Here's the latest! Thanks so much for your support!
Recent Timeline: Summer 2011
The new vinyl album, "ARCHIVES," is to be released on the Drag City/Galactic Zoo label on August 23, 2011. CD versions of the album will soon follow. Promotional copies are already out and reviews are already coming in:
From Eclipse Records, San Jacinto, California (July 15, 2011)
(www.eclipse-records.com)
*The George-Edwards Group – “ARCHIVES” VINYL LP $15.99 (Drag City; official release date: Aug 23, 2011)
Drag City and Galactic Zoo Disks first turned the world on to The George-Edwards Group in 2009, with their never-exactly-released late 70s alien autumnal song-scape '38.38.' Their music is singular and great, and like you, we assumed that was their one, definitive statement. Until...this new 'Archives' release contains a treasure trove of bizarre riches spanning from the '38:38'-era to what appears to be the mid-80s (we'll never know for sure -- and we don't have to, the stuff is sublimely wack in a manner that requires no further explanation).
The music that makes Archives is a more rocking version of The George-Edwards sound. The tremulous, strangely timbered vocals are still their signature, but this time they're atop a few highly compressed and fuzzed-out rock cuts, as well as several synthed-out dirges that would make Suicide, Bruce Haack or Cabaret Voltaire cock an ear (and make all these new 'coldwave' bands blush to their shallow roots!). Also within are the murky analog keyboard bloops which all but define the GEG sound, as well as 'ballads' that make one wish there was an entirely different language to describe musical forms. Archives is the second miraculous LP from The George-Edwards Group --archives that will keep your jaw agape for the rest of the year. What year? What year is it? Any year!"
The George-Edwards Group is now being heard in 42 countries.
Spring 2011
In the final stages of release of the new vinyl album from Drag City Records, Chicago (USA). The new album entilted, "ARCHIVES," is comprised of entirely never before released material from the deep archives of the group's recording sessions, starting from the 1970s.
The George-Edwards Group is now being heard in 41 countries.
Winter 2011
We are now being heard in 36 countries across six continents. New radio play is happening from all corners of the world. For details, see the website tab to the left, "Countries Playing Us."
New VINYL album coming soon from Drag City; album artwork is being finalized.
Fall 2010
A brand new George-Edwards Group vinyl LP release is coming soon from Drag City records; details to follow.
From Dublin, Ohio:
Website for Worthpoint Corporation in a live online auction: "38:38" is discribed as "awesome loner folk/pscyh; an essential re-issue."
From Africa:
"38:38" now for sale at swahili.wles.net/f10d3e12.html; nations speaking "Swahili" include UGANDA , KENYA , TANZANIA , RWANDA , BURUND , ZANZIBAR; the George-Edwards Group now being aired in over 30 countries!
Germany: A review from the German website, Flight 13: "Re-release of the original 1977 edition published in small album from the late psychedelic era. The duo from Detroit plays hazy synth-folk , now and then a little excursion into jazz. A deeper , ambientoses, embracing one album full of beauty. A jewel."
Another new radio station, KVRX, Austin, Texas has aired The George-Edwards Group.
Summer 2010
Distributor "Forced Exposure's" Matt Kelly has rated the George-Edwards Group lp "38:38" in his Top Ten listings for 2009.
The George-Edwards Group now has a presence in Indonesia, our 32nd country.www.lowongankerjaba.info provides a review of The George-Edwards Group.
