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The Rah Band: Messages From The Stars – The Rah Band Story Vol. 1, 5CD Box Set


Released October 21, 2022.


**LIMITED EDITION SIGNED POSTCARD AVAILABLE WITH ALL PRE-ORDERS WHILE STOCKS LAST!**

• 71-track deluxe 5CD box set containing expanded versions of the albums ‘The Crunch & Beyond’, ‘Rah Band’ and ‘Going Up’.

• Also includes 2CDs of additional 12” mixes, 7” mixes and remixes.

• Plus 31 tracks previously unreleased on CD plus an additional two tracks previously unreleased on any format.

• With a fully illustrated 20-page booklet containing brand new sleeve notes by Record Collector and MOJO’s Lois Wilson including quotes from the interview that she did with Richard Hewson in April 2022.


This is only the 1st boxset of 2. For me (if all goes well soundwise) the boxset of the year ... was waiting years for this to happen!


71-track deluxe 5CD box set containing expanded versions of the albums ‘The Crunch & Beyond’, ‘Rah Band’ and ‘Going Up’.

• Also includes 2CDs of additional 12” mixes, 7” mixes and remixes.

• Plus 31 tracks previously unreleased on CD plus an additional two tracks previously unreleased on any format.

• With a fully illustrated 20-page booklet containing brand new sleeve notes by Record Collector and MOJO’s Lois Wilson including quotes from the interview that she did with Richard Hewson in April 2022.

The first of two comprehensive 5CD box sets covering the recordings of the Rah Band. ‘Messages From The Stars – The Rah Band Story Volume 1’ covers the period 1977-1984 and contains expanded versions of the albums ‘The Crunch & Beyond’, ‘Rah Band’ and ‘Going Up’ plus 2CDs of additional 12” mixes, 7” mixes and remixes.

The Rah Band was formed by Richard Anthony Hewson (RAH) in 1977, and launched with ‘The Crunch’, a strange compelling instrumental which was a mixture of glam stomp, space age jazz and futuristic pop that was recorded DIY style in his bedroom.

The single reached No.6 in the UK singles chart and launched a career that has spanned 25 studio and compilation albums and over 40 singles, enjoying chart and sales success in both the UK and a number of overseas territories.

Richard Hewson is still recording today and this collection of his recordings covering the period 1977-1984 maps his illustrious beginnings and reveal a singular talent able to filter jazz and jazz funk through pop to both creative and commercial effect.

Track Listing:
DISC ONE

The Crunch & Beyond
1. The Crunch
2. Electric Fling
3. Concrete
4. Is Anybody There?
5. Beyond
6. Spacerace
7. Turkey Roll
8. Vampire Vamp
9. Woogie Boogie
10. The Crunch (Reprise)
Bonus Tracks
11. Jiggery Pokery
12. Porridge
13. The Crunch (Part 2)*
14. Tokyo Flyer (7” Version)*
15. Tokyo Flyer (Instrumental Version)*
16. Falcon (Original 12” Mix)
17. Falcon 2*
* Previously unreleased on CD

DISC TWO

Rah Band
1. Falcon*
2. Downside Up
3. Dream On
4. Slide
5. Blue Horizon Drifter
6. Dancing On The Moon
7. Ride
Bonus Tracks
8. Slide (12” Mix)
9. Drat That Cat (7” Mix)*
10. Drat That Cat (12” Mix)*
11. Downside Up (7” Mix)*
12. Riding On A Fantasy (Instrumental Mix)*
13. Ride (7” Edit)*
* Previously unreleased on CD

DISC THREE

Going Up
1. Messages From The Stars
2. Roll Me Down To Rio
3. Perfumed Garden (with Scented Strings)
4. Hunger For Your Jungle Love ’83
5. Sam The Samba Man
6. Winter Love
7. Tears And Rain
8. Two Bodies
9. Party Games
10. Riding On A Fantasy
Bonus Tracks
11. Perfumed Garden
(Original 12” Mix)*
12. Riding On A Fantasy (7” Single Vocal Mix)*
13. Rock Me Down To Rio (1981 Single Mix) *
14. Messages From The Stars (Short Wave Mix)*
15. Perfumed Garden (7” Single Mix)
* Previously unreleased on CD

