Tollstock '15, part 2

So that's the inside of the barn.  The set-up was incomplete at that point, lovers of cymbals and cables and mic stands and all that jazz, but you get the picture.  Also, it's the inside of the barn by daylight, you lovers of twinkly lights.  And it's a bit of a close-up, lovers of all the space to left and right and up and (on the right anyway) down.

Anyhoo, this batch of songs rounds out the cream of the crop from Friday, which was a short go of things to begin with.   We've got other stuff on "tape" but it's strictly for the professional archivists and humble self-flagellators.  The cuts below, though, are for public consumption, so long as you listen with gentle ears and kind hearts.

The major upside, evident upon dropping needle into groove, is that Charlie and Roger had arrived, thus kicking us up out of the gutter and bringing some focus and, y'know, quality and actually planned "notes" and such.  Witness a really quickly thrown-together "Drive My Car".  As for all these, Roady is on drums and Charlie on guitar.  For this one, I can only guess that it's Adam on tambourine, possibly Dirtbike Richard on guitar, Roger on bass, and me on some rudimentary piano

Next is a solid stab at the blues classic "Key to the Highway" (which I learned from Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes, but which dates back electrically to Little Walter and further back acoustically to Big Bill Broonzy).  Man, but we need to do this more often! That's Roger on second guitar and me on the bass. 

From there we backslide into Honcho-plus-one-town with a run-through of our own "Jenny Everyday", with Charlie gamely along for the ride and making things so much better and kind of Chris Isaak-y now that I listen to it again.  Then it was time for young Oliver Sorkin to head to bed or wherever hisself had to go, so out came a hot-rodded "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" and Roger sang and danced around.

Thus was Friday, as far as the Tiny Robot was concerned.

jk


Drive My Car:
https://app.box.com/s/b61d9jigbjj6h3m77rbpsgw6zdgy1mct



Key to the Highway:
https://app.box.com/s/sfjijzywem3gsw3nvrgg18s47zy79vx4



Jenny Everyday:
https://app.box.com/s/vtrmqo5z3svrhb6r4tnp9j7tcc6f9l6o



She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain:
https://app.box.com/s/04convflcq5ldjw2v8xtgf26jbfhe6kc

Tollstock '15, part 1

That, of course, is the barn. Or part of the barn, anyway, because that thing is gargantuan.  Man, but in short order it became my favorite place to play, on account of the acoustics and the company and the casual vibe and everything else.  What was conceived as an practice/ recording session for three of us gradually picked up momentum and complexity until, by "go time", it had become a long-overdue multi-day Hudson River Valley getaway for friends and families, music, cooking, beer-slaying and generally hanging out and having a grand old time.  Thus was "Tollstock 2015", with unending thanks to Adam and Malinda and Kay and Maynard.

We set up the gear Friday and gradually got to working on things, with people arriving and then drifting in and out.  Roady was usually on drums, and Charlie on the good and fancy and funky guitar.  Adam most often on bass.  Roger on guitar or bass.  Me playing guitar or trying to keep up on whatever slot was open.  Mysterious guests like "The Man Known Only as Beez" or "Richard from the Dirt Bikes of Brooklyn" appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into the shadows.

So these first cuts are early on, from Friday daytime .  Roady, Adam and I got the sound up and running and shook off the dust with some Honcho tunes.  That's the three of us on "St. Mary, Star of the Sea".  We then got to a rough 3-piece run-through of "Steep Starts" (not posted here), after which you hear Richard ask "You guys don't need a rhythm player, do you?"  And thus we were off to the races!-- That's the much improved 4-piece version here, after which we tried to get a contract inked, as you you can hear.  Then our newly constituted quartet took a stab at "Mary Mary", even as a few more people arrived....  More on that next....

JK

St. Mary, Star of the Sea:
https://app.box.com/s/sx652635gxpbkzklb77pznwwdpk99g0j




Steep Starts:
https://app.box.com/s/q6slu4ggoi6dabtcak6xgeezo0zmo6rg




Mary, Mary:    
https://app.box.com/s/j27fhdx373z37qeg2e5ubdryf8snud0q        

"Grey Gardens" preview, part 2: "The Suitors Turned Away" / "All In the Stars"

OK folks.  Just wanted to follow up on the last post, "David Darling", which debuted the "Grey Gardens" material for You, the Listening Public.  Here are two more cuts from the Jan 2014 sessions, down in Sei's basement in Station North, Baltimore.  Roady, Dillo and I knocked out the backing tracks there, after which there was some overdubbing done back in the northlands.

