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March 1999

New release: ‘The Grand Delusion’ on Video

Public Works presentations are rare, such that the people who have actually attended one number certainly in the thousands, but certainly not in the tens of thousands. So, here’s what is likely to be your only chance to see The Tape-beatles’ magnum opus® that was years in production and with a cast of a thousand stolen scraps of ‘found’ 16mm footage. Public Works are making a digitally composited version of the ‘expanded cinema’ presentation The Grand Delusion available via post on VHS video cassette (NTSC only). Obviously, the best way to see this piece of ‘expanded cinema’ is in its filmic glory ‘in person’ as it were, but there, there, don’t hold your breath. This 35-minute video tape is an easy second best, and well worth the $15 postage paid we are asking.

If you don’t want to purchase a videotape, but want to see the show anyway, read on.

Bandwidth woes addressed. Repeated complaints that our web movies are too large to realistically accommodate a modem download have been ringing in our ears. To quell what is apparently after all a slakable thirst for Public Works video content, we have made the movies available in three different resolutions, to accommodate nearly any connection speed you may have. Be forewarned that the smallest of the three choices available for each of the titles is pretty crummy in quality. Perhaps we included it to give you a tantalizing hint of what you’ll be missing if you don’t buy the extremely reasonably-priced video tape listed above. It would be our pleasure to serve you.

Delusion movies online. Some of you may not realize that we are not just a studio band; we do ‘presentations’ as well. Mostly they involve our audio put to film, and almost always, this film involves the simultaneous use of 3 movie projectors during the presentation. We call this ‘expanded cinema,’ which we have shown to appreciative audiences all over North America and even a handful of places in Europe.

We’ve taken the film from our 1993-97 presentation “The Grand Delusion,” put it on video tape, and then converted it to QuickTime. So now, even if you never have the opportunity to catch one of our presentations, you can watch the entire film on the web.

The web version of The Grand Delusion, broken up into 13 short sections, requires the QuickTime plug-in and will stream on a decently fast internet connection. If you are using a modem, you will probably want to download the QuickTime files and play them from your local hard drive.

Mp3s of ‘The Grand Delusion’ are now up!

Adding to our continually growing catalog of mp3 files continues to come in easy fell swoops. With this announcement, dear reader, the complete track sequence of The Tape-beatles’ third album The Grand Delusion becomes available for download. Delusion came into existence during a feverish year of overwrought studio sessions, culminating in John Heck’s more-or-less permanent departure for the city of Prague. Its production also straddles numerous personal transformations for the five audio-auteurs which ultimately tore the group apart, splitting its nucleus from its gadfly electrons. In spite of all the heat, there is much light, and The Grand Delusion is The Tape-beatles’ most completely realized work, and makes what is arguably their most effective public presentation.

CD Review: Escape Mechanism. A recent release by Minneapolis-based Escape Mechanism is reviewed by Public Works. Quote: “Generally speaking, each piece is economically composed, making use of a few layers of looped elements, drum machine, ‘found’ vocals and various effects. This approach succeeds where it leaves a fair amount of space for its content to rise up and entertain the sonic space that the mix creates …”.

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