Moving Shadow - the full-length single-artist albums

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blissblogger

Well-known member
Two questions for da masssive

- what are the worth-a-listen single-artist albums that Moving Shadow put out, beyond the obvious (Omni - Deepest Cut)?

- noticed that none of these mostly late-90s / early 2000s albums by Omni, E-Z Rollers, Dom & Roland, Flytronix, Guardians of euuch Dalliance, et al, are available on Spotify or Tidal, which make me wonder if the rights to the releases are in limbo - still held by a dormant Moving Shadow, with no impetus there to get them out there again.

For they're not on the artist's Bandcamp pages either - whereas their later full-lengths, on different labels, sometimes are. Omni Trio's Bandcamp, for instance starts with his final album Rogue Satellite, which was on Scale - a label started by Rob Haigh and Deep Blue. But none of the preceding Moving Shadow albums are on streamers.

It's quite a large swathe of music history to be unavailable (well, you can hear much of it on YouTube) but perhaps there are plans in the offing.
 
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subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
Omni Trio - Byte Size Life — his best LP imo (y)

Foul Play - Suspected — more a collection of tracks than an album, but they're all pretty decent.

Flytronix - Archive — the first half dozen tracks (sides A-F) anyway. I like this in particular...

 
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subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
Others...

E-Z Rollers - Dimensions of Sound — surprised to find that I've actually got this. That I can hardly remember anything about it perhaps says something in itself.

E-Z Rollers - Weekend World / Aquasky - Bodyshock — both pretty meh imo.

Dom & Roland - Industry — too crude and banging for me, I much prefer his 12s 1996-97.

Guardians of Dalliance - Diffusion Rooms — now listening to this again on youtube. Sounds like it was made purely for Fabio to play out at Swerve. Whether that's a good thing or not... all depends I guess.
 
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droid

droid

Well-known member
Slim picking from MS. There's a few good tunes on the first EZ rollers album, but its mostly dross. However they did put out probably the finest jungle LP of all time with the first Omni Trio LP, so theres that. Suspected is great as well.
 
subvert47

subvert47

I don't fight, I run away
droid said:
However they did put out probably the finest jungle LP of all time with the first Omni Trio LP, so theres that.
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All great tracks of course, but can it really be called an LP? It's basically just a compilation of remixes and stuff.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
I think we had this discussion many years back on SC. Yeah, it's basically a compilation of stuff taken from vols 2-5 and the remix EPs, but I think thats fine. Ultimately its a single artist album in my book.
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
droid said:
I think we had this discussion many years back on SC. Yeah, it's basically a compilation of stuff taken from vols 2-5 and the remix EPs, but I think thats fine. Ultimately its a single artist album in my book.
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There's three all-new tracks I think - 'Alien Creed', "Together", "Shadowplay" - all excellent. I think it works as a both a debut and a story-so-far greatest hits.


(It irritates me that the YouTube poster has described this as "progressive breaks").

There are postpunk precedents for Album Largely Made Out of Singles and B-sides. Metal Box is rather heavily stacked with already-released stuff (although often quite different mixes from the earlier single version). Songs To Remember by Scritti was a bit of rip-off frankly, for the diehard fan who'd bought the singles. I think there's only three tunes on it that hadn't appeared on one side or other of a single - "Sex", ""Gettin' Havin' Holdin'" and "Rock-A-Boy-Blue", and only "Gettin'" is memorable. So being a postpunk veteran, Rob Haigh is in that tradition maybe.

In the UK it's The Deepest Cut, but in America it was licensed by Smile and they renamed it Music for the New Millennium. Which do you think is the better title? M for the N M is a bit on the nose but in some ways I like the big claim of it, whereas Deepest Cut is a bit oblique.
 
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B

blissblogger

Well-known member
subvert47 said:
Others...

E-Z Rollers - Dimensions of Sound — surprised to find that I've actually got this. That I can hardly remember anything about it perhaps says something in itself.

E-Z Rollers - Weekend World / Aquasky - Bodyshock — both pretty meh imo.

.
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Dimensions of Sound is more or less when I gave up on Moving Shadow. I had it on advance cassette and remember the sinking feeling listening.

That said, I did listen to it a year or so ago and found it not quite as bland / over-arranged as I'd recalled.

Also quite liked Weekend World and one of their other late '90s / early 2000s jobs - again, listening recently rather than at the time (I wouldn't even have bothered - I'm not a loyal listener like that).

I've probably aged into liking these things - they suit a sedentary stay-at-home existence.

