Fall 2026 is the 40th for our debut, The Rope, and I have plans! In April (approximately), I’ll Kickstart a special new edition. It will be a 2LP and 2CD release. LP1 will be the original 1986 mix, remastered by Martin Bowes of Attrition. LP2 will be an entirely new 2026 mix, mastered by Martin.
The Rope was recorded on a cassette Portastudio in the spring of 1986 when I was in college in Orange, California. I mixed the album that summer when I was back in Florida. Wild to believe: I mixed the entire thing in about three hours at a studio in Miami. This is unheard of. These days, it might take me 10 to 20 hours to mix a track. I really had no idea what I was doing! To my ears, the 1986 mix is a mess, but I know it has a certain charm that many people really love. Some of you have told me that The Rope is your favorite of our albums; the 1986 mix has been the definitive version that we’ve all listened to for 40 years.
Yet, there’s much that was buried in the rush in the studio. So, I digitized the old cassette multi-track tapes and spent my Xmas ’25 break remixing it here in my studio, getting all the levels right. It was fun. In the 2026 mix I hear synth parts that had been missing all these years, and resolved places where Oscar’s vocals were a bit low. Part of the issue was that back in 1986 the Portastudio only gave me four tracks to work with, in places I had to ping-pong three instruments down to one track to make room for bandmembers’ parts. Synths often got buried in those ping-pong mixdowns. Working on the computer on the new mixes I could do something about that with unlimited tracks to make subtle improvements. For example, in “We Return” I replayed some of the synth parts that were hard to hear. Fortunately, I still have my old Poly-61 from the 80s, and my rough notes on the chords I played. I could recreate my synth parts and fatten up the sound. I didn’t add new ideas, just fixed up old things; like touching up paint that had been worn away over the years.
As I said, many people love the charm of the original. What better way to respect that — and also respect my desire to “fix it” — then by creating a release containing both versions? There will be two albums at digital; the physical 2LP / 2CD versions will be limited collector editions. Down the road, there’ll only be a one-album version for retail. Getting in on the Kickstarter guarantees you get your copy of the special edition.
More on all of this soon enough!
— Sam
YouTube: Live at 2010 Dragon Con (Excerpt)
Watch at YouTube: 12 minutes, 5 songs (2 are excerpts)
Show #134 | Saturday September 4, 2010 ~ Atlanta, GA
Sam Rosenthal • electronics & backing vocals
Athan Maroulis • vocals
Nicki Jaine • guitar & backing vocals
3 from BlackTape on the chart at Big Takeover Magazine
Jack Rabid’s Picks. 2025’s 150 Best Old Recordings & Reissues. #67 Black Tape For a Blue Girl – As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire — & — Live at the Middle East Boston, July 21, 1998 — & — Remnants of a Deeper Purity (Projekt)
Remnants of a Deeper Purity MiniDisc (MD) back in stock
at Bandcamp $25.