"The Suitors Turned Away" comes from relatively early in the story, as "Little Edie" Beale has to face up to the fact that her marriage options aren't panning out for one reason or another in the big city, and back she goes to live with her mother on the Island.

"All in the Stars" pretty much wraps up the whole thing in uplifting fashion.  The Beales, and Little Edie in particular, were a superstitious lot and, wrapped up in tarot cards and stars and dream interpretation and all, it's Edie telling everyone that she knows what's up and that everybody else has it "aaaawwl wrong!"  Roll credits.

jk


"The Suitors Turned Away":    https://app.box.com/s/zcwd2fcqb21r55oqy0twd3magjh1r6sr



"All In the Stars":                   https://app.box.com/s/nmxy98yn5m9c3nplceh4edc6zh2dry0s

"Grey Gardens" on the way: 3 versions of "David Darling"

Hey all-

Well, there are a few new, old and perennially delayed things on the docket, as ever.  Likely next up will be a multi-part posting from "Tollstock '15", but this posting was in the chamber already, so listen away if you're interested.

The posted song ("David Darling") is from a fairly recent and big bunch of thematically related songs, which...  I dunno... comprise a "cycle" or something?  Nothing linear as a rock opera, that's for sure.  Anyway, the parties involved are Roady and Dillo, and the songs are based on the fairly famous "Grey Gardens" history, as largely lifted from the two Maysles brothers documentaries as well as the fictionalized HBO version.  You may know the story: Wealthy mother and daughter, of the Bouvier family, retreating many years from society and living in squalor amid the remains of their Hamptons estate?  Abandonment by husband/ father, mental and physical deterioration, legal troubles, at least one financial rescue by Jackie (by then Onassis), famous documentary ensued?

So, yeah, this particular song is directed from "Little Edie" Beale to David Maysles.  Just to give an idea of how the sausage is made back at the Great Island Music Works, you've got the initial acoustic demo I recorded for my partners in crime (Roadkill, Dillo).  Second is a version in which the backbone (bass-drums-guitar) were recorded a month or so later in quasi-studio demo format at Sei's place in Penn Station North (or whatever the designation is), Baltimore, with subsequent overdubbing of the usual nonsense.  Third is a live-in-studio version with only the three of us from a year or so later, at the newer practice space in  Butcher's Hill, Baltimore.

jk

David Darling (acoustic demo):        
https://app.box.com/s/bj5g9tf21733u3y2e7fcs5cwtd72u65n



David Darling (full electric/ studio):  
https://app.box.com/s/8e3xoap6n3bs6sz94edqadgodz42nkl2



David Darling (3 pc rehearsal):          
https://app.box.com/s/g62pcft3nfcw3f8dvc0wh4anmssakfvl

Basement Shakedown 2014: Warren Zevon and Cheap Trick covers

Hey alls--  I've no new news for you on the production front, except for these here couple of recent covers that've been sitting around in the can, waiting on getting posted.  They're from the same basement test-drive sessions as the Stones covers from the other week, and similarly off-the-cuff but packed with lovin'.

Keeping it brief, first off is one of my perennial favorite Warren Zevon tunes, "Mohammed's Radio", off his self-titled debut from '76. Second is "Oh Candy", the first Cheap Trick single, off of their self-titled debut from '77. Total pop heaven, far as I'm concerned.  No idea what "Mohammed's Radio" is about.  I used to think "Oh Candy" was about an ingenue lost to drugs and heartbreak.   Then I realized that they were singing "he" and not "she", and it turns out (via the Wiki and Cheap Trick bio) that it's about the suicide of a friend of theirs with initials M(&)M.  Still learning about life, we are....