Either that or it's music that's good for driving. I always thought Dave Wallace's "Expressions" (that and his "Flight" might be the last MS singles I totally adored in real time) sounded like music for a car advert. I can imagine the track being road tested in the country lanes of Hertfordshire. "Expressions" also reminds me of Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out"

Aquasky incidentally seem to have their music on streamers, in comps called Shadow Era, pt 1 and 2. Perhaps they took matters into their own hands. Or maybe they were shrewd enough to get a contract that had reversion of rights built into it.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
blissblogger said:
There's three all-new tracks I think - 'Alien Creed', "Together", "Shadowplay" - all excellent. I think it works as a both a debut and a story-so-far greatest hits.


(It irritates me that the YouTube poster has described this as "progressive breaks").

There are postpunk precedents for Album Largely Made Out of Singles and B-sides. Metal Box is rather heavily stacked with already-released stuff (although often quite different mixes from the earlier single version). Songs To Remember by Scritti was a bit of rip-off frankly, for the diehard fan who'd bought the singles. I think there's only three tunes on it that hadn't appeared on one side or other of a single - "Sex", ""Gettin' Havin' Holdin'" and "Rock-A-Boy-Blue", and only "Gettin'" is memorable. So being a postpunk veteran, Rob Haigh is in that tradition maybe.

In the UK it's The Deepest Cut, but in America it was licensed by Smile and they renamed it Music for the New Millennium. Which do you think is the better title? M for the N M is a bit on the nose but in some ways I like the big claim of it, whereas Deepest Cut is a bit oblique.
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Yeah, I think thats mostly right, not unlike a lot of good jungle albums, Timeless, Gun talk, Control are some that spring to mind as all featured reworkings of previously released tunes. It's often said that the best jungle albums are compilations, so the kind of personal compilation format is a pretty good concept. I was certainly very happy to find this prior to getting my hands on most of the 12"s.

Deepest Cut is a better title I think, has a slight pop tinge to it.
 
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droid

droid

Well-known member
Some good stuff from Dimensions of Sound. I bought it for the Photek remix and its lovely Aphex sample as it never came out on 12 (until 2001). Worth it.

 
snav

snav

Well-known member
imo Omni's Haunted Science is his best full length, but I have major nostalgia for it so I'm biased

Suspected is also very good, as suggested. some real bangers.

not sure I know any other LPs they put out from other artists
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
snav said:
imo Omni's Haunted Science is his best full length, but I have major nostalgia for it so I'm biased

Suspected is also very good, as suggested. some real bangers.

not sure I know any other LPs they put out from other artists
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Haunted is really good isn't it, at the time i was so attached to the smash-out, diva-explosion mode of his that I was a little disappointed at first, but the filmic smoov-groove thing really works well and in time i've come to appreciate its achievement - it's proper album-album, all the way through listen

this one in particular is outstanding I think


was always a bit disappointed in Suspected but being a loyal fan I gave it the rave review. it suffered a bit from the dance artist graduating to debut album syndrome of 'fave tracks present but in not quite as good / slightly off remixes'
 
snav

snav

Well-known member
blissblogger said:
Haunted is really good isn't it, at the time i was so attached to the smash-out, diva-explosion mode of his that I was a little disappointed at first, but the filmic smoov-groove thing really works well and in time i've come to appreciate its achievement - it's proper album-album, all the way through listen

this one in particular is outstanding I think
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Hard for me to even judge the album track by track because it flows so well as an album for me. But as a teenager I always picked the last track as a favorite, Who Are You (Original 12" Mix). Just loved the soft organ licks and cozy vibe. But Rhythm Methods also hits that same sweet spot, and with less cheesy bassline action.
 
Dusty

Dusty

Tone deaf
Moving Shadow LPs sit in an awkward twilight zone in my own development as a listener. It's like finding that old Iron Maiden cassette you bought when you were 12. It shaped you completely at the time but is now just embarassing.

I remember being entranced by Industry & Bodyshock at the time of release... and now I'm contemplating deleting the never-listened-to files from my harddrive to free up space. The hard copies sold off decades ago.

What about Foul Plays - Suspected, I've never heard it but it was meant to be one of the best?
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
Also available on Tidal.

Nice to see Moving Shadow / Rob Playford make this swathe of history available again.

It looks to be comprehensive - the very first release on the label is on there, Earth Leakage Trip's Psychotronic EP

DJ Trax 1 Man 1 DJ EP!

Some extremely nerdy playlist making in my near-future clearly
 
B

blissblogger

Well-known member
Corpsey said:
Can't be sure but I'm assuming this is the complete discography in chronological order
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Looks like it!

Well that is one nerdy project I am saved from having to do. (Or does it - Tidal has better sound, so there is a temptation...)

That still leaves the Auteur Focused Playlists.
 
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