Here's your chance to get involved with the creation of something rather special for the Pulp community!
As many of you know, Pulp's Eden Project gig was broadcast on BBC Choice in July 2002 and hasn't been seen since. We've been hoping for an official release for years but it's not forthcoming, so I thought it's about time we make our own unofficial release! So, here it is...
That's provisional artwork by the way, but you get the idea! I've been working hard on remastering the video from my own VHS copy of the broadcast - the source for the widely-shared AVI file on the Internet - and thanks to fellow forum member Perfect we've been able to improve the audio too, so it will be a treat to watch!
Now it would be easy just to burn the finished result onto a DVD and leave it at that, but I thought it would be good to go all the way and add some extras! For a start, we know the entire gig exists as an audience recording - http://www.pulpwiki.net/Pulp/EdenBootleg - and I'm asking now for some very generous Pulp Person to come forward with their copy of it so I can include the whole gig on the disc! Many of us would love to hear the full concert, particularly 'I Want You' which was criminally absent from the BBC broadcast, not to mention Jarvis' other thoughts...
Does anyone have photos from the day, or even camcorder footage? The Acrylic Afternoons website has a review of the gig which mentions there were a couple of people filming the soundcheck, which included 'My Legendary Girlfriend', a song which wasn't played in the main set - wouldn't it be great if we could get that out there to share with loyal Pulp fans?
When the materials are all ready to assemble, I'll master the DVD - complete with pretty custom-made menus - and we'll look at the best way to get it out there. The DVD will of course be completely free to all and no money is going to be made from its creation, that's not what we're about - it's all about getting commercially unavailable Pulp rarities to their loyal fans.
Hopefully we can create something pretty special here, and if the support is there I'd love to work on future releases - there's loads of TV appearances lying around on old videotapes that could be given some love and care, and I know many of us have been praying for a proper DVD of Glastonbury 1995 for years now...
-- Edited by Pip on Thursday 17th of September 2009 09:24:25 PM
Will - you are a legend, thanks very much! This is going to be epic.
Still looking for any photos or home videos from the day though, so get in touch if you have something to share!
I forgot to ask actually - does anyone want to write the sleevenotes for the back cover? About 100 words should do it... I can do it myself, but if someone fancies contributing?
-- Edited by Pip on Thursday 17th of September 2009 09:54:27 PM
Pip, I have a few bootleg videos I bought from Camden in the mid - late 90's that are gathering dust, due to the fact I have no VCR. Fantastic fan shot footage - including V96 and the inorgaral outing of "Help the Aged" including Russell. Also some rare overseas live performances and interviews, including video footage of the infamous loreley concert from 1998, alas I think it cuts off before Jarvis and Mark's interview.
If you want I could send these to you?
-- Edited by SarahAWilson on Thursday 17th of September 2009 10:18:04 PM
Sounds really good Sarah! I've got the Loreley 98 gig, taped it off German satellite at the time, but it could be that your copy may be better than mine in places... so yeah, if you posted them to me I would make a transfer and send them back to you ASAP.
Never seen any of the V96 footage - perhaps that can be DVD #2 if Eden goes to plan!
The files are in loseless .flac format - I hope that's okay. They can be converted into mp3s or whatever format is required for the DVD.
The sound quality is listenable. There is quite a lot of crowd noise, as you would expect with an audience recording. Also, on some tracks there are a occasional crackles and other sound faults.
I don't mind that they're in FLAC format at all Will, in fact I welcome it, we want to use the highest quality sources after all. I'll convert them to WAV and see if I can potentially fix some of the faults and improve on the overall quality - not expecting miracles from an audience recording but it's priceless stuff all the same.
Just to let you all know I'm onto the DVD menus now, so nearly there!
My original VHS recording was made in 4:3 letterbox (black bars top and bottom) and I was looking at the possibility of presenting 'Eden' in full widescreen (16:9) but after trying this out the 'zooming in' and added re-encoding resulted in a pretty noticeable drop in resolution, so I'm making an executive decision so to speak and leaving it as 4:3 letterbox - those of you with widescreen TVs can of course 'pan and scan' to zoom in, should you need to!
We hope one day the Beeb will repeat it in full but until then, this will do nicely!
Well in a couple of years Eden will be 10 years old, so maybe we'll just have to sit tight and be patient and see if they do some celebratory programming.
* The 60 minute BBC Choice broadcast transferred directly from a master off-air VHS recording with much improved sound (thanks to forum member Lizzie aka Perfect) and digitally remastered picture quality. Presented in 4:3 letterbox format.
* The unedited 98 minute long audience recording (kindly provided by Will) with improved audio, accompanied by a specially made 16:9 widescreen slideshow displaying some gorgeous photos of the Eden Project.
* Custom made DVD menu (based on the cover artwork which shall be made available online soon).
There are plenty of releases to come in the future (I've already received five VHS tapes containing plenty of rare material even I have never seen) but if you have anything you would like to share with the loyal Pulp/Jarv fanbase please contact me by PM!
Now, question is, is anyone interested in owning this release and how shall it be distributed?
No you wont. Tell them straight Pip, you £10 per DVD with postage included. That covers your disc, the case, the paper, the ink, the envelope, the cost of postage and leaves you £8.27 to get yourself some sweets and juice.