Album name: Olympus
Release date: November 12, 1991
Release format: cassette
Studio name: none
Tracks:
1. Etesian Wind
2. To Clementi
3. Waterfall
4. Castor & Pollux
5. Another Troubled Night
6. Sittin' At Home
7. Moon Mud
8. The Last Temptation
9. Infernal Tree
10. Scales of Justice
11. You and Me
12. Paroxysm
13. I'm With You
14. The Solitude
15. So Many
16. Redman
17. Slow It Down
18. In the Morning
19. Matter in General
20. Night Sea
21. Ministry
22. Moon Garden
23. Audobaun
24. Telescope
This was the first album released to the public. The purchase of the 4-track recorder in March of 1991 immensely improved the quality of song recordings. So from mid-March to October many songs were recorded, a lot of them experiments with the new equipment. But there were enough songs to compile a new album. The above scan shows an early version of the track list. Note the list shows the temporary titles that some of the songs had when recorded. It was later on this track list that those songs were renamed to their final titles.
Some of the lyrics were a bit deeper than what was previously written. The first 'negative' song, "Infernal Tree", appeared on this album. Musical influences were still on the heavy side, including Metallica, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, and more. But there were some slower songs on the album too.
This album spawned the first single from the Studio, "Etesian Wind". "Etesian Wind" is still the most re-recorded song of the Studio to date with over six versions existing.
The equipment used was almost the same as was used to record the debut Mune Mud album, but this time the recorder was more sophisticated. An electric guitar thru an amp provided the guitar sounds. There were two options: distortion turned off for a clean sound or distortion turned on for a dirty sound. A portable Yamaha keyboard provided keyboard sounds for the earlier songs, then a Casio keybord was purchased and replaced the Yamaha. A drum machine was used for the drum sounds. And a Shure SM-57 mic was used for vocals. Another new piece of equipment was a delay/sample pedal that was used for both the guitar and vocals.
The recording technique was improved since the last album, the Mune Mud debut album. Four tracks could easily be recorded while maintaining the first generation quality. But sometimes a method called ping-ponging, or bouncing, was used. This was to record the first three tracks, then mix those to the fourth track. The first three tracks could then be erased and reused. So doing this could result in songs having up to seven tracks or so. And this method was used a lot in some of the more complex songs.
The tape jacket was mostly done on a Brother word processor. The outside of the jacket listed all the songs that were on the album and the inside had a continuous typing of all the lyrics on the album. Each tape was also individually numbered.
In October of 1996, nearly five years after the album was released, a book came out called "Olympus: Mountain or Molehill?" This was the definitive guide to Olympus. It had a small production run and not many copies were printed. It explained how the album was recorded, details about every song, notes about guest musicians on the album, and MUCH more.
In 2001, Olympus was the first CD in the 10th Anniversary Collection. This collection was a re-release of the original album, ten years later, with remastered songs (including bonus tracks) on a CD rather than cassette as with the original release. The bonus tracks on this CD were "Country Ill", "Chaser", "Just Defied (2)", "Test", "Off Silence", and "Mystical Dream."
Next week's Album of the Week: ...Libra 971 by NueroMud from 1994.
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