Spring 2010
Latest radio stations now playing the George-Edwards Group include:
WTUL 91.5 FM, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA WMBR 88.1 FM, Cambridge, MA KRCL FM, Salt Lake City, UT
France: Kaleidoscope Magic HMV Japan 1m1f.com webcasts YouTube oringinating from Bulgaria
Winter 2010
Patrick Lundborg, respected author of the renown reference text, Acid Archives has just published his list of "Best 10 Reissues of 2009," and The George-Edwards Group LP "38:38" was rated at #7, just back from the Beatles "Mono Recordings" boxed-set release (rated at #3). To see Mr. Lundborg's recent Newsletter, please visit:
From the (online) music magazine, "Perfect Sound Forever"at PERFECTSOUNDWEB@FURIOUS.com Staff writer Gregory Meyer picks "38:38" as Record Of The Year for (2009) and provides this review: “#38:38, this "rescued relic" of 1976 on private press yields haunting folk - pop melodies and lyrics held together by guitars, chimes and electronics, unlike anything else then or now. This DIY/basement-tape gem is an utterly unique ethereal work of devastating power."
The George-Edwards album "38:38" is listed by Rate Your Music's Rodrick Ramrod as the "Top Esoteric Album of 1977."
Nashville Scene magazine calls "38:38" album, "...one of our favorite re-issue LPs of 2009."
"38:38" is listed on www.weshotjr.com (Dallas Texas) As one of the "BEST LP's of 2009." Review: This one's a killer bedroom psych record from 1977. Two guys, some guitars and an ARP String Ensemble. The reissue sounds great and will save you about $500 over the very limited edition original. Highly recommended!
The new George-Edwards Group CD entitled "41:57" is released by Silver Sky Productions on January 1. (May be ordered via PayPal at this website.)
New radio stations (added this month) now playing The George-Edwards Group include: KSPC, Clairmont, California KBOO, Portland, Oregon WRCT, Pittsburg, PA Last Village Radio, New York City. Last-FM Radio in London, England IMRadio.com
The George-Edwards Group wins "YouTube Video Award" from MNE, radio and magazine, London, England.
New record sales in Australia; The George-Edwards Group now selling in over 30 countries.
New review by Dusty Groove Records: "38:38 is rare late 1970's psyche-folk brillance and cosmic songcraft unlike anything else from the time....uncommonly tuneful material made from far-out components."
Riverman Music cointinues marketing the CD, "38:38, with Four Bonus Tracks" now also available at eBay.com
The George-Edwards Group continues to record new material at Silver Sky Recording in San Diego, California.
December, 2009
Drag City Records (USA) reports that both vinyl pressings of the 1977 classic album "38:38" are now sold out.
The BRAND NEW George-Edwards Group CD is scheduled for release on Silver Sky Productions label by December 15. The CD is entitled "41:57" and includes a total of 11 George-Edwards tracks. Order at this website or through eBay/Paypal.
RateYourMusic.com shows the 1977 album "38:38" moving up to #49 (from previous #60) for the 1,000 albums listed for year 1977.
Ed Balian's Silver Sky Orchestra has a new CD entiled, "Looking Glass Suite" to be available on or about December 15; see www.TheSilverSkyOrchestra.com for order details.
The George-Edwards Group is alive and well with new recording sessions started during December.
November 2009
Website www.RateYourMusic.com currently shows George-Edwards Group album 38:38 ranked at the #60 album for the year 1977.
Finland becomes the 30th country for sales of The George-Edwards Group album 38:38.
Final mastering work continues on the planned early 2010 release of a second George-Edwards Group vinyl album and CD.
Drag City continues to sell the 38:38 vinyl album while Riverman Music sells the similar "38:38 Plus Edition" CD in Japan and South Korea.
August 2009
Editing and mixing has begun on The George-Edwards Group NEW VINYL/CD album, due out in 2010. The new album (as yet unnamed) will be comprised of never before released material dating from 1978 to 2008 recording sessions.
The Connection magazine, 15th Edition (August, 2009; circ. 30,000), highlights The George-Edwards Group in an article entitled "File It in Reject City," written by Judy Balian of www.Excoveries.com Band member Ed kept a log book of all the labels and record companies who rejected the original 38:38 vinyl album when it was offered to them in 1977. Today, of course, those same records are selling on eBay at over $400 each and the Drag City reissue has been sold all over the world--in fact it too is already out of print after less than four months! The moral of the story: Never give up on your aspirations. Also see www.HealthDimensions.com
The 38:38 CD, including four bonus tracks, is now officially released in South Korea and Japan on the Riverman label!
