der blaue reiter: epitaph 1980-1983

Epitaph 1980-1983 is the compilation of all recordings by Der Blaue Reiter released for the first time ever, freshly mixed and mastered with all their original analog glory. In January 1983, Stefano Tirone and Stefano Mazzola had the chance to record most of the tracks that they had played as Der Blaue Reiter since their beginnings in 1980 and throughout 1981. They used a TEAC 4-track reel tape recorder and as four-track reels all songs remained unmixed and forgotten for many years. In 2012 and 2013 two of their songs, "Through Glasses" and "Lights Off", were featured in two Italian wave compilations but both songs were mixed, including some additional production elements, hence they didn't keep their full, raw originality. Incredibly, that has been all the Der Blaue Reite material that has ever been put out. Between 2014 and 2015, Stefano Tirone finally decided to mix all the surviving tracks from the original analog tape reels, but maintaining the primary sound and elements without additions or overdubs. Only one song, the instrumental "Tears Of Joy", whose tape was unfortunately damaged, had to be re-recorded but all the original instruments and amplifiers, surprisingly well-kept for all these years, were used again to make it sound exactly the same as the initial recording. The songs on Epitaph 1980-1983 are an amazing, historical document of what could be considered one of the first cold wave bands from Italy. Even though they have sadly remained virtually unknown, probably because of not having released anything until this decade, they were true pioneers. Drum machine, synths, bass, guitar, deep vocals to give aural shape to melancholy, together with heartfelt lyrics. The essence of what is now tagged as cold wave. Housed in a matte finish sleeve; Includes printed inner sleeve with pictures and lyrics; Includes download code; Edition of 265 (hand-numbered).