“I knew the songs were good back in the day,” Cyan mainman Rob Reed says of his band’s original releases, from back in the 1990s. “But they just needed to be reworked. A lot
of people would go back and remix the album or tinker with it, but this is a major rebuilding, throwing out sections and writing new ones. Some of the tracks are unrecognisable, some less so. I just enjoy fixing things, and hearing them with the full production.”
Reed is speaking down the phone from his studio in Wales on the cusp of Cyan’s latest release, a reworking of their 1994 album Pictures From The Other Side. The premise is fairly simple: with a new line-up, let’s rearrange, reimagine and rework the album, and record it on much better gear.
Reed and co already gave Cyan’s 1993 debut, For King And Country, a 21st-century makeover a few years ago, and they’ve decided it’s now time to have a bash at their follow-up record. It smacks of a job-well-done, with the album’s evolution fascinating to see. After three records in the 90s, the multiinstrumentalist stopped Cyan and locked it away in the filing cabinet while reaching to the stars with his ongoing project, Magenta.
“I’ve always loved the tracks I wrote for the Cyan albums,” Reed says now. “I’ve always sort of thought, ‘What would they sound like with all the modern production?’ The studio I’ve got now is out of this world. And it’s also to solve the mistakes in the composition as well. I listen back to stuff and think, ‘Oh God, I wish I had written it like this.’”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/J42Notcoi1703852015261/1041511112.jpg]
Today’s Cyan are a completely different proposition from the 90s version – not least in the line-up, which features Tiger Moth Tales and Camel’s Peter Jones on vocals. Also on board are guitarist Luke Machin from The Tangent, and Magenta/ex-Godsticks bassist Dan Nelson. Drum duties are shared between Tim Robinson and Magenta’s Jiffy Griffiths, who performs live.
“After being in so many bands, I can’t cope with any egos,” Reed says as he lauds his musical comrades. “I’m really lucky that we’ve got these players together. There’s no ego there, but they’re great players, which I love.”
The spark that launched Reed’s quest to rework the band’s old material came when the musician heard Jones sing Cyan material for the first time.
“That was the moment when I thought it was going to work,” he explains. “Up until that point I was tinkering away. I had some of the files from the original recordings, I had MIDI files of some of the keyboards. People would say to me, ‘When are you going to re-release the three Cyan albums?’ I was tempted to repackage them, but I thought, ‘What if I was to throw the kitchen sink at it, production-wise and technology-wise?’ But the moment was definitely when Pete sang it, it just transformed it.
“For me, something that’s neglected in prog in general is the vocalist. Everyone is far more concerned about how clever the guitarist is or the drummer, and how mad the music is. But, for me, the two things are melody and the vocalist because the vocalist is what connects with the listener. I’ve been lucky with Magenta to have one of the best female singers with Christina [Booth], and now with Cyan with Pete, he’s one of the best male singers.”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/J42Notcoi1703852015261/4048487870.jpg]
Jones is just as happy to be working with Reed, whom he’s known for around a decade. He was first approached about joining the refreshed Cyan back in 2018, and is now an integral cog in the machine.
“It’s been a long process to get it going, but here we are,” Jones reflects. “I think Cyan was kind of a bit of a cult thing when they came out, they had a really dedicated following. But this was in the 90s, when there wasn’t much new prog getting off the ground back then. There’s a lot of people that still fondly remember the originals. I hope that they think the new ones are good as well.”
It’s hard to believe early converts won’t be won over; the grand sound and production of the band’s reworked second album is a world away from the rather rudimentary set-up that underpinned the 90s original. Reed admits that his early gear was “so basic” – citing Casio keyboards as an example – as he couldn’t afford high-range equipment.
“I would never have dreamt back then that I would have the gear that I have now,” he says. “What these songs had was a real innocence, which I’ve lost having done music for so long and made so many albums. When I was writing this stuff I wasn’t thinking about what the fans are going to think, or what the press are going to think, or what the reviews are going to be like. In my head, I wanted to be in Genesis, I wanted to be in It Bites.
“I was living the dream as a teenager and there was no second-guessing what I was going to write. So, there’s a lovely innocence with these tracks. I just did what I wanted really, and that’s something I’ve lost, and it’s really hard to get it back.”
Jones agrees that there’s a certain purity in the original Cyan recordings that reflects the period in which they were released.
“There is that sense of, some might say, naïvety, but I’d prefer to say there’s a very youthful quality to the songs, to the music – a very sort of innocent quality to it,” he says, “because it was all written back when Rob was in his teens. It’s refreshing to revisit that, and I find it very invigorating to perform the songs live as well. It’s nice to keep that sense of the innocence of the originals, but to add our collective musical experience. You get the best of both worlds.”
