[VardisRules]

72

Artist: Chateaux
Release: Highly Strung
Genre: NWOBHM
Country: UK
Bitrate: Apple Lossless
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Here is the third release from NWOBHM standouts, Chateaux. It is the second to feature Krys Mason on vocals after the band's 7" and debut record had Steve Grimmet (Grim Reaper, Lionsheart) standing in temporarily on vocals. Krys Mason's vocals are so similar to Grimmet's that without knowing who was singing on this, most would assume it was Grimmet. Anyway, this is fast, heavy, and rough in the Ebony tradition. Ebony Records is well known for their rough, underproduced records. Some albums like Savage's "Loose and Lethal" benefited from this, while others suffered because of it. Their "Fire Power" album had a cleaner production than this record. I recorded them one after the other and noticed it right away. This record is deeper and more bass heavy. Both of my vinyl copies still had the plastic on the sleeves, and the vinyl was in beautiful condition. If anyone has any issue with the recording, then it is due to the record's original production. After listening to a bunch of Ebony production jobs, part of me wonders if Daryl Johnston had any standards that he followed when producing records. Perhaps he just winged it when producing each record. I guess, I'm just trying to reconcile the vast differences in production from one Ebony Record to another. The only consistency that seemed to exist is that they were all roughly done. My vinyl scans are included.
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1. Highly Strung
2. Turn It On
3. Hot Touch At Midnight
4. Phalanx
5. Chase The Sun
6. Through The Fire
7. First Strike
8. One Too Many
9. Midnight Star

[akira]

Ebony has awesome bands and Chateaux is one of them. My favorite UK label, better than Neat and HM records. Chateaux were total power house with killer material.

[VardisRules]

I was listening to this in the car on the way to work today. I really wish that the production on this album was better. My album copy is in beautiful shape, but the actual production job on this is terrible. Daryl Johnston at Ebony seemed to just wing it on his label releases. Some albums sound great like Savage's "Loose & Lethal" and Chateaux's "Firepower." Others like this album, Preyer's "Terminator," and the first Grim Reaper suffered a bit. I once talked to Sterling Cooke about his first release on Ebony, and he said that his original mix sounded great. He then sent it over to England to Ebony, and he said that it ended up sounding nothing like his original recording. I guess there was a reason that Grim Reaper brought in another engineer to oversee the production on their follow up album "Fear No Evil." They made no apologies about their displeasure with Ebony's handling of their debut.

[akira]

I was listening to this in the car on the way to work today. I really wish that the production on this album was better. My album copy is in beautiful shape, but the actual production job on this is terrible. Daryl Johnston at Ebony seemed to just wing it on his label releases. Some albums sound great like Savage's "Loose & Lethal" and Chateaux's "Firepower." Others like this album, Preyer's "Terminator," and the first Grim Reaper suffered a bit. I once talked to Sterling Cooke about his first release on Ebony, and he said that his original mix sounded great. He then sent it over to England to Ebony, and he said that it ended up sounding nothing like his original recording. I guess there was a reason that Grim Reaper brought in another engineer to oversee the production on their follow up album "Fear No Evil." They made no apologies about their displeasure with Ebony's handling of their debut.

Chateaux is fantastic as were other bands. My fave UK Metal label. He didn't know shit about sound engineering and production. The best bands and the worst production. The same thing Teggi from Tyga Myra said. He said that sound on Deliverance has nothing to do with original mix. When he heard for the first time album he was in disbelief. When Grim Reaper finished recording of third album in UK they went to America and asked Max Norman to fix the sound, and he couldn't. So, they recorded album all over again.
Johnston was lousy person all together. Bands had to pay him to be on the compilations.

[VardisRules]

All of what Akira said is true. I know Savage was upset with him, because they were offered a chance to record for RCA in the same manner as Grim Reaper. Johnston never told them about the offer. They found it when it was too late. I also know that the guitarist for Preyer was livid over how the end mix of their record sounded.