AUDIO FIDELITY STRIKES GOLD WITH 24-KARAT REISSUES OF ROCK
MILESTONES FROM THE ’70S AND ’90S
Ten Years After’s A Space in Time and Rush’s Roll the Bones Are
Latest
Limited-Edition Gold CDs from the Premier Audiophile Imprint
Another rock reissue bonanza for music collectors will take place on July 19
when Audio Fidelity, the premier audiophile label, delivers 24-Karat Gold CDs of
Ten Years After’s 1971 A SPACE IN TIME and Rush’s 1991 ROLL THE BONES
albums. Issued as numbered, limited editions, each title will be retired after
its initial run has sold out, and will be available through both online and
brick-and-mortar retail outlets.
A SPACE IN TIME was the most successful album by British guitarist Alvin Lee and his bandmates. Their seventh LP, it reached No. 17 on Billboard’s chart (where it spent half a year) and was the stylistic breakthrough that liberated the group from its blues-boogie heritage. Fans who’d thrilled to Lee’s blazing soloing on “I’m Going Home” in the Woodstock documentary found much to like on tracks like “One of These Days” and “Hard Monkeys,” but a whole new legion of followers was attracted to Ten Years After by the more reflective “I’d Love to Change the World.” The latter was a bonafide pop hit in the fall of 1971 and evolved into an enduring staple of FM classic-rock over the years. A SPACE IN TIME became a platinum-seller and garnered impressive nods from critics, including the Village Voice’s reviewer, who found it to be Lee and company’s “toughest, fullest, most coherent album yet.”
ROLL THE BONES was the 19th album by Canadian progressive-rock trio Rush (vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, drummer Neal Peart). It was also the group’s first in a decade to enter the Top 5 on Billboard’s LP chart, thanks to the fact that it featured four mainstream-rock hits: “Dreamline,” “Bravado,” “Roll the Bones” and “Where’s My Thing (Part 4, Gangster of Boats Trilogy),” which received a Grammy® nomination for Best Rock Instrumental of 1991. Rush’s reputation as rockers did not preclude the lyrically dark album from showcasing several tuneful tracks (“Bravado,” the harmony-lightened “Neurotica,” the synthesizer-driven “Heresy”). A platinum album, ROLL THE BONES was produced by Rupert Hine, whose credits include music by Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Howard Jones and the Thompson Twins. Hine also contributed keyboards and backup vocals to the album.
Founded in 2002 by entertainment-industry legend Marshall Blonstein, Audio Fidelity specializes in deluxe reissues of classic popular-music recordings for the audiophile and collector markets. The Camarillo, California-based label is best known for its 24-karat Gold CDs and its 180-gram virgin-vinyl album editions, though it also releases DVD titles as well. Audio Fidelity emerged out of the pioneering DCC Compact Classics label that Blonstein started in 1986, following stints as president of Island Records and co-founder of Ode Records (where he helped make Carole King’s Tapestry one of the best-selling albums of all time and built the cult-film franchises The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke).