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Titanium Flag: Remastered & Expanded

by Colin Harper

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Gatefold digipak with 12-page booklet explaining the background and concept of the album plus two fold-out vintage maps of the Arctic.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Titanium Flag: Remastered & Expanded via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 200 

      £5 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £8 GBP  or more

     

1.
On the Ocean 04:08
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Frozen Ocean 04:02
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Rachelle 02:25
12.
Passing Away 03:39
13.
Squirrel 05:22
14.
Testament 03:25
15.
Gold Rush 05:47
16.
Rust 04:43

about

At Christmas 2009, Colin Harper took a friend’s advice, borrowed some money and bought, for the first time, a really fine instrument: a handmade Avalon acoustic guitar. Having created no music – barely picked up an instrument – for two years, the instrumental pieces for Titanium Flag and also a host of vocal pieces ’came’ really quickly. It was quite a cathartic experience…

In August 2010 Titanium Flag slipped out digitally and in a pressing of 100 copies in card wallet. An all-instrumental CD, veering between chamber music, folk-blues, progressive rock and cool jazz, it was inspired by two books on Arctic history and travel: Joanna Kavenna’sThe Ice Museum: In Search Of The Lost Land Of Thule (Viking, 2005) and True North: Travels In Arctic Europe (Polygon, 2008) by Gavin Francis.

The album was sent to only a handful of broadcasters in 2010 and yet the reaction was more than edifying – with ongoing airplay and listeners getting in touch as a result. Musically, it was inspired by artists ranging from Keith Jarrett to Arvo Part, Martin Carthy to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, with instruments used including guitars, clarinet, flugelhorn, violin, piano, string quartet and Hammond organ.

The response from friends was gratifying too…

Brush Shiels, founder of Irish prog-rock legends Skid Row, said: “There is so much energy coming off Titanium Flag that it has to be contributing to global warming! In some small way you will definitely affect people who care about the state of our planet, which is something that Skid Row never did. Beautiful piece of work.”

Former Mojo editor and acclaimed author Paul Du Noyer got in touch to say: “I am thoroughly enjoying this music – some new texture, or feeling, strikes me with each listen.”

Horslips keyboard/flute legend Jim Lockhart phoned to say how much he was enjoying the album and that it had inspired him to focus on composing more music himself.

Folk/blues maestro Brooks Williams emailed: “The tunes are indeed beautiful – very spatial and evocative! The guitar sounds fab!”

Former Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman – a major inspiration for the album – took the time to critique every track in detail, declaring ‘Rachelle’ “beautiful”, ‘The Last Place On Earth’ as “my thing – great!” and ‘To Sail For Eternity’ “a masterpiece”.

About the 2017 Remastered/Expanded Edition:

At the very moment of pondering, at his home in Belfast, a remastered edition of Titanium Flag in the wake of Sunset Cavaliers’ warm reviews and airplay, Harper received an invitation, in Dutch, to join someone’s professional network on LinkedIn: Jan Akkerman.

Harper: ‘Suitably inspired – by the karma, not the invitation to join LinkedIn – I emailed Jan with an idea and ‘Greenland: East To West’, inspired by 19th Century Norwegian adventurer Fridtjof Nansen, is the result. Jan’s epic solo is the imagined sound of a man raging against the howling snowstorms of the pre-Victorian Arctic, single-handedly creating the ‘heroic age’ of exploration. It transpires that Jan is still the master of improvisational and inspirational guitar. But I have no intention of joining LinkedIn.’

Harper reassembled the original ‘Titanium Flag orchestra’ – jazz broadcaster/bandleader Linley Hamilton (flugelhorn, trumpet), orchestral musicians Alan McClure (violin) and Rachelle Stewart (clarinet), and céilí band drummer/closet rocker Jim Cuthbertson (drums) –and added Irish jazz pianist/bandleader Scott Flanigan and local bass maestro Ali MacKenzie along with Jan in Volendam and flautist Premik Russell Tubbs (ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra) in New York. Further cyber collaboration, between Belfast and Australia, was going on with producer/recording artist Martin Tinson and guitar legend Martin Cilia. The result is three new pieces of music, added to the start of the album.

Four vocal tracks, recorded during the original Titanium Flag sessions in 2010, are added at the end. Other guests on the album include Phil ‘Shiva’ Jones (ex-Quintessence) and Andy Roberts (ex-Liverpool Scene, Plainsong). The audio was remastered by Denis Blackham and the package comes with a detailed 12-page booklet and a fold-out pair of vintage maps of the Arctic regions.

Harper: ‘It transpires that it’s rather expensive to include a second insert in a CD. I believe that Titanium Flag is the best thing, musically, I’ve done, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to make it widely available. But I’m also hoping I don’t have any more musical inspiration for a while!’

credits

released June 30, 2020

Colin Harper (guitars/keys), Cormac O'Kane (piano/organ), Linley Hamilton (flugelhorn, trumpet), Alan McClure (violin), Rachelle Stewart (clarinet), Jim Cuthbertson (drums), Scott Flanigan (piano), Ali MacKenzie (bass) + guests Jan Akkerman (lead guitar), Premik Russell Tubbs (flute, Tibetan singing bowl), Martin Tinson (guitars/production) and Martin Cilia (lead guitar).

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about

Colin Harper Belfast, UK

Colin Harper is the author of six books on music history and a recording artist at various levels of visibility from the 1990 to the present. The CH albums 'Sunset Cavaliers' and 'Titanium Flag: Remastered & Expanded Edition' were released nationally in 2016-17, with three singles / EPs released digitally in 2018-20 (one solo single, one Bourgeois Fury single, one Legends of Tomorrow EP). ... more

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