Magic Hero vs. Rock People

"Unearthing an unissued 1967 Harry Nilsson demo that was originally penned for the Monkees via scholarly research and then recording it as if the past 45 years has not happened is a most wonderful Shindig!-worthy endeavor. Magic Hero vs. Rock People deliver Nilsson's unknown 'I Live In A World' with a performance and production that capture every nuance you would have heard from the maverick himself. Of the remaining four tracks on this seven-inch maxi-EP/mini-LP, '1978' could have been on 'Ariel Ballet', stating the huge influence Harry has on these guys. It's eccentricity and story telling lyricism is a joy.

Elsewhere Magic Hero are redolant of a quirky small town American college band of the period. 'Question of Treason' has a garage band doing The Doors and Strawberry Alarm Clock thing going on -- its slightly off vocals and wobbly, tremeloed guitars adding an incredible air of authenticity." -- Jon Mojo Mills, Shindig! Magazine - Shindig!

To start us off a quick stroll through the 7’ vinyl section beginning with ‘Secret Enemies’, a four-track EP from Magic Hero vs. Rock People, featuring four original songs and a cover of ‘I Live in a World’, a long forgotten Nilsson song, that features here as a jangly folk-rock tune with bags of melody – much like the original, I would imagine, as it was offered as a potential song for The Monkees, although never used. Following on, ‘Heroes for Sale’, treads a similar melodic path and is equally enjoyable. On the other side, ‘Time to Crawl in my Hole’ is a bright and energetic song with great violin work coursing through it whilst ‘1978’ is a jazzy/blues shuffle, a drunken walk home in the moonlight, the disc ending with the ska influenced ‘Question of Treason’, another melodic ditty that completes a delightful collection. - Terrascope

To start us off a quick stroll through the 7’ vinyl section beginning with ‘Secret Enemies’, a four-track EP from Magic Hero vs. Rock People, featuring four original songs and a cover of ‘I Live in a World’, a long forgotten Nilsson song, that features here as a jangly folk-rock tune with bags of melody – much like the original, I would imagine, as it was offered as a potential song for The Monkees, although never used. Following on, ‘Heroes for Sale’, treads a similar melodic path and is equally enjoyable. On the other side, ‘Time to Crawl in my Hole’ is a bright and energetic song with great violin work coursing through it whilst ‘1978’ is a jazzy/blues shuffle, a drunken walk home in the moonlight, the disc ending with the ska influenced ‘Question of Treason’, another melodic ditty that completes a delightful collection. - Terrascope

Displaying psych-pop tendencies crossed with a love of Todd Rundgren (there is a track called “A New Wizard, A New Star"), The self titled album from Magic Hero vs. the Rock People is an admirable collection of 20 short songs that are interesting, varied, well produced and never dull, meaning the album flies by, as you hum melodies, get captured by the lyrics and sometimes wonder who that song reminds you of. As with so many Terrascopic albums, this gets better the more you play it, revealing missed textures, or short songs that were hidden last time around. - Terrascope

Displaying psych-pop tendencies crossed with a love of Todd Rundgren (there is a track called “A New Wizard, A New Star"), The self titled album from Magic Hero vs. the Rock People is an admirable collection of 20 short songs that are interesting, varied, well produced and never dull, meaning the album flies by, as you hum melodies, get captured by the lyrics and sometimes wonder who that song reminds you of. As with so many Terrascopic albums, this gets better the more you play it, revealing missed textures, or short songs that were hidden last time around. - Terrascope

I got a brown paper wrapped parcel in the mail pretty quickly after having had a nice email discussion about recording with Donny Lang, whose project this seems to be.

Inside the paper inside bubble wrap was an Emtec (I think) blue 7" reel box with the same album artwork of the "stick figure" people mentioned above on the front in color ( the CD is black and white and yes I got that too to compare) and the song credits on the back.
Inside was again I think an Emtec reel partially full. The format is 4 track stereo, both sides @ 3.75 ips.

The project/album is called "magic hero vs. rock people" It is quite long at about one hour of music and 20 songs. It is also somewhat ambitious in it's production with instrumentation and layring varying from sparse guitar and vocal to multiple layers. In fact there are a couple of sound collages. In this sense as in many others it seems to have been transported through a time warp from about 1970.
I will get the nitpicking negatives out of the way so I can tell you how much I enjoyed this music.

First, it is anything but the sterile souless perfect digital production we have come to expect today. It is not even really that "HiFi" much less audiophile quality. It is a small independent production using 70s-80s project studio technology. There are a few mic. breath pops and "artsy" "sloppy" edits - remember all those "let the tape roll" studio albums with the rough starts and stops left in? This is much better than that. And the main vocalist is not going to overwhelm you with his voice. At times he sounds a bit like modern grunge, at others like early Cat Stevens. He is a singer songwriter doing quirky rhymes that seem to fit with the textures of the music which are the main pint it seems. The music itself is inventive and interesting. It has surf influences including one surf instrumental. It has layered acoustic and electric guitars and old sounding string and vocal synths a la Moody Blues. It has the occasional xylophone or sleigh bells or fiddle or mandolin for extra texture here and there. It has sound effects and the aforementioned collages. It is kind of over the top, but very melodic and accessible but just weird enough to hold my interest. For as long as it is, and as many songs, I will say there is not one I didn't like, and that is pretty rare for me. Some, to be sure, are sort of short "songlets" that are not as well developed as others. Another interesting trend from the past. The music is sort of psychedelic / folk as advertised. Done by someone too young to remember either genre in its 60s form (as well as the recording technology) from it's first time around. If all that sounds appealing I think you will love this musically. If it sounds appalling, you won't.

