Another summer project for Jeff

[Jeff]

Since I've now brought all the stuff I have from Justin and Chris into the digital world, I think I'll work on my own juvenilia. My stuff is nowhere as good or as interesting as theirs. But there are about 50 songs that I recorded between 1986 and 1992 (between the ages of 16 and 22) that I need to get on mp3 before the tapes just disintegrate. I did a mixdown of these songs in 1997, but I recorded to a defective tape deck. The motor was dying so the tape speed would change. The entire project suffered from pitch problems. I went ahead and finished it, though, because I was afraid that I'd never get another chance. But I guess I do.

To start with, I'm going to post a set of liner notes that I just managed to find again. I'd like them to be a part of this site, since this is the work of record for our group for right now. Next week, I'll start to work on the project. I don't know which set of tapes that I'll work on first. Anyone else have a preference?

Jeff

[Jeff]

The First Sally: Becoming



Plastic Smiles

Harbinger

Baroquen Record

Carpetbagger





A collection of recordings
by Jeffrey McBride, David Murray, Mike Fox,
Kevin Mason, Rick Bolin, and Jessica McBride

with accompanying annotations
by Jeffrey McBride



1986-1992


The First Sally: Becoming


10/86-03/88: Plastic Smiles


Aside
1. Plastic Smiles
2. Good-bye Song
3. What Can I Do?
4. Lover’s Fantasy
5. Hope (All I Have)
6. Moon

Beside
1. You & Me
2. One Body
3. Carry Me Away
4. Worldful of Dreams
5. The Fear
6. Nothing (But the Radio On)
7. Triskaidekaphobia



09/88-06/89: Harbinger


Preside
1. Runaway
2. Lifetime Guarantee
3. Psycho Chick
4. Sacred Soul
5. Sinking Island (Guitar Mix)
6. Soul Touch
7. Afflicted March
Reside
1. (Not Just Some) Cliché
2. Independent
3. Peace of Mind
4. Hold on to Us
5. Peace in the Sky
6. Tube
7. Sinking Island (Synth Mix)



8/89-6/90: Baroquen Record


Outside
1. Miss Opportunity
2. Silent Prayer
3. Little Candle
4. Anymore
5. Should I Fall
Inside
1. Satisfied
2. Never Cry
3. Invincible
4. The Words
5. Sleeping Alone



12/90-12/92: Carpetbagger


Riverside
1. Smoke
2. Among Friends
3. Melancholy
4. No Pain
5. I’m Full

Subside
1. M. Abides
2. M., Full of Grace
3. M. Will Listen
4. This Sphere
5. Not my Enemy
6. Vanquished




06/97: Introductory

When I listened again to these old songs, some of which were written as many as thirteen years ago, I came into contact with a person I did not recognize. His music was so obvious and juvenile, his words so trite and uncompelling, that I could barely stomach it. Yet, it was clear to me that he was dealing with real pain. His fault was not so much his triviality as his lifelessness. The vagueness, the unreality, and feigned objectivity of his compositions nearly wholly disguises the scope, scale, and viciousness of the themes he works within. My former self had no art for he was unable to do more than emote.
As this thought began to take shape, I became both a mother and a child. The distant me, the me who hurt but could not express it well, was a boy with many problems. It is his lot to suffer but speak of it in ways that don’t communicate so much as puzzle. A mother’s compassion I feel now for him, at once sympathetic and anxious about his pain. But, I would not want him protected, merely instructed.
Yet the child gives birth to the man. I told Rick the other day that I’m lucky I was never successful with my music. Had I been, thoughtful people everywhere would have dubbed me the male Debbie Gibson. Her brand of histrionics are only forgivable as a necessary concomitant of adolescence -- witness the parabola of Ms. Gibson’s career -- and have certainly never been the mark of any great songwriter. But, these are my histrionics, and I have not wandered far from their circumference.

Most of these recordings were made at someone else’s expense. There were effects pedals that I borrowed and broke, microphones I borrowed and continue to borrow, people I kept awake with “that damnable thumping sound”. So, I’ve decided to repay the victims of my music by sending them free copies. I’m preparing an extensive set of notes to accompany the tapes, so if nostalgia or curiosity suggests that you should revisit these songs, you will have some way to reference them with your own life. This is the only payment that most of you will receive from me for all that you gave -- or was taken from you -- during the production of these recordings. I thank you all, and beg forgiveness from some.


