Happy 20th Birthday Secret Samadhi Options

[swami]

I still remember the thrill and excitement of skipping school to go sit outside HMV waiting for it to open so I could buy this album on release day 20 years ago. I bought the CD and the cassette that morning.

20 YEARS have gone by!

[san_sao]

I still remember the thrill and excitement of skipping school to go sit outside HMV waiting for it to open so I could buy this album on release day 20 years ago. I bought the CD and the cassette that morning.

20 YEARS have gone by!

Does it feel more like 10000 years? I traded an acoustic guitar for a copy of this album (and some other stuff).

[mfitz804]

Grabbed it the week before its release from a local shop that always used to sell us stuff whenever they got it in as opposed to when they were supposed to. Cash only, they would give it to you and they rang the sales through later. Always was appreciated!!

Went right to work, where my manager and best friend at the time was working, and we stood there and listened to the whole thing while standing around the stereo.

First impression was "this is really weird". But in a good way.

[Bremang]

Got a new stereo for the holidays, saw the release date on mtv. Was the 2nd album I ever bought after TC. Was stoked about Lakinis Juice. Upon first listen I thought the album was somewhat disappointing because I was making a track by track comparison to TC. Only Lakinis Juice was able to stand up to track 2 selling the drama. everything else fell short. But the appreciation continued to grow especially after I saw them at West Point in 97.

[throwing_cheetahs]

the appreciation continued to grow

That is exactly how i, and many of my friends describe SS - it took a few listens, and then, CLASSIC! My personal favorite +Live+ album.

[PaulZAR]

Ah man, I remember hearing "Ghost" on the radio as a single. SS was the album that really grabbed me and never let go. Freaks, Turn My Head, Gas Hed goes west, Rattlesnake, Graze. Really an awesome album.

[swami]

Ah man, I remember hearing "Ghost" on the radio as a single. SS was the album that really grabbed me and never let go. Freaks, Turn My Head, Gas Hed goes west, Rattlesnake, Graze. Really an awesome album.

Ghost as a single (taken from my site, so written many years ago):

An interesting story about how the 'Ghost' video finally surfaced: Sometime in 1997 or 1998, I was searching for rarities online, like I normally do. One of the stores I regularly visit had the promotional 'Ghost' VHS single listed for $20.00 USD. Instead of buying it right then and there, I told myself that I'd get it the next day, since it didn't seem like many people knew of this store. I went back to the website for the store the next day, and it was gone.

In 1999, the first website dedicated to Live's discography went up. It was a fansite called 'The Complete +Live+ Discography' and it was run by Lyn Urbanovsky. I was very impressed with how comprehensive this discography seemed, so I e-mailed Lyn to ask him how he knew of all this stuff. He told me that he owned most of it since he also collected. One thing he didn't have listed was the 'Ghost' promo video, so I informed him that it existed. To my surprise, he told me that he had it but he wasn't listing any promo videos. It didn't take us long to figure out that the video he had was the exact same copy that I was going to buy a few years prior. Lyn named me the store and the price. He was the one who beat me to it.

I had told people of the existence of this video for some time on the then-most-popular Live messageboard - 'Live-Web' (now shut down). I don't think a lot of people believed me, because I was unable to prove it. But now that I knew Lyn had it, maybe I could somehow clear the air around this video. After awhile, pressure to see this video started building, and Lyn encoded it to an MPEG file. The video was uploaded somewhere and on March 9th, 2000, any disbelief that the video existed was put to rest as fans downloaded the never-before-seen video from the net.

'Friends of Live' did not like this video being made public, much like how they don't like it when an unreleased song that isn't available anywhere leaks. They pouted for awhile, and then didn't say much about it again. Then, on November 1st, 2000, 'Friends of Live' announced that a previously unreleased music video would appear on the upcoming holiday gift. Sure enough, it was 'Ghost'.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I believe Lyn Urbanovsky and myself are largely responsible for getting this video onto the '2000 Friends of Live Holiday Gift'.

[dangum]

I still remember the thrill and excitement of skipping school to go sit outside HMV waiting for it to open so I could buy this album on release day 20 years ago.