Additional cd/vinyl sales to Australia. At last tally, The George-Edwards Group is now in 29 countries.
July 2009
Martin Guitar's Newsletter, The Sounding Board, Volume 27, July 2009 (circ. 40,000), has a cool story and photo of Ed Balian and his rare 1927 Martin guitar used on The George-Edwards Group LP, 38:38 from 1977. According to the Martin Company, Ed's old '27 just might have supplied the alluring acoustic "vibe" on this LP!
The George-Edwards Group may be part of a new compilation music CD produced and distributed by George Noory's Coast-to-Coast radio program. This "Best of Tomorrow's Voices" CD is slated for release later this year.
The deal is signed! The CD version of the 38:38 album (with all original artwork) will soon be on sale in South Korea and Japan through Riverman Music.
The George-Edwards Group now appear as comic book characters in the new edition of The Galactic Zoo Doosier, Issue #8, July, 2009 (circulation of 10,000 subscribers); google Galactic Zoo Doosier to subscribe.
Additional radio play from New York's WUSB in Stoney Brook.
More foreign vinyl and cd sales of 38:38 as The George-Edwards Group now has a presence in 28 countries.
June 2009
The George-Edwards Group was highlighted as “Emerging Artists” on this evening’s George Noory Coast-to-Coast radio show;OVER 5,000,000 listeners across six hundred radio stations around the world!!!!!!!http://www.coasttocoastam.com Band-member, Ed Balian comments, “YES, we are STOKED! I was just lying in bed last night---and all of a sudden, I heard an extremely familiar song---hey---that’s US!” Mr. Noory played “Nevada” (from 38:38, The Plus Edition), then commented on the band’s development, their Detroit hard rock and space-rock roots and 32-year “overnight success” story! SIX new YouTube music videos released: To view, go to www.YouTube.com and search on “The George-Edwards Group” ·Planets and Stars(from 38:38 vinyl LP and CD) ·Wintertime (from 38:38 vinyl LP and CD) ·Nevada(from 38:38, The Plus Edition CD) ·Ways of the World (NEW SONG! TBA: released on CD soon) ·Do What You Love(NEW SONG: TBA: released on CD soon) New PR Agency brought on: “PR Web” activity of over 19,000 web-based notices sent out worldwide to music industry and related industries. Charting Action for 38:38 vinyl LP re-issue (Indie Vinyl Charts, USA): ·The below charting for AIMS VINYL SALES places The George-Edwards Groupahead of Bob Dylan, Metallica and Pearl Jam in sales for the week. ·AllianceRocks: position #22 (AIMS), week of June 1, 2009 ·Grimey’s Nashville #10, week of June 1, 2009 ·Landlocked Music #22, week of June 1, 2009 ·Billboard Magazine & Online: “Discography” presence, June 6, 2009 June, Partial listing of airplay: ·WFMU-FM, New York, Brad LaBonte, “You Without Me” (from the 38:38 CD and vinyl album) ·WPRB-FM, Princeton University, “Planets and Stars” (from 38:38 CD and vinyl album) ·WFMU-FM, New York City/New Jersey, “Floating Away” (from 38:38 CD and vinyl album) ·KEXP-FM, Seattle, “Wintertime” (from 38:38 CD and vinyl album)
CD deal completed with Riverman Music for exclusive distribution of album 38:38 for South Korea and Japan. May 2009 Drag City Records, Chicago: 1st pressing released April 14, 2009 and sold out in one week! 2nd vinyl pressing of 38:38 album completed May 15, 2009.
The re-issue album 38:38 was officially released in vinyl, on schedule by Drag City Records. Advance orders were a sell-out, and Drag City has announced they will begin re-pressing of the vinyl LP immediately!
