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A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 12:52 pm
by elevatorman
A Flock of Seagulls just released their latest, Ascension. It's a greatest hits compilation recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. I'll be honest. I'm loving it. The orchestra really adds a nice touch to the songs. Some obviously work better than others.

In addition, they released Aurora Borealis which is another rerecorded greatest hits. It contains the same track listing as Ascension. What should be noted is the band reunited with all 4 original members to record both releases.

They're available everywhere to stream, download and buy.

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Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 1:52 am
by moni
The box is way too expensive at £45 i will give it a miss.

Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 6:26 am
by postpunkmonk
If the box is out of budget, the "Ascension" is a separate CD and "Aurorea Borealis" can be bought separately as a download. I would buy the "Ascension" disc - it could be interesting, and I'm not the biggest AFOS fan.

Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 8:04 am
by WLR
The vocals on the "Acension" album are very poor in my opinion, which is a shame as it could have been a great album.

I thought the Midge Ure Classical album was fantastic, breathed new life into Ultravox and Midge Ure songs.

Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:45 am
by negative1
WLR wrote:The vocals on the "Acension" album are very poor in my opinion, which is a shame as it could have been a great album.

I thought the Midge Ure Classical album was fantastic, breathed new life into Ultravox and Midge Ure songs.


i thought the opposite. i like the new vocals and versions for a flock of seagulls.

i thought the orchestral midge ure and ultravox pretty much killed off those songs and groups.

later
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Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:03 pm
by negative1
ok, listening through these:
====================================

this is a very strange deluxe version.

as mentioned before, the mix of orchestral and new wave music is not new.

there's quite a lot of collaborations of these.

however, in this boxset, you get even more:
-----------------------------------------------------
1 the new album - ascension, which is the reworked tracks with orchestral parts
added to them
[available separately]

2 instrumental versions - these are are actually the same songs, but with some
orchestral parts (unfortunately)

3 orcapella versions - these are purely orchestral versions

4 reworked album - these are the tracks without the orchestral parts
[available separately]

5 space age love song single - featuring 2 mixes that weren't on the digital release
[available separately]
===============

i am not a classical musical fan at all..... i don't think i own any releases like that.

however, i do like the sounds of strings and orchestras when added to pop and dance music
(like ABC, etc).

so, being a huge fan of flock of seagulls, i think all these are great.

however, theres some overlap of the tracks, and the fact that dna, and ascension
are already instrumentals, so those are covered a couple of times.

i don't think i'll listen to the pure orchestral version much, it's a nice novelty.

the space age love song single is great, and you can get it separately, it's one of my
all time favorite songs from them, and a few of the remixes are really cool.

---------------------

what all this music has done for me, is allow me to mix and match versions, and even
create some of my own remixes.

the unfortunate thing, is the 'instrumental' versions still have the orchestra in them,
i would have preferred the pure instruments only.

anyways, its a very cool and unique boxset, but i would only recommend it for
hardcore flock of seagulls fans only.

for anyone else, it's overkill.

rating, 4.5 out of 5 stars.

later
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Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:46 pm
by Sean
Thanks for the review Negative1. I have been debating getting the box set or getting the Ascension cd and the SALS cd single only. Think I am going to lean toward the latter even though I love AFOS.

Re: A Flock of Seagulls - Ascension AND Aurora Borealis

PostPosted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 10:57 pm
by negative1
The 2nd single, I ran 2018, came out in December;

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Some of the mixes are decent:
--------------------------------------
01 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Orchestral Version]
02 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Main Version]
03 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Long And Expanded Remix] )
04 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Orchestral Extended Remix Instrumental]
05 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [BRS Vocal Remix]
06 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Daniele Baldelli & DJ Rocca Hypno Vocal Mix]
07 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Daniele Baldelli & DJ Rocca Presto Instrumental Mix]
08 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Long And Expanded Remix Instrumental]
09 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Main Version Instrumental]
10 flock of seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) [Situation Dubside Remix]

As the second single from the "Ascension" album we revisit their biggest hit, the 80s classic "I Ran". The main event is the expansive and lush Orchestral rendering however there is a bundle of 10 versions in all on the Single release.

Opening up the release is the Prague Philharmonic Orchestral version and the Main version with the sounds everyone is used to. Its then into the 12" Extended version territory as we take those two versions and extend them 80s 12" style. Stretch them, break them down, add some new keys and bang... Its 1984 in a vinyl shop all again.

Its then a trio of dance floor mixes. First a modern house version from BRS. Then a couple from Italian Balearic disco legend Daniele Baldelli (with his studio partner Rocca). They go first for a Depeche Mode style groover and then a zippy analog synth and guitar quirker. Its then a couple of instrumental versions before ending up somewhere where the Seagulls have never been before. It's a the slow dub version from Situation. The perfect slow jam ending track.

Buy the cd-single at the august day site, or get digital and streaming:
Beatport
iTunes
Google Play
Amazon
Spotify
Tidal
TRAXSOURCE
Deezer

later
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