Unboxed editiion. 4 x CD: for some time now, alan silva has commented that the market value of his records should more closely resemble the price of a lithograph or an artist's print than the price an ordinary record. we remind him that his albums are not produced in special gallery editions, but "mass produced" for a niche market. silva has responded with THE TREASURE BOX. eremite agreed to support the effort, giving away four of its catalog numbers, & what little sanity & peace of mind those of us close to the label's activities can claim to have ever possessed. the box is one of the more agreeably preposterous odysseys undertaken by a musician of silva's stature in many years. only silva's contemporary franz koglmann has done anything similar (opium for franz). silva designed & fabricated the 12"x12"x1" box, assembling & uniquely embellishing each one by hand, using a multitude of different materials to give the project what he refers to as "a little crafty feel." the box contains 4+ hours of music on 4 c/ds by a mind-blowing version of the celestrial communication orchestra, specially assembled for the 2001 uncool festival in poschiavo, switzerland. the occasion marked the first time ever that silva's choice of musicians for the orchestra was completely unrestricted by geography, festival budget, or any other grubby, earthly reason. writes matthew goodheart: "in many ways, listening to HR57 reminds me of listening to the the music of the late baroque era, like bach's mass in b-minor. it is secure in itself, skilled & clear in execution, subtle & finessed as well as frighteningly powerful, & summing up in its massive structure & sound all the forms & aesthetics that gave rise to it." musicians: marshall allen, daniel carter, sabir mateen, kidd jordan, william parker, bobby few, baikida carroll, roy campbell jr, itaru oki, joseph bowie, joe daley, karen borca, jackson krall, warren smith, wilber morris, oluyemi thomas, ijeoma thomas, steve swell, johannes bauer, bill lowe, francis wong, j.d. parran. the national swiss italian radio engineered the concert recordings (they really know what they are doing). the four c/d booklets contains photographs by jacques bisceglia, & writings & essays by byron coley, matthew goodheart, & ed hazell.