10/86-03/88: Plastic Smiles
This collection of songs resides on only two source tapes. They were the first set of 4-track recordings I ever produced. So, the masters taken from them are flawed in several ways. Since the source tapes are now around 10 years old, lots of the voices have fuzzed out over the years. The high end on most of the songs is especially corrupt. Also, the source tapes were recorded at normal speed which gives less fidelity but increased recording space. (Hey, I was poor then as well.) And, they were recorded without Dolby. Thus the omnipresent hiss.
My collaborators and I recorded Plastic Smiles under the band name N2U. I had done talent shows with others under various band names: Shadowfraxx, The McBride 3. Plastic Smiles also contains the first recordings I made with the Siel DK70 that I purchased in January of 1988. If you can stomach these tunes even once, you are either deeply nostalgic, read: get a life, or you are counted among my closest friends, read: get a life. Should you listen to this tape, I recommend waiting a full two hours after eating.

Notes
Aside
1. Plastic Smiles
Music: David Murray (1986) & Jeffrey McBride (1985)
Words: McBride (1985)
Recording date: 10/86
Recording location: PHS Vocal Room
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: Glen Hale
Musicians: Murray & McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Yahama electric piano, Dr. Rhythm, Dave’s homemade guitar, Siel DK70 (added 1 1/2 years after initial recording)

This anti-ignorance tune is the first song I ever 4-tracked. Dave and I attracted an audience during the rehearsal/recording session. His guitar mesmerized them; my singing humored them. In attendance were Justin McBride, Jon Parsons, et al. Jon made a comment that survived on the source tape. It was, “You’re going like this, Jeffrey,” a reference to my gesticulations prior to a vocal cue. David Hamby once noted that I borrowed “a blood red sky” from U2. In retrospect, they could just as well have kept it.

2. Good-bye Song
Words & Music: McBride (1986)
Recording date: 10/87
Recording location: John T. Hull’s gameroom
Recording device: Hull’s hi-fi
Engineer: Hull
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Ryan Dannar’s $30 Mini Yahama synth, Siel DK70 (added 1/2 year after initial recording)

Live! Live! Live! This is the first of four songs that John T. asked me to record for him. On the basis of them, he let me perform at two of his high school dances -- and paid me generously as well. (Ah, but too good to last...) Ryan’s synth has 1/2 sized keys. It may not sound like it, but some of this tune was very hard to play on that keyboard. It took a couple of takes to get it. This song received a standing ovation at Boy’s State in 1987. It also produced some interest from a friend of David Letterman named Bud Elder. He wanted me to copyright it and make a demo so that he could find a record producer to sign me. I never did.

3. What Can I Do?
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 02/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70

For the first time, I did all the work on a tune -- and it shows. The most important lesson I learned was this: Always regulate the rhythm. Rubato and synthesizers don’t mix.

4. Lover’s Fantasy
Words & Music: McBride (1987)
Recording date: 02/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Curtis Butler’s piano, Siel DK70

I still like this song. I told Jenn that buried within me is a show tune writer just itchin’ to get out. All I need is the proper dose of artistic license and I become Alan Menken. The squeaks are the vocal department’s aging 4-track and Mr. Butler’s 80 year old piano bench. This is my first attempt to live mic a piano. My success can be judged by the sound of my fingers hitting these old ivories.

5. Hope (All that I Have)
Words & Music: McBride (1986)
Recording date: 10/87
Recording location: John T. Hull’s gameroom
Recording device: Hull’s hi-fi
Engineer: Hull
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Ryan Dannar’s $30 Mini Yahama synth, Siel DK70 (added 1/2 year after initial recording)

I used a pint-sized ironing board balanced on top of the Casio to support the Yahama. One of my teachers at WISE, Weekends for Indian Scholarship Enrichment, told me that these lyrics sounded like they might have been written by a young Jackson Browne. Hardly.

