The Future Sound of London - ISDN [RSD 2024]

Future Sound of London released ISDN in December 1994, Originally with a black cover as a limited release. June 1995 saw an alternative white-covered version released, this had a different track listing on the 4th side of the LP set with new tracks. The music on the album is edited together from various live broadcasts that the duo had transmitted to radio stations all over the world using ISDN networking. At the time ISDN was a relatively new technology that had the bandwidth to carry high-quality digital audio. 2024 Marks the 30th anniversary of this fan-favorite album, to celebrate this the audio from both versions has been amalgamated and sequenced by Brian Dougans. Pressed on clear vinyl with a brand-new front cover, this will also be pressed on CD as an RSD exclusive.

https://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/record/ISDN

https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/the-future-sound-of-london-2/isdn-rsd-2024

Nice!!

For me this contains the OG 'the most mysterious song on the internet' (at 4:36) .... what's the track, who is it by, why did they sneak some live recording from someone in there, why is it snuck into just the limited release ending, why do I even give two shits ?

The press release has a misprint - it's a 2CD set, not a 1CD one. No word on tracklist yet.

Pete, a much longer recording of that is in the VPRO show. Tried to ID it but no luck!

  On 2/16/2024 at 7:19 PM, purlieu said:

Pete, a much longer recording of that is in the VPRO show. Tried to ID it but no luck!

You bet I tried shazammin' that one (9/9/94 ?) when I came across it  Tried to work out if the acoustics in the very first bit of Just a Fucking Idiot are the same as that (i.e. are from the same 'gig') and/or whether the brass player is the same as the one in Far Out Son Of Lung .....

(seemed to remember going down a (dead end) rabbit hole with Dominic Glover (trumpet player and did brass arrangement of Mello Hippo) seeing that he played in the James Taylor Quartet which sounds like the sort of band name that the end bit of An End of Sorts would come from and apparently he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in the late 80’s/ early 90’s so could've come across Brian and Garrie back then ... a completely unsubstantiated google session that went nowhere  )

So we have a tracklist. As predicted, the 2LP version simply pastes the white edition tracks into the start of side D before ending with 'An End of Sorts'. Interestingly, the 2CD edition features the same running order, making it a 90 minute 18 track double album with strong similarities to Lifeforms, right down to CD1 containing eight tracks and running to roughly 40 minutes, and CD2 containing more and running to roughly 50. It looks set to be the 'definitive' version of the album - the question is, will we ever get something similar for Dead Cities (the answer is, of course, no).

Vinyl:
A1 Just A Fuckin' Idiot
A2 The Far Out Son Of Lung And The Ramblings Of A Madman
A3 Appendage
A4 Slider
B1 Smokin' Japanese Babe
B2 You're Creeping Me Out
B3 Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead
B4 It's My Mind That Works
C1 Dirty Shadows
C2 Tired
C3 Egypt
C4 Are They Fightin' Us
C5 Hot Knives
D1 Kai
D2 Amoeba
D3 A Study Of Six Guitars
D4 Snake Hips
D5 An End Of Sorts

2CD:
1-1 Just A Fuckin' Idiot
1-2 The Far Out Son Of Lung And The Ramblings Of A Madman
1-3 Appendage
1-4 Slider
1-5 Smokin' Japanese Babe
1-6 You're Creeping Me Out
1-7 Eyes Pop - Skin Explodes - Everybody Dead
1-8 It's My Mind That Works
2-1 Dirty Shadows
2-2 Tired
2-3 Egypt
2-4 Are They Fightin' Us
2-5 Hot Knives
2-6 Kai
2-7 Amoeba
2-8 A Study Of Six Guitars
2-9 Snake Hips
2-10 An End Of Sorts

But I want something similar for Dead Cities!

  On 2/24/2024 at 1:39 AM, NewSchoolScience said:

But I want something similar for Dead Cities!

Yikes...

  On 2/24/2024 at 1:39 AM, NewSchoolScience said:

But I want something similar for Dead Cities!

Just put this one on during RSD and pretend it's the 2nd CD of a deluxe Dead Cities edition

Just wait for the inevitable 14CD boxset of The Virgin Years.

my local actually had this in stock and i grabbed it for a stupidly high price but don't care and am a happy individual

I went to my local to find it, but of course they did not have it, but they did have it another store in another town, so snagged it from their webstore when it got released there. Was expensive but less than I expected it to be. But FSOL has been my jam for a long time so had to get it.

Managed to find a copy locally.

I have the original virgin fold-out release which is a really nice package, but sadly by far one of the lowest qualilty and noisiest pressings I have in my library--no doubt because someone, probably at virgin, thought it would be a great idea to fit the entire album onto one 12". Happy to finally have the whole album playable on wax.

From the fact that someone of the tracks on ISDN were broadcast only a few weeks before release, and one of the voicemails on the Mind Maps mixes is from someone at Virgin basically saying please pick a title we're running late, I wonder if it was done as a single LP just to speed up the pressing time.

Managed to snag a copy of the 2xCD.  Excellent.

  On 4/23/2024 at 10:19 AM, TwiddleBot said:

Managed to find a copy locally.

I have the original virgin fold-out release which is a really nice package, but sadly by far one of the lowest qualilty and noisiest pressings I have in my library--no doubt because someone, probably at virgin, thought it would be a great idea to fit the entire album onto one 12". Happy to finally have the whole album playable on wax.

 

Expand  

So this version sounds better?

I’m in the same boat as you guys, really pricey and I didn’t pick it up. Might get it from my store at some time as long as it’s still around.