DISC FOUR

Remixes & Rarities (Part One)
1. Messages From The Stars (Long Wave 12” Mix)
2. Tears & Rain (12” Mix)*
3. Riding On A Fantasy (12” Vocal Mix)*
4. Rock Me Down To Rio (1981 12” Mix)*
5. Sam The Samba Man (1983
12” Mix)*
6. Tears & Rain (7” Single Mix)*
7. Hunger For Your Jungle Love (7” Single Mix)*
8. Party Games (12” Mix )*
9. Sam The Samba Man (Hip Hop Music)*
10. Messages From The Stars (Astro Mix)
11. Funk Me Down To Rio ’82 (12” Mix)
12. Sam The Samba Man (Scratch Me If You Can)*

* Previously unreleased on CD

DISC FIVE

Remixes & Rarities (Part Two)
1. Funky Tokyo! (7” Mix)**
2. Funk Me Down To Rio ’82 (7” Mix)*
3. Funky Tokyo! (12” Mix)**
4. Rising Star (12” Mix) *
5. Winter Love ’84 (12” Mix)
6. Rising Star (Cosmix)*
7. Winter Love ’84 (7” Mix)
8. Dream Street (7” Mix)*
9. Rising Star (Remix Edit)*
10. Dream Street (Original 12” Mix)*
11. Sam The Samba Man ’84 (Summer Samba 12” Mix)
12. Sam The Samba Man ’84 (Summer Samba 7” Mix)*
13. Dream Street (Street Mix)*
14. Perfume Garden (Remix)
* Previously unreleased on CD
** Previously unreleased

Which label? Cherry Red? At first glance this sounds too good to be true. I've waited years to see a comprehensive collection of their work. A lot of their early stuff that's currently on cd/digital is vinyl sourced and awful sounding. Fingers crossed.

omar wrote:Which label? Cherry Red? At first glance this sounds too good to be true. I've waited years to see a comprehensive collection of their work. A lot of their early stuff that's currently on cd/digital is vinyl sourced and awful sounding. Fingers crossed.

Indeed it's Cherry Red (Cherry Pop):

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the ... d-box-set/

Looks like Richard Hewson's own project if you ask me... he was asked about the boxset but I can't find any information on this at the moment.

Oh my. Great news. I need to look for this release.

Dean Verdin (Boxset Curator):

on the Rah Band Facebook page:

"I promise you’ll be delighted with this amazing box set - an incredible amount of work went into this with the amazing
Cherry Red, Aaron Judd, Will McCormack and our own Richard Hewson".

"As curator for this box set I can confirm that it has all been beautifully and professionally restored and sounds amazing!
Volume 2 does indeed include the PROPER! Something About The Music album (intended for release in 1987 following the
release of the singles "Run 4 The Sun/Life After Love" and "Across The Bay/Jammin' On The Byte", but due to a change
in management at RCA the album did not get released then. However, a few editions released on promo surfaced).

"We are working on this now for release in early 2023".




*** UPDATE 19-08-2022 ***


Reply email from: info@therahband.com :


Hi Lucas,

Many thanks for your email.

We can confirm that a lot of time has been spent on the masters and they have been cleaned-up and the tracks on the Box set are crystal clear.

Regards

RAH


*** UPDATE 30-08-2022 ***

Here's a RAH Band podcast that's about how this box set was compiled and the trials and tribulations of the process involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQHX3ke-S8

Looks like this is really a serious project with hunted down masters etc.

Recently, there is an unboxing video in which Richard Hewson himself shows this new set and it will be released on the 21st which is next week.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9lzb0CKk4

I preordered this set a couple weeks ago, I'm super stoked and now I don't have to hunt down all those 12"s to rip! I'll definitely be preordering Vol. 2 when it shows up, I'm a big fan of RAH Band in general but the post-1984 stuff (esp. Mystery) really interests me.

Where is the single version (3:46) of FALCON??
And where does the single edit of RIDE come from? Was it a B-side to some single?
And where was Riding on a Fantasy (Instrumental Mix) from?
And where is Messages from the Stars (Astro Mix) short 7" mix?
And where is the 4:30 version of FALCON? (B-side 12" Tokyo Flyer - DJR 18014)
And why was the track "FALCON" even on CD 1, and not 2?
A great looking box in any case (although there was no discography in it.)
/JW
http://www.discog.info/rah-band.html

I gambled and got this boxset. Again it's a botched up job as many of the 7"/12" mixes plus the Going Up album are vinyl sourced. I'm not surprised despite all the hoo haa on how great this boxset was going to be with the real master tapes being used. Oh well!! I certainly won't hold my breath for volume 2.

omar wrote:I gambled and got this boxset. Again it's a botched up job as many of the 7"/12" mixes plus the Going Up album are vinyl sourced. I'm not surprised despite all the hoo haa on how great this boxset was going to be with the real master tapes being used. Oh well!! I certainly won't hold my breath for volume 2.