6. Moon
Words & Music: Folk tune
Recording date: 02/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: vocal department’s machine
Engineer: Jeffrey McBride
Musicians: Jessica McBride (vocals) & Jeffrey McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70

I have never been able to find out who wrote this song; nor have I ever met anyone outside of my family who knows it. David Hamby once informed me that it sounds like an Appalachian folk tune that he has a recording of. In any case, my mother sang it to me in the cradle. Jessica was seven years old and in first grade when we recorded it. I am thinking of turning a copy of it over to her Senior Breakfast Committee in two years.


Beside
1. You & Me
Music: Dave Murray (1986) & Jeffrey McBride (1986)
Words: McBride (1986)
Recording date: 11/86
Recording location: PHS Vocal Room
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: Glen Hale
Musicians: Murray & McBride
Instrumentation: Dr. Rhythm, Dave’s homemade guitar, Casiotone 701, Siel DK70 (added 1 year after initial recording)

This song was just for fun. Dave and I wanted to record together again, but we hadn’t written anything for each other. I put together this song because the chords were simple enough to learn in a day. Dave wrote and recorded all the guitar parts in a single afternoon -- as is sometimes apparent in this recording. Another error: Mr. Hale mixed the Dr. Rhythm too loud, so it sometimes chirps like a cricket, an electric one.

2. One Body
Words & Music: McBride (1987)
Recording date: 10/87
Recording location: John T. Hull’s gameroom
Recording device: Hull’s hi-fi
Engineer: Hull
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Ryan Dannar’s $30 Mini Yahama synth, Siel DK70 (added 1/2 year after initial recording)

Crystal Cork: Baby played around. This song was the one that I botched most severely at the vocal class’s benefit dinner to fund our trip to state competition. I had never performed at a gathering in which the entertainment was not the focal point of attention. I could hardly sing knowing that baked beans were more interesting than my crooning.

3. Carry Me Away
Words & Music: McBride (1986)
Recording date: 12/86
Recording location: PHS Vocal Room
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: Glen Hale
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Siel DK70 (added 1 1/2 years after initial recording)

Boy, I can only stand to hear this tune about once a decade. Riding daydreams...how puny! You wouldn’t believe how complicated this song is to play. Mr. Hale thought it was very good, however. We worked for an afternoon on the vocals.

4. The Fear
Words & Music: McBride (1985)
Recording date: 01/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70

This is the second of my socially conscious tunes. I am a critic at heart, so they’re all anti-something. This one is anti-suicide. I wrote it because most of my high school friends attempted suicide or thought it would be glamorous to do so. The synth work here almost stands up.

5. Worldful of Dreams
Words & Music: McBride (1986)
Recording date: 02/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Curtis Butler’s piano, Siel DK70

Anyone who knows a short list of great Depeche Mode tunes will note that this song is a rip off “Somebody”. This is probably the reason I won a talent contest with it at EIC, Explorations in Creativity. EIC was a summer program for gifted and talented (their appellation, not mine) Native American students. I was requested to copyright “Worldful of Dreams” and send the sheet music to one of my fellow EIC students, a hopeful Ms. Indian Oklahoma, so that she could use it in the talent portion of the pageant. I never did.

6. Nothing (But the Radio On)
Words & Music: McBride (1987)
Recording date: 10/87
Recording location: John T. Hull’s game room
Recording device: Hull’s hi-fi
Engineer: Hull
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Casiotone 701, Ryan Dannar’s $30 Mini Yahama synth, Siel DK70 (added 1/2 year after initial recording)

John T. told me that he and Meggan once...you knowed...to this song. That gives me the creeps. Ironic as well considering my rotten luck with high school girls.

7. Triskaidekaphobia
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 03/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: The vocal department’s machine
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70

Fear of the number thirteen. I had a little tape left over, so I just started messing around and this came out. I decided to include it with the other songs when I first recorded Plastic Smiles in 1988. I think it points in the direction of the next collection of tunes that I recorded.


