Paul Roland has been revisiting and retouching his earlier albums for reissue on the label syborgmusic.
The latest to benefit from his 'restoration' treatment is 'Roaring Boys' (originally released in 1991) and 'Sarabande' (originally released in 1994)
which now feature FIVE previously unreleased songs in place of the cover versions and weaker tracks, making this release a true 'director's cut'.
"'Roaring Boys' was recorded when I was enjoying some success in Greece, Italy, Germany and France, touring quite regularly and issuing
albums on four different labels. In that optimistic mood I wrote what I would consider some of my more 'commercial' songs and left several more
'idiosyncratic' songs aside. Now I think that choice was a mistake and I have dropped 'Thunderbird', 'Sad Sweet Smile' and 'Doctor Rocque' in
favour of 'Faeries' and 'Faerie Ring' which I felt were undeveloped at the time, but which now sound more convincing and more in keeping with
my writing style.
'Sarabande' suffered from the fact that it was written and recorded when I was far from my beloved Roland Towers and feeling rather unsettled. I
was also working with a new band, engineer and studio. Feeling somewhat disorientated I allowed myself to be persuaded that two ill-conceived
cover versions ('I'm Not Like Everybody Else' and 'Meadows of the Sea') and a couple of insubstantial originals ('Serpent's Skin' and 'Sister Jazz')
were worthy of inclusion, but then the alternatives ('Allah's Curse', 'Anne Bonney' and 'The Late Mr Evesham') were not finished and ready to be
recorded, while a fourth song ('Journey To The Centre of the Mind') seemed too sleight, having only four lines of lyric. Also my demo of 'Journey
To The Centre Of The Mind' had everything I wanted, so I didn't want to re-record it with the band. However, in retrospect the discarded songs
would have made for a stronger album. Now, thanks to Syborg Music I have had the opportunity to correct my 'mistakes' and can offer a 'Director'
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