2017 reflection....I
wanted to do a remix album. Tracks that I thought had gotten away from
myself and everybody. I had another pass at one of the
tracks on here, "midnight to
dawn", for our "you've been in my mind" itunes edition.That
featured Henry Wagons on vocals. The first
two tracks were always favourites. I just wanted to get them out again.
Sing them better and recast them.
With more than a little hubris, I might say we've often gotten to
places a long time before other people.We rush into open spaces, get
isolated and exposed, rather than travelling within a tight pack. I
thought it would be prudent to slow
down
and bring out a record like this. Perhaps people were ready for some of
it now? fave lyric ..."one of the two was tougher or luckier, or smarter / he was
found in the garden shed
the tapes were mixed by his road manager / his image triggers off a world
of possibilities - a diver poised - the door always open wide
somebody standin on the other side of the river / I often wonder about
the brother who lived"
released on COCKAIGNE , August 2010.Available here via
PAYPAL now. Front cover, Tony Mahony.
Track Listing
the brother who lived
all our friends were stars
like a millionaire
a boy named epic
the royal troll
clingin’ to the coast
I am your humble servant
are we goin’ too fast for love?
I’m seein’ demons
anchors aweigh
midnight to dawn
twilight of a villain
I ain’t natural
she looked at me from out of her eyes
my old gloves
while you dream,I live
I don’t know anything
commercial street east (starry)
It’s a remix/remaster/replayed
compilation.
There are ten tracks from “the brother who lived”, 4 tracks
from “heroic blues” and 4 previously unreleased songs that were
all recorded at either of those sessions. “Its like a souped up
hot rodded version of the original songs, with some extra tracks that
got lost along the way. We put the songs up on the blocks and re-tuned
them, re-sang them, re-strung them , put more drums and percussion and
vocals and keys and remixed all of them. Inserted ,bussed , sent, returned,
compressed , buzzed, eq’d and coloured all the reverbs and delays
and remastered it at the end. Its a new thing. “
Standout tracks are Tracks 1 and 2 “the brother who lived”
and “all our friends were stars” which were
originally recorded with Greg Walker from Machine Translations, track
8, “are we goin’ too fast for love?” and track 11
“midnight to dawn”.
It’s a pop collection with a sleek, dark and sinister ,
kinda Roxy thread running through it. An album for
the times. The True Blood - DOLLHOUSE times.
pic dave western
players involved
Dave Graney, electric and acoustic guitar, bass and organ.
Clare Moore, drums, perdussion,vocals, organ.
Stu Perera, electric guitar.
Adele Pickvance,bass on tracks 3-5,7-8,10-11,113,16-17
Bill Miller, guitar on tracks 3-7,9,11,13
mastered by Greg Wadley
Cover illustration by Tony Mahony.
Recorded between 2001 aand 2004
Engineer for most sessions Adam Rhodes.
Remixed at the Ponderosa March- June 2010 by Dave gGaney and Clare Moore
Produced by Dave Graney and Clare Moore.
pic dave western
We put out an album called “the brother
who lived” in 2003. It was, in many ways a new beginning for
us and you don’t get many of those. Well, its hard to spot them.
Clare Moore and myself prepared the songs for it just after we had
done some gigs
with the Moodists for the first time in 18 years or so. We were still
fizzing from the experience. The previous record “heroic
blues” had been billed as a “folk soul” set
and it was. Acoustic strums and bouncing, light rhythms. I had a bunch
of songs ready that I’d
written in the same style, with some tight little licks played on a an
acoustic and the vocal staying down , tightly boxed in by the chords
. After the Moodists we took the same songs and played them
in a more supersized manner, Flying V guitar amped up and Clare smashing
the drums on songs like “Midnight to dawn” , “like
a millionaire” and “the royal troll”. It
felt great to be opening up the chest again and singing out.
There were also two ultra pop songs ( for us) that we cooked up with
J Walker from Machine Translations. “The brother who lived” and “all
our friends were stars”. We were re engaging with our own past and
also the present, feeling comradeship with people around us in the music
scene.
Then , last year, we realized we hadn’t made the album available again
digitally. Via the internets. I started to listen to it and then went to
open up the original redording sessions again. I heard my own voice trying
to leap out of both albums. I wasn’t hitting it like I wanted to. Around
the time of “Heroic Blues” I was harbouring a tenacious lung infection
that would burst out between the time it was recorded and mixed. I was in
poor shape and pretty shocked. It took a while for me to get a hold of my
health again. That kind of total inner inflammation gets up a head of steam
and takes time to power down. A couple of years later, while doing “the
brother who lived” I was still coughing like a coal miner between takes
of the songs we did with J Walker. I was firing on half cylinders but trying
like crazy to bust into the present. When I listened to the tracks I wanted
to sing them again, now that I’ve got my body back in shape. So I did.
And I added some drums and guitars and percussion and other textures. Just
for the hell of it. Theres the whole album from “the brother who lived”
as well as four tracks we recorded at the time but never released. There
are also four tracks from “Heroic Blues” that I wanted to have
another pass at with my now, better functioning pipes. Drums and guitars
were added and remixing and remastering done. Its a new album, remastered,
re-played, re-sung, re-strung. I’m calling it “super
modified”
. Its a hot rod of an album.
pic dave western
Here
is a link to a PODCAST where Dave Graney spoke to Greg Wadley
at 3CR in 2010 for an hour about his career and music.