09/88-06/89: Harbinger
My life was clicking along very well during my freshman year in college. I was dating a girl that I thought I would marry, getting a free college education, and beginning to purchase the fundamentals of a personal studio, i.e., a Yahama MT100 4-track, just a basic set-up but state of the art in 1988. Harbinger is a recording experiment in which I tried to get the hang of the new 4-track, and a new collaborator as well. Michael J. Fox, not the Fox of international film fame but a gifted scholar and a guitar player, began to record with me almost as soon as we met in 1988.
The first thing to notice about Harbinger is that it was obviously written by a teenager. The second thing to notice is that it was written by an optimistic one. Overall, its lyrics are even more trite than those on Plastic Smiles, with the sole exception of “Sinking Island”. My relative happiness at this point in my life combined with my affinity for ordinary living -- I would not have then called it banality for I had never experienced it -- to produce a level of bubble-gum pop that is scarcely imaginable. Not even Tiffany in a binge of self-indulgence could have matched the fruitiness of “Soul Touch”. Had he penned them, Cory Hart would have instantly committed the lyrics on “Runaway” to a paper shredder. If you have ever wondered what a producer does on an album, now you know. He keeps the artist ever aware that her recordings must be listenable. To make matters worse, I was beginning to realize that the DK70 was a really crappy keyboard. Even $30 Casios produced more listenable sounds. I began to search for upgrades.
I wasn’t oblivious to the unlistenability of these songs. I attributed it chiefly to my vocals. In all fairness I must say that I had neither effects to run my vocals through nor a decent mic with which to record them. I was painfully aware that my voice did not go with these songs. And by the summer of 1989, I knew that I had never been much of a lyricist. This I realized while struggling with the words for the song that became “Tube”. Originally, the song was called “I’m Bored”. It had a lyric that ran:

“I bought myself some Baco-bits
Ate them all and slashed my wrists
‘Cause I was bored.

I’m bored.
Are you bored?
We’re all bored.”

I decided that until I found a good mic, some vocal effects, and something important to say I wouldn’t record anymore vocals. I have since 4-tracked only one vocal track.

Notes
Preside
1. Runaway
Words & Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 05/89
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth, Jon Bon Jovi’s drum track from “You Give Love a Bad Name”

With the MT100 came a 4-track tape called “Recording Session”. On it were songs popular in 1986-7 like “With or Without You” and “You Give Love a Bad Name”. The purchaser of the MT100 was supposed to add tracks and mix down the songs to learn the basics of 4-tracking. Well, I was drum needy, so instead of mixing the songs, I copied the two isolated drum tracks, the Bon Yucky track and the drum line from Debbie Gibson’s “Shake Your Love”, and wrote songs around them. Waste not want not. Well, Bon Yucky sings so loud his noxious voice bled over onto the drum track, and you can still hear it in my song in two different places if you listen closely. But don’t. This song rates a chunky lump on the barf-o-meter.

2. Lifetime Guarantee
Music: Michael J. Fox (1988) & Jeffrey McBride (1988)
Words: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 10/88
Recording location: 180 sq. ft.(?) dorm room shared with David Hamby
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Fox & McBride
Instrumentation: Fox’s Stratocaster, Siel DK70, Debbie Gibson’s drum track from “Shake Your Love”

This song was actually pretty good until I recorded the vocal track. Ever wonder why no one writes songs about the analogy between capitalism and marriage? Now you know. For the record: I vehemently oppose founding romance on capitalistic pragmatism. Mike Fox said that everyone and his dog has done a version of the chord progression in the chorus.

3. Psycho Chick
Words & Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 05/89
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

An instrumental. I missed the piano; I still do.

4. Sacred Soul
Words & Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 05/89
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

Religion and sex go together like peanut butter and chocolate...right? I really had problems reconciling my hedonistic egocentric lifestyle with my puritanical upbringing. This song is not a resolution of the dilemma. It is an attempt to understand the flesh-based philosophy that Depeche Mode sang about in “Sacred”. It is not very successful. I think I am too nostalgic for a devil may care modus operandi.

5. Sinking Island (Guitar Mix)
Words & Music: Michael J. Fox (1988) & Jeffrey McBride (1988)
Recording date: 11/88
Recording location: Our dorm rooms on the 11th floor of Wilham South
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Fox & McBride
Instrumentation: Fox’s Stratocaster, Siel DK70, drums a la Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

I still like this one. Sub-consciousness is the ocean, and the ego is the land pushed above it. (I’ve returned to this analogy again and again over the years.) A nameless female has abused the song’s narrator such that the land is driven back into the ocean. This is perceived by the protagonist as a terrible fate, but it really amounts to another wedding of sorts: The ego is at last united with the sub-conscious through the pain.

