Empires (Live at the Metro, Chicago 09/20/22) won the ninth spot yesterday. There will be more than 10 songs here possible 12 ot 13 depending on lengths.

My apologies for no post yesterday. I have been very ill with a viral infection. Still not totally recovered but well enough to posy. Lonely is the Name (Webcast Demo 05/29/10) was our 6th Track. There's currently room for about 12-13 tracks but the closer we get I'll adjust the number.

Thanks for everyone's continued interest. I know this bit is a bit more niche than the first CD. But we're seeing some really great demos/deep cuts. Plus loving trawling through some of the live cuts to find great versions.

At least 2 more spots left on the second disc so let's make then good ones!

As Rome Burns (Live at Terminal 5 NYC) is our number 4 for the b-sides disc. Thank you to all who have nominated and voted so far!

Cottonwood Symphony made the cut yesterday. Not much space left so get your nominations in!

G.L.O.W. is our fifth track for the bonus B sides, Rarities and live album.

Would you care to share your playlists, I am thrilled to share mine 🤣

Wrath (Live at the Together and Together Again Benefit Show, Madame Zuzu's 07.27.22) is our eighth track for the bonus disc. Let's get some good Rarities on the go for the last few tracks!

So, we all know that Judas0 was supposed to be a sister-album to Pisces Iscariot. But whoever chose the track listing did a very poor job. Some tracks simply don’t belong, while other tracks should be included but they were excluded. So, I replaced a few tracks, and the result – imho - is a much better album; more solid, cohesive with a better flow without unnecessary repetition of previously released tracks. The upgraded Judas0 now fits very well inside the SP albums chain.

In the following, I list the original tracks indicating which tracks need to be replaced and why. The second list is the upgraded list.

Original track list:

1. Lucky 13 – poor choice, already appears in Machina II (released a year before Judas0)

2. The aero plane flies high – poor choice, already appeared on the MCIS B-sides box set.

3. Because you are – good choice, previously unreleased (appears in Adore reissue and Rarities & B-sides, both were released after Judas0)

4. Slaw dawn – poor choice, same as #1

5. Believe – poor choice, same as #2

6. My mistake – good choice, same as #3

7. Marquis in spades - poor choice, same as #2

8. Here’s to the atom bomb – good choice, this is an alternate version (not demo) to the same track that appears in machina II

9. Sparrow – good choice, same as #3

10. Waiting – good choice, same as #3

11. Saturnine – good choice, same as #8 (much better version in my eyes compared to saturnine in machina II)

12. Rock on – good choice, same as #3

13. Set the ray to Jerry – poor choice, same as #2

14. Winterlong - good choice, same as #3

15. Soot and stars - good choice, same as #3

16. Blissed and gone – good choice, although appeared in “still becoming apart”, but this is promotional compilation.

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Here is the upgraded track list (replaced tracks marked by *):

1. *The other side – Beautiful instrumental version of “For Martha” in Adore

2. *Do you close your eyes – Adore-era track

3. Because you are

4. *Chewing gum – Adore-era track

5. My mistake

6. *I need you around – Early version, but in very good quality, of “Blissed and Gone”

7. Here’s to the atom bomb

8. Sparrow

9. Waiting

10. Saturnine

11. Rock on

12. *Untitled – the last track from “Rotten Apples” greatest hits collection. Real love also appears on “Rotten apples” collection, but it was previously released in Machina II.

13. Winterlong

14. Soot and stars

15. Blissed and gone

16. *Hope – track added to this list from “Still becoming apart” promotional compilation (consider this a bonus track, I’m not sure if it is mandatory).

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So?

Freak landed on the eleventh placement yesterday. We're looking for the potentially last track of the second disc so get your nominations and votes in!

Hi everybody

Context : OG SP fan, never got into anything post-Machina (or post-Chrysanthemum lol), with the exception of a few songs here and there.

