Bedrock--Free Are the Young (Remastered)

It has taken me some time to get around to one of my “pet projects”. . . the Remastering of the 1991 Bedrock album “Free Are the Young”. Planning for this has occurred in numerous stages, initially starting with looking to remix/re-record some of the tracks in the mid-90’s at Crow’s Nest Studios (which had by then upgraded to ADAT). I had grand designs of re-recording vocal tracks, adding processing to the guitars, blah blah blah to try to make a more polished and professional sounding mix, but all of these were cost prohibitive at the time.

More Recently, I started trying to bring the idea of remixing/remastering the album to life in the fall of 2004. I tried to find some of the cleanest versions of tape that I could get, even to the point of trying to track down the original ½” Reel to Reel 8 track master tape and converting the tracks to Wav files, and remixing the entire project. (obviously unsuccessful—those tapes are gone with the wind). I had to settle for one of the mass duplicated tapes that we made in 1991, but fortunately, the tape itself (though a 3^rd generation copy) was relatively pristine. My master tape, and the DAT remix master that we did in 1993, did not make it out of Tennessee with me, and are probably lost forever.

So, thanks to Mark Walden (who sent me the Bedrock tape), a never before used cassette player (thanks to Sam for that one—he says “what’s a cassette?”), and the wonderful technology in my home studio, I was able to significantly improve the eight songs that we recorded in November of 1991.

These are NOT perfect, by any means, as the original recordings and mixes were not perfect. They are not perfect, because the performances are not perfect. They are, however, a little more “listen-to-able”, which is a good things. Hopefully newcomers to the music will be able to see them for what they are, a group of fledgling musicians first attempt in a studio. Old friends and family will hopefully be able to appreciate them for their nostalgic value.

For me, while the listening and mastering process was enjoyable, it was also very, VERY painful on two levels:

First of all, it was somewhat painful, in the same way that an old snapshot of a bad haircut is painful. . .you know the kind. . .the yearbook Photo with the 80’s hair-do and the turned up collar, large white triangle shaped earrings, and blue eye shadow, or for the guys, the little cheesy moustache that you worked so hard to grow, but the cat could easily lick off with milk? It was painful in that embarrassed, “what was I thinking,” kind of way. . .realizing now that we really WEREN’T all that good. I still think we had A LOT of potential, and A LOT of raw talent, but not much sense. We were, after all, still pretty young—early 20’s. I have no technological tricks in my studio that will cure insufferable naiveté, or egregious pretentiousness

Secondly, it was also pretty painful to listen to the music of that time period. . .to again become intimately acquainted with it, and to remember not only the feelings of that time, but also the grief and loss associated with the ending of so many hopes and dreams, as well as the ending of so many of those relationships.

Overall, I am glad I have done this, for posterity’s sake, as well as for some kind of closure. It was wonderful working with you my friends, Derek and metal, as well as the other long lost members of Bedrock: Maynard, Percy, Davey G., Natchy. Special thanks also to all of the members of the Bedrock “Family” who made us feel like we were ten feet tall!

To hear the new remasters, Click HERE