I'd hoped to a/b the Cheap Trick song with a cover of the weird, boxy, non-anthemic, guitarmonied, piano-laden, finger-snapping version of "I Want You to Want Me" off their second album "In Color" (a.k.a. one of the versions they probably hate).  Also maybe a/b the Zevon song with a version of "Tule's Blues".... or maybe I'll save that one for some Jackson Browne-ian action... dunno....  A million possibilities and only 168 hours in a week....

jk

Mohammed's Radio:  https://app.box.com/s/rpyzsrpsunk61sz2i7d44m595vceo67a


Oh Candy:  https://app.box.com/s/0km4hw3lpc6u3ocj6z0jdjzzrba8h3ns

Basement Shakedown 2014: Stones covers

Hey Friends!  So, yeah, the slow RKBS Industries output lately has been on account of two unrelated factors:

First off, and most exciting, is that we've been continuing to work on a couple projects that may or may not eventually dovetail to a small extent: A set of new "Grey Gardens"-based songs with Our Man Dillo , and a mixed bag of older "Honcho"-style songs with Our Man Adam.  More on this later or hopefully sooner...

The second Gummer of the Works, now fairly long resolved, was last year's basement renovation at the Harpswell Estate.  All the gear was packed and stacked at the other end of the basement for a few months, and it took forever to get everything up and running again, but last fall or so found Roady up in the Midcoast and we were finally able to take things out for a test drive.  Things are sounding even better now, but the room sounded quite nice from the get-go. It was a last-minute thing and the session went down really fast, necessitating a lot of audible calls, relentless eye contact and such, but it was good fun to knock out a couple pairs of old classic rockers. 

The others'll go up next week or so, but I figured we'd start you off with some Stones, both off of my still-fave "Exile On Main St.": a good stab at "Torn and Frayed" and a pretty rough go at "Tumbling Dice".  Enjoy!

JK

Torn and Frayed:  https://app.box.com/s/jdcdyi0ekqi8k3yu1vdxgumayb628927


Tumbling Dice: https://app.box.com/s/iufebomzig5byoqj08kqddsuiltw9u6q

Happy St. Pat's! Another round of Pogues covers on me!

Hey alls--  Yeah, as I've mentioned before, St. Patrick's Day is not one of those holidays that I go out of my way to celebrate.  Too much of the ol' fake cheer and hollow commercialism, same as most other aspects of public life?  Maybe.  But I remain a sentimental bastard and I do note St. Pat's when it rolls around. It brings back some very good memories from across the vast spread of years, and lately I've been trying every year to bang out at least one cover song for anyone who's interested.   For instance, here's last year's post, with links to a Pogues cover and one from Great Big Sea:

http://roadkillbuttsteak.blogspot.com/2014/03/happy-st-pats-rum-and-whiskey-covered.html

This year, mid-March snuck up alarmingly fast among all the work and winter and all, and I almost dropped the ball but managed to get things recorded over a couple sessions, mostly last Sunday.  It was again good fun and a great excuse learn these songs, to dust off the banjo and bouzouki and, lord help us, accordion and such, and to work on my even dustier skills on those instruments.  Strangely, the hardest part is probably when laying down the vocals, trying to stifle the impulse to mimic Shane's slurry brogue, but these sound pretty American to me.  You be the judge.  As usual, I mixed things down far too rapidly, and on headphones, but I'm hoping the fidelity is passable.  There's a cover of the Pogues own "If I Should Fall From Grace With God", and a meta-cover of their definitive version of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town".

Anyway, please do read James Fearnley's recent Pogues memoir Here Comes Everybody.  It's really unbelievably evocative stuff, and in the running for best music writing I've come across this year (and I read a lot of music writing).   Like St. Patrick's Day itself, there's a lot wrong with the rigamarol that's become associated the Pogues, and especially Shane MacGowan, over the years, but there is so much right as well.  Before he really revved up his slow-motion public suicide in earnest, the man wrote the ugliest and funnies and most achingly beautiful songs, and the band was a wonderful aggregate of individual personalities and contributions.  To me, "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" and "If I Should Fall From Grace with God" are absolutely perfect albums, and the ones on either side no slouches either.

As a dear, departed friend of mine would say, "Slàinte y'all"!

jk

If I Should Fall From Grace With God:  https://app.box.com/s/kt1zlyeyjtqqyqcvh2wo489ogm2jh17k


Dirty Old Town:                                  https://app.box.com/s/eng240gfxs0g0xbhdp707xqew2scqh2c