This was not as it was promised to be ... I'm not amused ...

Are the popping noises/clicks really obvious on those tracks? How many did you discover?
Still haven't received mine! Think I'll cancel mine while there's still time to do it! Thanks for the info so far.

The "The RAH Band Podcast - Episode 3"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQHX3ke-S8&ab_channel=therahband
mentions the long process including lots of master tapes..... strange.

Ok, all of the Going Up album from start to finish seems to be vinyl sourced. The sound is particularly fuzzy on tracks like Message From The Stars, Winter Love, Party Games and Riding On A Fantasy. Couldn't they've used a mint vinyl copy if available? The 7"/12" versions of Funky Tokyo, Perfumed Garden, Sam The Samba Man, Riding On A Fantasy and Tears And Rain have also vinyl noise/fuzziness on them (perhaps not as bad but still noticeable). Only the first two cds of Crunch & Beyond (1978) and Rah Band (1981) sound ok. I will say this though... the previous Rah Band cd releases sounded awful whereas these new ones are considerably better but still not up to par in my opinion. As for that youtube podcast I can only guess that the actual master tapes for Going Up were screwed up. Well done Cherry Red!!!

omar wrote:Ok, all of the Going Up album from start to finish seems to be vinyl sourced. The sound is particularly fuzzy on tracks like Message From The Stars, Winter Love, Party Games and Riding On A Fantasy. Couldn't they've used a mint vinyl copy if available? The 7"/12" versions of Funky Tokyo, Perfumed Garden, Sam The Samba Man, Riding On A Fantasy and Tears And Rain have also vinyl noise/fuzziness on them (perhaps not as bad but still noticeable). Only the first two cds of Crunch & Beyond (1978) and Rah Band (1981) sound ok. I will say this though... the previous Rah Band cd releases sounded awful whereas these new ones are considerably better but still not up to par in my opinion. As for that youtube podcast I can only guess that the actual master tapes for Going Up were screwed up. Well done Cherry Red!!!

This is on Discogs today from 2 guys (therahbandoracle and Will_McC) who are heavily involved in this boxset:

therahbandoracle:
"I can tell you that 9 months of solid labour went into this box set, and as a dedicated super fan and long time friend and colleague of Richard Hewson, I’m afraid your comments (those from Michael80) are completely unjustified. Going Up was not sourced from vinyl, it was sourced from the original analogue tape, which you have to remember is 40 years old - every track was diligently digitally restored across this box set FIVE times, in order to provide the best possible consumer experience.

Will_McC:
"I supported the curator of this box set from day one and am also a dedicated super fan who is heavily involved. As already stated your comments (he mentios the comments today from Michael80) are utterly unjustified and have no substance. Going Up was, as stated, sourced from the original analogue tape of 40 years old - yes 40 years old!"

As if a master, however old it is, has pops and clicks in it!!!

By all means you should go buy this if you want. I'm not trying to discourage/encourage anyone, but merely stating my own personal opinion. That's what this forum is about. I've always liked the Rah Band especially their later 80s period. I was just amazed on how the curators of this project raved about the painstaking time and effort to compile and remaster. Like I said previously the first two cds sound fine, it was only Going Up and it's 7"/12" versions that sounded like vinyl/fuzzy transfers or i guess now an old master that has worn over time. Maybe someone else who buys this can shed some light.

Received mine today and after a listen to the 3rd CD I decided to keep the boxset: I don't think it's vinyl noise! From what I understand is that there is some tape noise that can be confused with vinyl noise and I guess that has to do with a 40-year old tape (as discussed by therahbandoracle and Will_McC but their messages were removed on Discogs after one day which was yesterday). There are some tracks that are affected, although it's still weird, because if the tapes are baked well than this is avoidable. Have to listen to the rest of the boxset yet.