Douglas Adams Continuum (DAC)

I can't see these listed elsewhere on the forum, but I notice that Amazon UK are listing several new titles for pre-order:

HHG Primary Phase: Special Edit
"[T]hese six episodes ("Fit the First" to "Fit the Sixth") have been remastered by Dirk Maggs, and feature Phil Pope's new arrangement of the familiar theme tune. Also included on this 4-disc special edition is "Douglas Adams' Guide to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"."

HHG: D.A. Live in Concert
I assume this is some live readings?

Anyone got any more details on these?

Dirk Gently: Long Dark Teatime is also up for pre-order.

I got some information off Dirk about these for an article in the next ZZ9 magazine. Both the Primary and Secondary phases are having the Special Edition treatment. There is a rights issue with the theme music hence the Pope version on th releases of the last three series. John Marsh has re-recorded his announcements so that the new signature tune blends in like the old one.

The second series, in particular, was very rushed, so Dirk has also tidied up in some areas. Where effects have begun to drown out the voices he has gone back and re-levelled some things (The Wise Old Bird is one example he told me about). Also where there are live voice treatments that have then been edited and are now jumpy he has fixed up those. I don’t think he has done a George Lucas, he said there will not be extra effects or whizz bangs.

The extra is a little disappointing as far as I can tell it is the 20th anniversary radio programme (which was already available on CD via the Collector’s Edition). The (slightly edited) radio programme is with the Primary Phase and the extended interview from the cassette release (which went under the name Douglas Adams's Guide to The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is with the Secondary Phase.

The Live in Concert is a re-release of Douglas at the Almeida Theatre from a performance Douglas did in August 1995. On the 30th anniversary tour we walked up to the theatre as it is in Islington.

Tis a shame about the rights issue, you would think the Eagles would be proud to be linked to H2G2, it's certainly my favourite track of theirs

_________________
I'm going to start a new company. It's going to be called 'Easy McApple.' The revenue stream will be based on betting who will sue me first...

All versions of that Almeida concert I've found have said they had "Flying" and "Dish of the Day" on there but whatever I've gotten has never had those on it. Will they be on this disc?


(as a note to Dirk and all, I always thought his Agrajag from the Almeida concert was far superior to the audiobook version that was used in the radio series... but that's just me...)

_________________
This has been another random act of nonsense.

Nope - those where not performed at the Almeida gig - this was a result of sloppy production on the part of the CD makers
I have the video of the concert as well (in fact I think I sent you a copy care of mg?)

I completely agree on the Agrajag bit and suggested as much to MGS at the time (when he was still involved in such things) but he said was there was too much background noise to edit out (whether he spoke to Dirk on this is another matter)

_________________
D.
The Thirteenth Triskaidekaphobe
--------------------------------------

Thanks for the information, sounds great! Although the original series sounds pretty good to me too... it'll be interesting to see how the mix is improved upon (certainly the newer phases sound "fuller" in some sense.)

One important question however: Will the "shine on you crazy diamond" segment from Fit the Third that was cut from the original CD release because of avoidable rights reasons (since DNA and DG were good friends, unbeknown to the publishers, if I recall correctly) be restored?

_________________
See a pin; pick it up; and all that day, you'll have a pin.

No.

By the way, a preview of this seems to have appeared:

http://www.audible.co.uk/aduk/site/prod ... W_002077UK

_________________
See a pin; pick it up; and all that day, you'll have a pin.

There are a couple of mistakes in the publisher's summary on the Audible page. The extra was first broadcast in 1998 (it was the 20th anniversary programme). It was released on cassette in 1999 (with the interview that is the extra on the Secondary Phase Special Edition). The bigger mistake is that Ford is played by Geoff McGivern rather than David Dixon - that would have been a very special edition. The BBC did change the actor when this was pointed out to them but some online retail sites have not updated the description.

OOOOOOooooooohhhhhhh OOoooooohhhhhhhhh Want want (salivate salivate)

_________________
I'm just here

In a 1985 interview, Douglas said they'd wanted to use the Eagles version on the Original LP record versions of Hitchhiker. But unlike on radio, (where the BBC already have certain agreements in place) you needed to seek permission to release someone's music as part of a recording. So you'd need to get in touch with the Eagles to ask them.

"But how do you do that," shrugged Douglas, "short of hijacking the cocaine lorries...?"

Damn rights issues!

Yeah I noticed the mistake on the Amazon listings a while ago, but just figured that it was due to somebody messing up somewhere! I'm looking forward to hearing them, the "sample" did indeed sound a bit clearer than the original (although I imagine once it's heard from a CD rather than a low bitrate stream it will be even better.) Looking forward to Nov 13th! (Also on similar lines - the artwork for LDTOTS is now up on Amazon, and has been for some time - I don't think it's been mentioned here though. I like the way it combines a similar style to the artwork of DGHDA but updated to modern buildings and thunder gods...)

_________________
See a pin; pick it up; and all that day, you'll have a pin.

So, Gusty, about that video...

_________________
I'm just here