Jon, Lex, and Xan have finally released the complete box set of the first phase of their side-project Pharaohs. After every third album, we would release a combo pack of that set. For instance, we sold their three live albums together in a pack, their first three studio albums, etc. Now that they have ten albums under their belt, we've put together a big box of those ten albums with expanded liner notes detailing the origins of the heads and various parts within. Unlike most jazz tunes, since the guys in Pharaohs are my bandmates from Enoch, they go at it with a somewhat proggy approach, giving some tunes multiple heads and other little touches. In order to celebrate the release of the box, they released a pack of their seventh through ninth studio albums. This is fairly notable because they haven't yet release their eighth or ninth outside of this album pack. They will be released later but, for the time being, this is the only place to get them.
The seventh album, if you may recall, is entitled Covers and features ten covers of prog rock classics from bands such as Yes, Jethro Tull, Camel, and Van der Graaf Generator, done in a jazzy way. This means at times extending the tune and, at other times, rearranging it almost completely. Their eighth album is entitled OHDaMn, which is how they pronounce the acronym for the one song it contains, "One-Hour Dance Machine" or OHDM. It has electronic beats behind it that Xan programmed and features them playing more modern instruments, giving it a sort of nu-jazz feel. They told me they recorded that one in about two or three days with several electronic beats Xan had composed but hadn't used for anything. Their ninth album is their longest one to date, being comprised of 4 almost hour-long discs. This isn't them trying to be ridiculous; the album is entitled Beethoven's Violin Sonatas Adapted for Guitar, Piano, and Drum Jazz Trio. As the titled suggests, they are jazzy takes on Beethoven's ten violin sonatas which are fairly lengthy pieces.
To compensate for the cost of the album pack (given that it is seven discs across three albums, which is fairly absurd) and to tie it more directly to the box set, a coupon is enclosed or, if bought online, emailed with each copy that gives a 50% discount. And, to address the possible question of what you would do with two copies of Covers (one from the box and one from the album pack), there is a configuration of the box set without the seventh album that is only purchasable with a code from within the album pack containing that album. It still has the space in the box for inserting the seventh album, however. Also, if the box set is downloaded, it will detect the seventh album on your computer and cancel that download. And yes, those versions will be cheaper due to their missing one album and the coupon is valid for it.
Jon has told me that, following a decent break, Pharaohs will continue on the second phase out of three of their career.
- Langdon