The history of Cyan goes back to the 1980s and school sixth form, when Reed had a sparkle in his eye and dreamed of a speckled career in progressive music. Rehearsals would take place in the school hall, usually used for assemblies, and Reed w...
of people would go back and remix the album or tinker with it, but this is a major rebuilding, throwing out sections and writing new ones. Some of the tracks are unrecognisable, some less so. I just enjoy fixing things, and hearing them with the full production.”
Reed is speaking down the phone from his studio in Wales on the cusp of Cyan’s latest release, a reworking of their 1994 album Pictures From The Other Side. The premise is fairly simple: with a new line-up, let’s rearrange, reimagine and rework the album, and record it on much better gear.
Reed and co already gave Cyan’s 1993 debut, For King And Country, a 21st-century makeover a few years ago, and they’ve decided it’s now time to have a bash at their follow-up record. It smacks of a job-well-done, with the album’s evolution fascinating to see. After three records in the 90s, the multiinstrumentalist stopped Cyan and locked it away in the filing cabinet while reaching to the stars with his ongoing project, Magenta.
“I’ve always loved the tracks I wrote for the Cyan albums,” Reed says now. “I’ve always sort of thought, ‘What would they sound like with all the modern production?’ The studio I’ve got now is out of this world. And it’s also to solve the mistakes in the composition as well. I listen back to stuff and think, ‘Oh God, I wish I had written it like this.’”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/J42Notcoi1703852015261/1041511112.jpg]
Today’s Cyan are a completely different proposition from the 90s version – not least in the line-up, which features Tiger Moth Tales and Camel’s Peter Jones on vocals. Also on board are guitarist Luke Machin from The Tangent, and Magenta/ex-Godsticks bassist Dan Nelson. Drum duties are shared between Tim Robinson and Magenta’s Jiffy Griffiths, who performs live.
“After being in so many bands, I can’t cope with any egos,” Reed says as he lauds his musical comrades. “I’m really lucky that we’ve got these players together. There’s no ego there, but they’re great players, which I love.”
The spark that launched Reed’s quest to rework the band’s old material came when the musician heard Jones sing Cyan material for the first time.
“That was the moment when I thought it was going to work,” he explains. “Up until that point I was tinkering away. I had some of the files from the original recordings, I had MIDI files of some of the keyboards. People would say to me, ‘When are you going to re-release the three Cyan albums?’ I was tempted to repackage them, but I thought, ‘What if I was to throw the kitchen sink at it, production-wise and technology-wise?’ But the moment was definitely when Pete sang it, it just transformed it.
“For me, something that’s neglected in prog in general is the vocalist. Everyone is far more concerned about how clever the guitarist is or the drummer, and how mad the music is. But, for me, the two things are melody and the vocalist because the vocalist is what connects with the listener. I’ve been lucky with Magenta to have one of the best female singers with Christina [Booth], and now with Cyan with Pete, he’s one of the best male singers.”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/J42Notcoi1703852015261/4048487870.jpg]
Jones is just as happy to be working with Reed, whom he’s known for around a decade. He was first approached about joining the refreshed Cyan back in 2018, and is now an integral cog in the machine.
“It’s been a long process to get it going, but here we are,” Jones reflects. “I think Cyan was kind of a bit of a cult thing when they came out, they had a really dedicated following. But this was in the 90s, when there wasn’t much new prog getting off the ground back then. There’s a lot of people that still fondly remember the originals. I hope that they think the new ones are good as well.”
It’s hard to believe early converts won’t be won over; the grand sound and production of the band’s reworked second album is a world away from the rather rudimentary set-up that underpinned the 90s original. Reed admits that his early gear was “so basic” – citing Casio keyboards as an example – as he couldn’t afford high-range equipment.
“I would never have dreamt back then that I would have the gear that I have now,” he says. “What these songs had was a real innocence, which I’ve lost having done music for so long and made so many albums. When I was writing this stuff I wasn’t thinking about what the fans are going to think, or what the press are going to think, or what the reviews are going to be like. In my head, I wanted to be in Genesis, I wanted to be in It Bites.
“I was living the dream as a teenager and there was no second-guessing what I was going to write. So, there’s a lovely innocence with these tracks. I just did what I wanted really, and that’s something I’ve lost, and it’s really hard to get it back.”
Jones agrees that there’s a certain purity in the original Cyan recordings that reflects the period in which they were released.
“There is that sense of, some might say, naïvety, but I’d prefer to say there’s a very youthful quality to the songs, to the music – a very sort of innocent quality to it,” he says, “because it was all written back when Rob was in his teens. It’s refreshing to revisit that, and I find it very invigorating to perform the songs live as well. It’s nice to keep that sense of the innocence of the originals, but to add our collective musical experience. You get the best of both worlds.”
The history of Cyan goes back to the 1980s and school sixth form, when Reed had a sparkle in his eye and dreamed of a speckled career in progressive music. Rehearsals would take place in the school hall, usually used for assemblies, and Reed w...
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 146