6. Soul Touch
Music: McBride (1988)
Words: Rick Bolin (1989) & Jeffrey McBride (1988)
Recording date: 02/89
Recording location: Rick Bolin’s shop in Pawhuska
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

This song was my attempt to self-justify Kim’s asexuality (with respect to me). Never rationalize your relationships. You create debts and payoffs that are totally idiosyncratic and infrequently accommodated by your unknowing partner. Sorry, Kim.

7. Afflicted March
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 12/88
Recording location: dorm room shared with David Hamby
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70

I wanted to write something more thematic and symphonic. This little piece is a rough draft in which I try to capture the most powerful feeling I know: the oneness of multiplicity and the multiplicity of oneness. This feeling is the point of bittersweetness, irony, and nostalgia. No contradiction here; we all feel these things. This song tries to capture this feeling in two primary ways. First, it is a march implying the company of other human beings. Camaraderie, Togetherness. But, if you’ve ever marched you know that you do so alone and without words. Second, the song oscillates between major and minor keys. To many people these sound happy and sad, respectively. There are some other competing and unifying pairs in the song as well.

Reside
1. (Not Just Some) Cliché
Music: McBride (1987)
Words: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 03/89
Recording location: dorm room shared with David Hamby
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, drums from Yahama DX7 (added 1 1/2 years later)

This song was originally called “Every Time We Say Good-bye”, but Tom Hanks released a movie by the same name so I re-wrote the lyrics. What I produced was true bubble-gum fluff. I realized that I needed to be more real in my lyric writing. But since I’m a critic at heart, I began this task by knocking those who weren’t.

2. Independent
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 12/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, drums a la Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

This song kept me in college. I wanted to quit, but after I imagined what blue-collar life would be like, I decided to stay in school. I’ve never lost my antipathy for authority and the judgment of superiors. But, I have learned to live with it.

3. Peace of Mind
Words & Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 04/89
Recording location: dorm room shared with David Hamby
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Simmon’s bass and snare pads

This song is in the same vein. It asks the question, “So, what are the positive reasons for staying in school?” It answers: a Beemer and one close friend. Is that enough success to keep us satisfied? I still don’t know, but the fear of trying to pay of my debts with a blue-collar salary is plenty of motivation to keep me on the straight and narrow.

4. Hold on to Us
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 12/88
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Simmon’s bass and snare pads

Kim again and me trying to allay my libido. I seem to be pleading with myself to remain committed to the relationship for the sake of commitment. I use words like ‘hold’, ‘wait’, ‘endure’, ‘protect’ & ‘faith’. Those are always very scary words in reference to love, usually implying a crack in the armor. In this particular case they indicate that the gaping hole in the mail revealed that nobody was inside at all.

5. Peace in the Sky
Music: Michael J. Fox (1988) & Jeffrey McBride (1989)
Words: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 11/88
Recording location: 11th floor of Wilham South
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: Fox
Musicians: Fox & McBride
Instrumentation: Fox’s Stratocaster, Siel DK70

People still make fun of me for this song...and with good reason. It is my anti-nukes song. Peace (‘Piece’) in the sky, get it? Oh well. At least Mike Fox’s guitar playing is listenable.

6. Tube
Music: McBride (1989)
Samples: Ellen Johnson’s TV (06/89)
Recording date: 12/88 & 06/89
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, Simmon’s bass & Snare pads

The vacuum of our triviality. The pressure inside. Boredom. Apathy. Nothing like sitting around a campfire with some good hot chocolate. Why? Because I love me. You know they are words of great faith; you know they are words of great love. Subliminals are basically working at a cerebral or a mental level trying to change your actual desires. Customized spacecraft shaped like giant chickens or cheeseburgers. ‘Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be. Emptiness, loneliness, a sense of feeling incomplete. Random samples from an ordinary television.

7. Sinking Island (Synth Mix)
Words & Music: McBride (1988)
Recording date: 09/88
Recording location: dorm room shared with David Hamby
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Siel DK70, drums a la Cindy Miller’s $30 mini Casio synth

The original mix with an additional (extraneous) verse describing the offending female.