Note: A minor typo error appeared on the record label on Side 1 of the first pressing. This was corrected on the second pressing. If you bought an advance-order LP of the first reissue pressing, you now already have a collectible and rare LP!
Vinyl LPs of The George-Edwards Group are now available on 35 major international websites. We are updating the list and will provide all links on our website soon.
April 2009
The George-Edwards Group Newsletter We now have an official newsletter. If you're not on our list and want to be, please send an email to thegeorgeedwardsgroup@gmail.com.Thereis no cost and you may opt out at any time. Fan club members also receive discounts on select music and merchandise.
Auction Updates Original Vinyl LP 38:38 Recent Sales
eBay seller from Denmark March 15, 2009: $423
Popsike.com, 2009: $411
eBay.com USA, 2007-09: $300-375
April 14th release date: "…a full-length release is from Galactic Zoo Disks – another LP-only release in the tradition of the J.T. IV album, scraped from the bottom of pristine, titanium barrels never before glimpsed by the general public. This time around, it’s The George-Edwards Group, with their long-lost 1977 magnum opus, 38:38.
"As we told you last time out, George-Edwards was a duo of tech-obsessed home tapers who painstakingly constructed some synth-blown folk-pop over the course of a year, only to ultimately find rejection when they “shopped” a set of pressings around Hollywood and Vine.
"Thirty years later, we’ve got a sound we can’t get out of our head, not a group we can’t wait to get out of our office! Those fat cats out in Angel City don’t know shelf life — here in the Chi, we know nothing but. But seriously, check out the track on our frontpage — that’ll give you an idea of the dreamy-yet-chilly sound that The George-Edwards Group explicates to the fullest on 38:38."
From the Ear-Rational Music Website George-Edwards Group, The - 38:38 LP [DC391LP]
Label: Drag City
"38:38 is the lone release of The George-Edwards Group, an autumnal alien soundtrack that, over thirty years after being recorded (but not really released) defies time and categorization. If you've never heard of it before, that just means it's rare, right? This makes The George-Edwards Group's 38:38 one of the rarest private press albums of all time. 38:38 departs from the norm of the genre: instead of a low-fi demo-quality outing elevated mainly by dealer hype, it's a haunting piece of music that offers an unusually highbrow take on the archetypal Midwestern rock n roll existentialism usually addressed with a solid beat and sneering vocal.
"Crafting their sound out of the many influences of the day, Edward Balian and Ray George (aka, The George-Edwards Group) created pop music with acoustic guitars and harmonies, heavily-reverberant piano riffs, cold sheets of synthesizer, bells and chimes. Operating amidst the factory-charred grime of late 1960s Detroit, Balian and George's first group was the garage-rock obscurity Andromeda, regularly sharing bills with local heroes like The Frost, Rationals, and Amboy Dukes. Unlike these groups, Balian and George spiked their guitar blowouts with incongruous sound-on-sound experiments whose strangeness recalled lounge/exotica records of the 1950s.
"Too heady for the Motor City hard rock scene, they gradually lost interest in the restriction of playing all-covers gigs and turned to the basement, powered with multi-track tape recorders, processors and Moog synthesizers, flanging and phasing heavily with space effects and backwards loops, leaving a fair share of destroyed microphones and tape machines in their experimental wake.
"They first called themselves The Sorrento Steel Band to emphasize their metalloid leanings, but in 1974, Balian and George renamed their duo The George-Edwards Group (a la Pink Floyd, but using their own names) and began working on 38:38. Like other fascinating basement loners (Bobb Trimble or brain-fried Youngstown, OH scuzzers Stone Harbour), they wrote songs inspired by top 40 staples like The Beach Boys, Mamas and the Papas and Lovin' Spoonful. Their use of synthesizers to fill out the sounds created a melodic yet freakish hybrid.