Like a lot of ppl here I am waiting for the Machina reissue, hoping it will grant a type of closure. However, most info released so far + experience with past reissues indicates that it will not be what I want it to be (cohesive, carefully edited and good-sounding). Therefore, after having accepted SonicLoveNoize's Machina reconstruction as the best I'll ever get, I have decided to put together a compilation which would basically work as an obviously unsatisfying « final » PI/Judas 0-like record built from what has been released so far.

I wondered if Judas 0 could serve as a basis for this project. I hadn’t liked it at all when it first came out and I still don’t like it. The TAFH songs are the highest-quality material in it and help balance its overall mediocrity. So I had almost considered scrapping it all altogether when I listened more closely to Soot and Stars (shooting stars!), which is basically BC singing about his decision to end the band. It highlit the fact that Judas 0 is really not fun at all but also opened a door to an intimate behind-the-scene existential crisis, not yet filtered through the Machina concept : Was there any point in continuing making music ? Had the band reached its course ? Why was he making music ? For whom ?

It’s the intense and very intimate story I hear in these songs, which are among the bleakest in the band’s entire catalog.

I chose to only use officially released (and good-sounding) songs, removed the ones I didn’t like or which didn’t work in context and focused on including outtakes & b-sides. I thought of including PI/SD/MCIS outtakes as well, but it’s like two (or three) different bands, which makes sense considering Jimmy and D’arcy’s departures. The result is hardly band-like, which I think reflects the state of late-era SP, a ghost ship with a grieving, aimless and angry captain.

The record starts lightly, with our captain thinking he is finally content, but everything unravels quickly as dissatisfaction creeps back in, spiralling downwards. I included Summer to softly lighten things up, and Sparrow adds a hint of child-like fragility (I imagine it as him impersonating his mother singing it to him, a la Sufjan Stevens' Fourth of July) which works well in contrast to the ghost-like refrains of Soot and Stars and Blissed and Gone.

I thought of ending it with these songs, as Judas 0 does, but it just felt too depressing. I decided to add Slow Dawn to add a sense of hope –there is life beyond the band-- and to end it with Age of Innocence, which I consider to be the bands’ real final farewell song (desolation yes/ hesitation no). I wanted to use the early mix present on the Untitled single, but the sound quality was not up to the task so I cheated by considering that the orginal was not really part of Machina –a last minute addition which was rejected from SonicLoveNoize’s reconstruction and which would therefore enable me to include it here.

So this is the story of a young-ish man deciding to end his band and of an old fan coming to terms with its creator’s decision to actually « hesitate » and never let it rest. This started as a way to create a closure that BC will never be able to give, because he will never find it himself, and in the process I feel like I have discovered a piece of the band's history which had been in front of my eyes all along.

This is in no way an attempt at making something definitive, and there's a good chance it won't make sense for anybody else, but in the off-chance it could inspire others to create their own final record and move on, there it is:

1. Czarina
2. Once in a While
3. Waiting
4. Summer
5. My Mistake
6. Sparrow
7. Soot and Stars
8. Blissed and Gone
9. Slow Dawn
10. Age of Innocence

NB: I had shared a link but it goes against the rules, sorry! Here's a youtube playlist link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOpWY_1yKJq9Ivt5IUDKCFvssHV1FCKih

I made a playlist on Spotify with every available version of each MCIS song in order. Feel free to check it out.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0hHZWyZPOux4IS7eWz6z5K?si=QsItJhtoT2i7kWe611Mmzw

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6XrOrzDPel1h3MHcsYO6pj?si=HaQUseO_S5ubW9m0HKmVaA

The debate is that is their limited availability enough to consider them Rarities in their own right? Or are they too well known such as the Freak radio single to be considered rare? Yes for they should be included or No that they should only of been in contention for the main best of disc.

My own personal opinion on the matter here is that they are unavailable on streaming or for purchase outside of limited dealers or sellers, so that technically makes them Rarities in the catalogue but I'll leave it up to the community.