David Minasian Newsletter #2 Is Here

With 2010 coming to an end, I thought this might be a good time to release David Minasian Music’s Newsletter #2. It’s been about 5 months since the last one, and to say a lot has happened during the intervening time would be a monumental understatement.

Our album Random Acts of Beauty was released worldwide on October 5th. Nine weeks prior to this time, it had been available only through ProgRock Records and its sister company Mindawn and had spent all 9 of those weeks at the #1 position as the best selling album download at Mindawn. Since October 5th, the album has been available at various retail outlets all over the world including Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, HMV, ebay, and itunes. If you don’t have the album yet, what are you waiting for! Check http://www.davidminasian.com/shop.html for a retail outlet near you.

Many of you have commented on how wonderful it has been to hear Andy Latimer of Camel in action once again after such a long absence. His guitar and vocal contributions to the album’s opening track, the 12 minute epic Masquerade, are truly amazing and again, I can’t thank Andy enough for his beautiful playing. Many of you have also expressed your enthusiasm for my son Justin’s incredible lead guitar work on the rest of the album. Both Justin and I are truly thankful for the fantastic response the album has been getting. The good reviews seem to outnumber the bad ones 20 to 1, with many of them actually leaving us speechless. Check these out:

http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=10039

http://s14.zetaboards.com/Zeitgeist/topic/6645473/1/

http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=313236

http://www.dangerdog.com/2010-music-reviews/david-minasian-random-acts-of-beauty-review.php

For those who might be interested in hearing what I have to say about a variety of music-related topics, I’ve recently completed a series of interviews which you can access here:

http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showinterview.php?id=3575&lang=en

http://homenucleonics.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/interview-with-david-minasian/

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71509&FID=47

http://www.deliciousagony.com/

That last one is a 40 minute audio interview with Don Cassidy of Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio. Just click on the word ‘interviews’ on the left side of the screen and then scroll down the center until you find my name. More interviews are on their way including ones which will appear in the next editions of Terra Incognita Magazine and Cosmos/Big Bang. Just check http://davidminasian.com/news.html for all the latest news.

Random Acts of Beauty did get a mention in the October 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents Prog Magazine (in an article featuring an interview with Camel’s Andy Latimer) and will be featured in the upcoming issues of Classic Rock and Classic Rock Presents Prog as well. Masquerade has been nominated for the ‘Best Long Track of 2010’ by ARfm Radio in England and the album seems to have become a favorite of some who are in the process of compiling various ‘Best of 2010’ lists, including Sea of Tranquility and Delicious Agony Progressive Rock Radio. Up until last week, the album had been in the running for the ‘Best Album of 2010’ on the Prog Archives website until a rather disgruntled reviewer decided to take it out. But there’s still a few days left in the year, so get your 5 star reviews into Prog Archives before Dec 31st and let’s see if you can get the album back in the running.

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=29867

Finally, there’s a new YouTube video up that includes extended clips from all of the album’s tracks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqD5TEgOSkY

And for all you Camel fans, don’t forget to check out the new Camel DVD The Opening Farewell directed by yours truly. It’s an incredible performance by one of the best bands in the world. You don’t want to miss it.

http://www.camelproductions-store.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=dvds

Those of you on the mailing list are the first to know that I have decided to re-record many of my old songs that originally appeared on the Tales of Heroes and It’s Not Too Late albums in a style similar to Random Acts of Beauty rather than try to get those old albums re-released. This process is going to take some time and there’s hopefully going to be an album of new material next year as well, so it’s not going to be anytime soon, but it will happen eventually. At least that’s the plan for now.

Happy Holidays to all and best wishes for the New Year.
David