I purchased my copy from a store called AMV. There used to be a retailer called "Archie Martins" and another called "Vox-Adeon" (they were both electrical retailers but they also sold CDs). They merged and becaome Archie Martin Vox (AMV). I remember going to the store during my lunch break and buying the CD. Had to wait until I got home before I could listen to it.

I had told people of the existence of this video for some time on the then-most-popular Live messageboard - 'Live-Web' (now shut down). I don't think a lot of people believed me, because I was unable to prove it.

I'm ashamed to say I was one of the disbelievers. "What? Live is playing on the moon?!?" Why would Live create a music video and then shelve it? It doesn't make sense".

Did Lyn ever post on message boards back then? Do you know whether they are still active Live collectors or active in the online Live community. Is Lyn a man or a woman?

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I believe Lyn Urbanovsky and myself are largely responsible for getting this video onto the '2000 Friends of Live Holiday Gift'.

I don't think it's arrogant. Live had over 2 years to release the video before you leaked it. It might have been locked away until Awake was released if you didn't expedite the process.

BTW, Live is giving away a signed white vinyl copy of Secret Samadhi and a white Secret Samadhi cap. You need to share their Facebook post or re-tweet Live's tweet.

https://www.facebook.com/edkowalczyk/posts/10155222324333081
https://twitter.com/Freaks4Live/status/833060988903518208

Anybody else notice that the corner is cut from the SS vinyl cover?

[swami]

Dangum,

Lyn Urbanovsky was definitely a male I spoke to him once on the phone. Manvoice. I can also confirm that Michael van den Bergh (MVDB) is male. I tried to reconnect with Lyn on several occasions over the years (not recently though). Mainly, I wanted to get my hands on that Ghost promo VHS. But it never happened. As far as I know, it's sitting in a closet he has access to. I can try to dig up an e-mail address, but the chances he's still using it are remote.

As for the cut to the corner of the Secret Samadhi vinyl, that's normal. A "corner-cut" is one of a few standard ways to indicate that an item is not for commercial sale. A lot of otherwise commercial items in the 1990s and early 2000s (and long before) would either have a cut corner, or a hole punched through the barcode to indicate that they were intended for promotional use only. Especially common on vinyl albums from the 1970s.

[Merica]

If it's a video they never intended to release, how did a VHS of it end up for sale online? Do you know if it was like a ready for commercial release VHS, or just a random VHS that the video had been put onto for whatever reason?

[swami]

If it's a video they never intended to release, how did a VHS of it end up for sale online? Do you know if it was like a ready for commercial release VHS, or just a random VHS that the video had been put onto for whatever reason?

The same way any other promotional VHS ended up on these websites. It was a fairly common thing to see (not the Ghost one in particular, but others). Just like promotional CD singles, promo VHS tapes were in abundance. The tape itself was never intended to be released commercially. It would have been something that video networks like MTV or MuchMusic would get so they could air it on their station.

[TheBeacon]

Do you think Ghost would have been a successful single in the US? Always one of my favs from SS but wondered what it could have done commercially?

[Hoodstock]

Do you think Ghost would have been a successful single in the US? Always one of my favs from SS but wondered what it could have done commercially?

I don't. I think it has a small cult like following amongst some Live diehard fans. Personally, I don't like it at all. It's a skip song for me.

Overall, this was not an album full of commercially appealing songs. Not saying it would have been huge but one song I think they could have done more with was Gas Hed Goes West.

This post has been edited by Hoodstock: Feb 21 2017, 7:41 am

[Possum Kingdom]

I don't. I think it has a small cult like following amongst some Live diehard fans. Personally, I don't like it at all. It's a skip song for me.

Overall, this was not an album full of commercially appealing songs. Not saying it would have been huge but one song I think they could have done more with was Gas Hed Goes West.

Gas Hed Goes West is a classic Live tune for me. It should've been a single.

[swami]

I think Ghost had some real potential. The chorus is engaging as Hell. So much going on in it. The video left something to be desired, but then so did the Operation Spirit and I Alone videos.