"Listening to 38:38 one would assume that the George-Edwards Group were copping moves from Krautrock records (with a disheveled Arthur Lee-inflected singer/songwriter tinge), but those records were not sold at local mall outlets -- the guys had never heard them.
"The Drag City/Galactic Zoo Disk release of 38:38 includes never-before-seen art, photos and original liners/pressreleases/notes, as well as a song from an equally rare 7" single side not found on the original LP pressing."
Promo from Drag City Records "From the union that brought you the smash underground sensation of late 2008, J.T. IVCosmic Lightning, now comes the eerie pop sounds of The George-Edwards Group. Presented with pride by Drag City and joy by Galactic Zoo Disks, the album titled 38:38 hails from the year of 1977, though the sounds that The George-Edwards Group made had more to do with the past and the future than they did with the booty-bumping sounds of those disco days.
"Ray George and Edward Balian were Detroit musicians who weren’t as inclined to the gut-bucket rock sounds of their late-60s contemporaries. Enamored of pristine pop sounds and emulating the meticulous recording techniques of the Beatles, The George-Edwards Group used synthesizers and their own basement set-up to create a melancholic narco-pop that reflected wintery Midwestern isolation.
"In their own personal isolation, George and Balian were channeling German "prog" approaches without even knowing, coming up with chilly synth melodies that recall to mind the sounds of Neu! and others.
"Having pressed up a couple hundred copies of their album in order to gain further attention, they met with complete apathy in the halls of the music industry. What else could have happened? This was a world in which Big Star’s "Third" couldn’t find a record label! Today, they’ve found one —and the world's a better place for it.
"38:38 is for all you heads out there who thought you were missing something but didn’t know what. The George-Edwards Group is for you."
The GEORGE-EDWARDS GROUP HAS JUST SIGNED A NEW VINYL RECORD CONTRACT WITH THE HIGHLY REGARDED DRAG CITY RECORDS OF CHICAGO. STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS. THE GEORGE-EDWARDS GROUP WILL ALSO BE THE FEATURED ARTISTS (WITH FREE MUSIC CD INCLUDED) IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE GALACTIC ZOO COMIC BOOK.
The George-Edwards Group 1977 original vinyl LP, 38:38, is now sold out, but a vinyl reissue from Drag City Records is coming April, 2009.
Still available: THE ULTRA-RARE 45-RPM (vinyl) SINGLE FROM 1978 "I See Your Smile" b/w "You Without Me" (available while remaining stock lasts). Please refer to the "BUY COOL STUFF" webpage at the left.
The George-Edwards Group owes so much to our broad musical roots. We respectfully honor many of those artists, composers and producers; please enjoy the great album covers representing these great contributors to our music.
The George-Edwards Group, c.1968. Ray George (L) and Edward Balian.
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We've put together some vintage photos of supporters, equipment, and studio scenes from the 1960s through to today. We hope you enjoy our "retro-gallery."
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“38:38 The PLUS Edition” CD The George Edwards Group
CLICK ON ICONS TO YOUR RIGHT TO HEAR SHORT SAMPLES FROM THIS ALBUM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Downloads may take from 10 to 120 seconds, depending upon your modem's speed and your service provider.
"38:38 The Vinyl Reissue" CD The George-Edwards Group
CLICK ON ICONS TO YOUR RIGHT TO HEAR SHORT SAMPLES FROM THIS ALBUM>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Downloads may take from 10 to 120 seconds, depending upon your modem's speed and your service provider.
1. You Without Me(2:36) 2. Planets and Stars(5:27) 3. La Jolla(2:02) 4. Wintertime(5:13) 5. Country Interlude(1:16) 6. Easternia(1:41) 7. You Came Away(3:48) 8.Hypertrain (4:13) 9. Floating Away(3:42) 10. Magnetic Variation(6:25) 11. Just a Minute(1:08) 12. Some Fun(1:18) 13. Solar Flare(1:22)