[Jeff]

08/89-06/90: Baroquen Record
I got a new keyboard, a Yahama DX7, over the summer and early in the fall I got a drum machine, an Alesis HR-16B. The recordings I made over the next year utilized these new implements of construction.
This tape probably marks the high tide of my artistic ability. I was working without a net in the face of laughter. Everyone told me that making a tape that combined classical and rock influences had already been done--badly--by ELO. Undaunted, I made Baroquen Record; it has been audited by a mere handful of forgiving listeners in the last seven years.

Notes
Outside
1. Miss Opportunity
Words & Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 10/89
Recording location: Dave Hamby & Jeff McBride’s dorm room
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

My last set of lyrics. I had been listening to too much Bobby Brown. Jenn and Justin like this one. At a drunken party at Rick’s shop I debuted this song. It got a good reception from the alcoholics there.

2. Silent Prayer
Words & Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 04/90
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

I wanted to write a song with big tubular bells doing the Westminster chime. I wrote the rest of the tune around that theme. Only later did I learn that the introductory melody had already been used by Journey in one of their songs. I’ve never been a Journey fan, so I really had no idea.

3. Little Candle
Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 06/90
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

Excess. This was the last song I recorded on the DX7. When I allowed others to listen to it, they said that it was terrible and I shouldn’t put it on Baroquen Record. I had no intention of doing so, but it is so stylistically similar to the rest of the material here that I was compelled to include it.

4. Anymore
Music: Rick Bolin (1985) & Jeff McBride (1989)
Recording date: 12/89
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

Simulated saxophone: I thought it was a good idea at the time. Rick Bolin invented the basic beat on the chorus. He used to tap it out all the time when he was driving his Fuego or sitting in biology class. I always wanted to write a song using it. Sorry it wasn’t a better one, Rick.

5. Should I Fall
Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 02/90
Recording location: Hamby & McBride’s dorm room
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

The verse of this song is rip from Peter Murphy’s “Cuts You Up”. At the time, I was listening avidly to his album Deep. David Hamby said that the song sounded like techno-cowboy music, that one could ride a horse to its chorus.

Inside
1. Satisfied
Words & Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 03/90
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

I still like this one. Much of the cool stuff in it was muffed in the original recording: strange harmonies, contrapuntal asymmetries, &c... Listen especially to the double violins; they are on thirds in many of their scales. Also on the chorus: It’s a cycle of 3 measures not 4, as is customary in pop tunes.

Satisfied.
Anybody else would be satisfied.
Look at your reflection where the mirror lies.
Satisfied?

2. Never Cry
Words & Music: McBride (1984)
Recording date: 09/89
Recording location: Hamby & McBride’s dorm room
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

One of my old songs. I always liked it. It was the first thing I recorded with my new drum machine. My favorite bit is the descending high strings on the break. The solo was done in one take and was wholly serendipitous. Listening to this song again I realize that repetition of fours isn’t artistically necessary. It’s an admitted limitation of ability, an excuse for lack of imagination.

3. Invincible
Music: David Murray (1989) & Jeffrey McBride (1988)
Words: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 08/89
Recording location: David Murray’s house (guitar) & Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Murray & McBride
Instrumentation: Dave’s homemade guitar, Yahama DX7 (drums added by hand a month later from Alesis HR-16B)

The first song recorded using the DX7, and it isn’t really finished. David never got the guitar part down, and the drum line is meant to play throughout the song. I must confess: We were stoned out of our minds while we recorded Dave’s guitar part. I had never had a bong hit in my life and I grossly underestimated my intake of MJ. Anyway. This song’s style set the tone for the rest of my keyboard work in this collection of songs. It also gave me the idea to call these tunes Baroquen Record, witness the terraced dynamics, distinct sectional arrangement, faux-Baroque instrumentation, &c...

Maybe we are invincible
Or maybe just a means to an end
A sacrifice of flesh
To sate their gods

4. The Words
Music: McBride (1989)
Recording date: 12/89
Recording location: Hamby & McBride’s dorm room
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Yahama DX7, Alesis HR-16B

David Hamby deserves an apology for this song. My recording of it kept him awake all night before a final exam. Sorry. The chorus on this song is disgusting. It is a dance number, a show tune, a talentless display. I do like the break on the song, however. And, there are just a slew of modulations in it that I like.

