MCA albums never to be released in the U.S. on CD. Now, for the first time in over 30 years, you can hear those original tracks, recorded and mixed as Joe intended, thanks to a new album, B484, available tomorrow on Joes Rack ‘Em Records. The album is the second in a series of “Pearls From the Vault” archival recordings from Ely’s collection. In keeping with his experimental and innovative ways, Joe has chosen to release the album first via a brand new digital platform called a V-Album. The B484 V-Album includes all the MP3 tracks you would expect from a typical digital album PLUS song lyrics, archival and never before published photos from that era, a music video of one of the songs, and links to merchandise. Come to Joes website and see why Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, writes in the new album’s liner notes, “As we know, many great musicians record and produce directly on their personal computers these days. I am thankful for everything that Joe and others like him have done to move our world forward.” For more information on Joes historic Directors Cut album, B484 please go to ely/ and check out the V-Album. Physical B484 CDs will be available for sale at ely in 2 weeks (June 30th) as well as more traditional digital outlets like iTunes and Amazon. \
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 15:52:46 +0000
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