So, how's the sound? Well, good and not so good. I listened first to the CD on my CD walkman with headphones last night as I was going to sleep. I was transported. It is wonderful headphone stuff. I listend to the CD in my car again driving around. I can say that there the music held my attention more than the audio quality, but was still quite acceptable. I listened to the reel on my Akai deck (3 3/4 remember) on my home system. The sound there was best described as truly vintage. Well recorded, not too compressed, but not too open either. In my case, perhaps owing to the vagaries of 3 3/4 eq on my machine it sounded somewhat bass and treble exaggerated but didn't go too low or too high. I compared the CD on the same system. More neutral, but somehow less, engaging is the word I think I want to use. I listened to both in ambiance recovery surround mode too and the reel seemed more "stereo" with more surround information present, though mono parts still were rock solid in the phantom center. There was just the tinest bit of flutter too. I'm pretty sensitive to it and it wasn't bad like an 8 track at that speed. In all fairness it could be the Akai. To be determined. I will have to give it a better listen on another machine that plays that speed.
So, for now, with my machine, at home, I prefer the CD sound but it's not over yet. The tape, even with it's almost caricature of analog sound, has something to hold me. Perhaps the best compromise would be if he can make it available at additional charge at 7.5 ips.
I would say, musically, if you like this stuff, very much worth the investment, at least for the CD. As to the reel to reel aspect, see his comments below, but I think 7.5 would suit it better. Or I need a better 3.75 tape machine. It does sound fine playing good 7.5 stereo or quad (does that too) pre-recorded tapes.

It is truly art in the best sense because of the music and format and I think we here should support him just for trying something this ambitious. - Tape Project

I got a brown paper wrapped parcel in the mail pretty quickly after having had a nice email discussion about recording with Donny Lang, whose project this seems to be.

Inside the paper inside bubble wrap was an Emtec (I think) blue 7" reel box with the same album artwork of the "stick figure" people mentioned above on the front in color ( the CD is black and white and yes I got that too to compare) and the song credits on the back.
Inside was again I think an Emtec reel partially full. The format is 4 track stereo, both sides @ 3.75 ips.

The project/album is called "magic hero vs. rock people" It is quite long at about one hour of music and 20 songs. It is also somewhat ambitious in it's production with instrumentation and layring varying from sparse guitar and vocal to multiple layers. In fact there are a couple of sound collages. In this sense as in many others it seems to have been transported through a time warp from about 1970.
I will get the nitpicking negatives out of the way so I can tell you how much I enjoyed this music.

First, it is anything but the sterile souless perfect digital production we have come to expect today. It is not even really that "HiFi" much less audiophile quality. It is a small independent production using 70s-80s project studio technology. There are a few mic. breath pops and "artsy" "sloppy" edits - remember all those "let the tape roll" studio albums with the rough starts and stops left in? This is much better than that. And the main vocalist is not going to overwhelm you with his voice. At times he sounds a bit like modern grunge, at others like early Cat Stevens. He is a singer songwriter doing quirky rhymes that seem to fit with the textures of the music which are the main pint it seems. The music itself is inventive and interesting. It has surf influences including one surf instrumental. It has layered acoustic and electric guitars and old sounding string and vocal synths a la Moody Blues. It has the occasional xylophone or sleigh bells or fiddle or mandolin for extra texture here and there. It has sound effects and the aforementioned collages. It is kind of over the top, but very melodic and accessible but just weird enough to hold my interest. For as long as it is, and as many songs, I will say there is not one I didn't like, and that is pretty rare for me. Some, to be sure, are sort of short "songlets" that are not as well developed as others. Another interesting trend from the past. The music is sort of psychedelic / folk as advertised. Done by someone too young to remember either genre in its 60s form (as well as the recording technology) from it's first time around. If all that sounds appealing I think you will love this musically. If it sounds appalling, you won't.

So, how's the sound? Well, good and not so good. I listened first to the CD on my CD walkman with headphones last night as I was going to sleep. I was transported. It is wonderful headphone stuff. I listend to the CD in my car again driving around. I can say that there the music held my attention more than the audio quality, but was still quite acceptable. I listened to the reel on my Akai deck (3 3/4 remember) on my home system. The sound there was best described as truly vintage. Well recorded, not too compressed, but not too open either. In my case, perhaps owing to the vagaries of 3 3/4 eq on my machine it sounded somewhat bass and treble exaggerated but didn't go too low or too high. I compared the CD on the same system. More neutral, but somehow less, engaging is the word I think I want to use. I listened to both in ambiance recovery surround mode too and the reel seemed more "stereo" with more surround information present, though mono parts still were rock solid in the phantom center. There was just the tinest bit of flutter too. I'm pretty sensitive to it and it wasn't bad like an 8 track at that speed. In all fairness it could be the Akai. To be determined. I will have to give it a better listen on another machine that plays that speed.
So, for now, with my machine, at home, I prefer the CD sound but it's not over yet. The tape, even with it's almost caricature of analog sound, has something to hold me. Perhaps the best compromise would be if he can make it available at additional charge at 7.5 ips.
I would say, musically, if you like this stuff, very much worth the investment, at least for the CD. As to the reel to reel aspect, see his comments below, but I think 7.5 would suit it better. Or I need a better 3.75 tape machine. It does sound fine playing good 7.5 stereo or quad (does that too) pre-recorded tapes.

It is truly art in the best sense because of the music and format and I think we here should support him just for trying something this ambitious. - Tape Project