Direct to Disc

Eureka! At long last this extremely rare, limited edition FM recording from 1978 has been made available on CD. For all those who have yet to tire of the Black Noise, Surveillance and City of Fear albums, Direct to Disc is nothing short of revelatory and an absolute must-own for FM fans.Revelatory? While the trademark FM sound is definitely cross-referenced, this album highlights the thought-provoking, exploratory side of the band, and is very different from the revered 1977-80 albums (which are now also finally available on CD). The direct-to-disc recording process allowed for no overdubs and only 16 minutes per "side", so this album became an opportunity for the band to record two epic tracks with plenty of space for extended soloing and improvising. At the same time, this is far more than a "jamming in the studio" exercise, as much thought was clearly devoted to organizing compositional structure.So what are they like? Opening track "Headroom" (15:05) has five connected movements of spacey soloing, while closing track "Border Crossing" (15:46) has four connected movements and is the less experimental of the two, being closer to the classic FM sound. Electric violinist/mandolinist Ben Mink had just joined the band and makes major contributions throughout, Cameron Hawkins add heavy synthesizers, brilliant bass-playing, and even some scattered background vocals (both tracks are mostly, but not entirely instrumental), and Martin Deller demonstrates yet once again why he's one of the most underrated drummers of all time. As for the album's overall sound, the best reference would be to the title track (especially the tuned percussion) of the previous album Black Noise, and yet the "Scarberia" movement of "Headroom" also looks forward to the sound world of Surveillance's "Sofa Back". It's hard to imagine anyone who enjoys those two tracks not also greatly enjoying Direct to Disc.One of the best attributes of late 1970s FM is that they sound like nobody else. Comparisons to Rush, UK, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Manfred Mann's Earth Band are understandable, but have never quite captured the band's true distinctiveness. Listen to the third movement of "Border Crossing" and hear three gifted musicians playing their hearts out sounding like six live performers. Direct to Disc is admittedly short on length and different from the band's other albums, but remains an absolutely self-recommending instant purchase for the band's fans. And for completists, here's the movement timings for each of the two tracks: "Headroom": 1) 1:37, 2) 2:02, 3) 3:04, 4) 5:07, 5) 3:11 "Border Crossing": 1) 3:50, 2) 1:06, 3) 5:55, 4) 4:52.Excelsior!

Sorry to hear this is the "lost" FM album. The others are more relevant to my tastes.

Direct to disc was just that a recording of this prog band playing straight to a disc cutting machine for LPs! So,,,,,I really never thought this would surface on CD....especially with the great sound this has!Maybe their best release...."no vocals"....or at least none that tend towards Pop/prog ,anyway. You get pure musical invention here. It IS a bit short....but not on goodness.

Forgot how much like Surveillance and Black Noise this album is.....so great!

This is less commercial than all the others ,More like Black Noise than any other ,.It ,and B N are by far my favoritesa of all the releases.

what is there to say. canadians rock and FM is no exception, those who know, appreciate them, those who don't, should have a listen and decide for themselves, progressive rock isn't for everyone but these guys show their wares well.

Love that these albums were finally released in digital form. I love my old vinyl copies but it's nice tohear them just that much more clearly!

1978's Direct-to-Disc was FM's first album to be made available in record stores. This album was also entitled Head Room when it went through a second pressing. Their previous offering, Black Noise was released through the CBC and only available through mail order. Of course, Black Noise's fate was to improve greatly in 1978 when it was made finally available through the usual outlets when Passport Records in Canada and Visa Records in America reissued it, and included new cover artwork, which is the one everyone is familiar with. Black Noise featured keyboardist/vocalist Cameron Hawkins, drummer Martin Deller, and violinist Nash the Slash. Nash quickly left the group and went solo. In place comes Ben Mink, future k.d. lang collaborator. Direct to Disc was released on the Labyrinth label, and was distributed by Discwasher Group, same company that manufactured record cleaning kits. This truly was a direct to disc recording, so what you hear is a one-take, although according to the liner notes, they actually made a bunch of recordings, and simply picked the cream of the crop. Direct to Disc is without a doubt their most progressive offering, without any commercial tendencies of their other albums. Here Cameron Hawkins' voice is much more low-key than usual. Martin Deller did a strange experiment using a brain wave generator attached to the lesser-known ARP 2500 synthesizer, on top of his usual drums and percussion, while Cameron Hawkins takes a more spacy approach than usual (he uses a Minimoog and Elka Rhapsody, as he did on Black Noise). Ben Mink also provides some nice violin work as well. Instead of collections of short, separate tracks, this album consists of two side-length cuts, although both tracks were divided into movements. I really believe Direct to Disc is by far my favorite FM album, I love the more experimental, non-commercial approach they did here. While Black Noise and Surveillance still features great material, there's always the occasional more commercially-oriented piece in hopes of radio airplay (City of Fear is pretty much an AOR/pop-rock album without much progressive leanings), that's not what you have with Direct to Disc.There is obviously a big reason you won't find this on CD: it was actually a direct to disc recording, so obviously master tapes don't exist. There is also no doubt that Direct to Disc is by far one of the rarest FM albums you'll find. While their Passport records are common as dirt, you probably won't stumble across this one too often. But if you have a turntable, and can find a copy, get it, you won't regret it!

Where it all began! Mastered from vinyl, but you can't tell at all. Fantastic to finally have this on CD.