In The Region Of The Summer Stars

''In the Region of the Summer Stars'' is progressive rock band The Enid's debut album. It is based on the tarot sequence and on the writings of Charles Williams. It was released in 1976 by EMI. A new version was released on the band's own label in 1984 following its deletion from the EMI catalogue. In 2010, to forestall an alleged bootleg version, EMI licensed the original version to the band's own label.

Background and recording

''In the Region of the Summer Stars'' was originally composed as a largely vocal album, but recording plans had to be reviewed when Peter Roberts, the band's singer, killed himself on New Year's Day 1975. It was decided by the remaining band members that Roberts was irreplaceable, and subsequently the band reconstructed the music to be purely instrumental. The original name decided for the album was ''The Voyage of the Acolyte'', However, then-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett's debut album featured the same name and a similar concept.

Release

''In the Region of the Summer Stars'' was recorded at Sarm Studio during late 1974 and the winter-spring of 1975 and released in 1976 on BUK Records, a label owned by EMI. EMI deleted it from their catalogue soon after and lost the multi-track tapes for side two.

In 1984, frustrated by the unavailability of the album, The Enid reconstructed it so that they could re-release it by themselves with substantial alterations made to the arrangements. The multi-track tapes for the music on side one came into their possession and so they were able to use most of them. Side one was essentially the same except that "Fool" was extended and some completely fresh music was added. Side two had to be completely re-recorded. It was re-recorded and mixed by Stephen Stewart and Robert John Godfrey at The Lodge Recording Studio near Clare, Suffolk. John Southard of TRAD Electronics provided them with the means to achieve the technical quality of the recording. It was digitally mastered and released on vinyl LP with slightly altered track names and "The Father and the Mother" by William Arkle as the new album cover.

In June 2010, following what The Enid believe to be poor quality illegal bootlegs released by Inner Sanctum, EMI agreed to grant an exclusive worldwide licence for the original EMI release of the album to Operation Seraphim. The album was subsequently transferred from the original 30IPS 1/4 inch Dolby A tapes to 96 kHz 24 bit digital by Christian Curtis at Abbey Road. The tracks were mastered for CD by Max Read at The Lodge recording studio. The CD artwork was taken from the original releases and incorporated into an eight-page booklet. The album was released on 15 July 2010 and made available from The Enid’s online shop.

Track listing

Original 1976 version

*All music composed and arranged by members of The Enid.
;Side one
# "The Fool/The Falling Tower" (Robert John Godfrey, Francis Lickerish) - (6:16)
# "Death, the Reaper" (Godfrey, Lickerish) - (3:59)
# "The Lovers" (Godfrey) - (5:17)
# "The Devil" (Godfrey, Lickerish) - (4:14)

;Side two
# "The Sun" (Godfrey, Lickerish) - (4:39)
# "The Last Judgement" (Godfrey, Lickerish) - (8:12)
# "In the Region of the Summer Stars" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Glen Tollet) - (6:19)

1984 reissue

*Track titles were changed "largely on a whim", and the closing passages of Side 2 were rewritten by Godfrey in response to William Arkle's paintingfrom sleeve notes

;Side one
# "Fool" (Godfrey) – (2:43)
# "The Tower of Babel" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Stewart) – (5:05)
# "The Reaper" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Stewart) – (4:03)
# "The Loved Ones" (Godfrey) – (5:20)
# "The Demon King" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Stewart) – (4:18)

;Side two
# "Pre-Dawn" (Godfrey) – (1:12)
# "Sunrise" (Godfrey) – (3:27)
# "The Last Day" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Stewart) – (7:59)
# "The Flood" (Godfrey, Stewart) – (1:12)
# "Under The Summer Stars" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Stewart, Tollet) – (5:42)
# "Adieu" (Godfrey) – (3:03)

;CD Bonus tracks
;; The Enid label, 1988
* "Reverberations" (Godfrey) - (18:34)
:Godfrey solo piece

;; InnerSanctum, 2001; WHD Entertainment, Inc. (Japan), 2006
* "Judgement" (Godfrey, Lickerish)
* "In the Region of the Summer Stars" (Godfrey, Lickerish, Tollet)
: Rough mixes from original recording, previously unreleased

Personnel

1976 version

* Robert John Godfrey - keyboards
* Stephen Stewart - guitars
* Francis Lickerish - guitars
* Glen Tollet - bass, tuba, keyboards
* Neil Kavanagh - flute
* Dave Storey - drums, percussion
* Dave Hancock - trumpet

;Additional personnel
* Angus Boucher - executive producer
* John Sinclair - producer
* Gary Lyons - engineer
* Dean Pywell - sleeve design
* Richard Evans - logo
* Colin Dunbar - original concept

2001 reissue

* Christian Curtis (Abbey Road Studios): Digital transfer
* Max Read: CD Mastering

1984 version

All musicians as above except Dave Hancock, and with the addition of:

* Chris North - drums, percussion (side 2)
* Neil Mitchell - trumpet

;Production
* Robert John Godfrey, Stephen Stewart - production, mixing
* John Southard (TRAD Electronics) - technical assistance
* William Arkle - cover art xcept on the 2006 WHD Entertainment (Japan) reissue, which confusingly uses the 1976 artwork

References

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1976 debut albums
The Enid albums
EMI Records albums