The Reducers Last Tracks

Reducers -Last Tracks_TEMPVoila, my latest production credit. This has been a bittersweet project to complete, but I’m very proud of the end result. The Reducers allowed me into their world in 1987 when they first asked me to mix a track for a compilation LP. Soon after we recorded demos in their rehearsal space, then moved on to proper studios and numerous releases. Most of the best tracks saw the light of day, but somewhere along the line songs got put aside or forgotten. Last Tracks & Lost Songs compiles previously unreleased tracks from 1988 – 2011  along with a few numbers tracks that extremely limited release.  Our last sessions in 2010 and 2011 yielded a number of promising basic tracks, but we were devastated by the news of Steve Kaika’s cancer diagnosis and his death in June 2012.  A year seemed like enough time to regroup and try to finish up the last recordings  and after a few false starts, Hugh Birdsall and Peter Detmold finished up their vocal and guitar parts. We thought about releasing those six tracks as an EP, but knew there were some winners lurking in the archives that would round out the collection. “Getaway”, sung by Steve, needed  a new harmony vocal (beautifully sung by Steve’s nephew and very talented musician Jes Farnsworth) . Back To Normal, sung by Peter required extensive tape restoration and remixing, and we lucked out with the discovery of  two tracks from a well preserved 1988 demo reel. The CD is rounded out by tracks from the “Guitars, Bass & Drums” session, all mastered directly from the 1/2″ analog mixes at Sterling Sound. Those tracks in particular sound incredibly good, but the whole thing makes me happy. Once Steve was gone we were all unsure what the next move would be. Peter, Hugh, and Tom Trombley decided that The Reducers as a live act were through, but with great songs in the can, it just made sense for The Reducers to make one last musical statement. It’s something of a jolt to realize that we’ve been recording tracks for over 25 years, and now that it’s done it fun to go back. Lots of live stuff and new discoveries will get posted to SoundCloud as the years roll on, but I’m proud to say that Last Tracks is worthy addition and grace note to The Reducers’ catalog.

Can I sell you a copy? Buy it direct at the Rave On Records Store or iTunes.