5. Sleeping Alone
Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 06/90
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

This song was my first with the M1. The chorus is actually a rip off a Cutting Crew song called “Handcuffs on Houdini”. This song does not point to new personally creative territory. It points to conquered lands, mass-marketville. It marks the end of my dabbling with orchestral instrumentation and arrangement. All of this was roundly condemned by my next collaborator, Kevin Mason. He convinced me that we could perform songs of a certain type and receive fame and/or fortune for it. So, I gathered up my tidbits of musical knowledge and resolved to forge down sound...


12/90-12/92: Carpetbagger
There is not much to say. Kevin was deeply into techno. I was firmly entrenched in developing an airy and thoughtful sound. Wispy music. (I’m listening to Depeche Mode’s ULTRA right now. It contains approximately the feel of the music I was aiming for back in ‘91.) We never reached any sort of compromise. We recorded 14 4-track tapes together, 1/2 of my total 4-track tape collection. But, most of it is shit, pure and simple. Mostly, he recorded his stuff, and I recorded mine. Every now and again we could actually bring ourselves to work together. He would scold me for over-arranging and for my addiction to counterpoint. I would respond by saying that he sacrificed substance for flash, songs for sounds. We did record one song worth saving, namely “I’m Full”. This we debuted successfully at a club in Stillwater in November 1991 using Stranger Love Revealed as our band’s name.
Kevin’s collaboration with me ended in 1992 when my music disintegrated as had my lyrics two years earlier. He took five of the 4-track tapes with him. On those tapes are about six additional songs that I would have included in this collection. The last song on this tape is the noise of the passing of the youthful form of my musical incarnation. I’ve continued to write songs since “Vanquished”, but I’ve recorded nothing.


Notes
Riverside
1. Smoke
Music: Kevin Mason (1991) & Jeffrey McBride (1991)
Recording date: 06/91
Recording location: Kevin & Tina’s King’s Row Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Mason & McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1 & Alesis HR-16B

This is only a rough draft. It was recorded by stringing patch cords all through Kevin’s tiny living room. There was no place to walk and barely anywhere to sit down. The room was filled with cheap cigarette smoke, Rainbow brand I believe. We stayed awake all night working. The result isn’t impressive, but I will not forget the camaraderie I experienced in making this stinkbomb.

2. Among Friends
Music: Mason (1991) & McBride (1991)
Recording date: 06/91
Recording location: Kevin & Tina’s Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Mason & McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1 & Alesis HR-16B

Same set-up. An even more forgettable tune.

3. Melancholy
Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 01/91
Recording location: Dave, Brian, & Jeff’s Yorktowne Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

Nothing noteworthy here. I recorded a lot after Kim broke up with me. I drank a lot, too. I barely remember this song. I know I’ve never let anyone hear it.

4. No Pain
Words & Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 12/90
Recording location: Dave, Brian, and Jeff’s place
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1 & Alesis HR-16B

This is probably one of the three best songs I’ve ever recorded (along with “Vanquished” and “This Sphere”).

In a photograph she saw
A life that never was
And though it meant something
She feels no pain

5. I’m Full
Music: Mason (1991) & McBride (1991)
Words: Mason (1991)
Recording date: 10/91
Recording location: Hathcoat’s Stillwater residence & Kevin & Tina’s place
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musicians: Mason (vocals) & McBride (instruments)
Instrumentation: Korg M1 & Alesis HR-16B

Siphon sexy sludgy smack...

Subside
1. M. Abides
Music: McBride (1992)
Recording date: 06/92
Recording location: Ellen Johnson’s house
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1 & Alesis HR-16B

I had been listening to Howard Jones’ last album, In the Running. I like this song, but it will probably be seen as a departure from the style I had been generating. Like “Psycho Chick” this song is another attempt to get back to the piano. I think it is rather more successful.

2. M., Full of Grace
Words & Music: McBride (1990)
Recording date: 02/91
Recording location: Dave, Brian, & Jeff’s Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

Mary, Sweet Mary,
Mary full of grace
I saw the night falling
round your angel face
But for your black whisper
Nothing else remains
A cold and unfamiliar
Voice that hides your name

3. M. Will Listen
Words & Music: McBride (1992)
Recording date: 11/92
Recording location: Rick, Cleve, and Jeff’s Anderhouse Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

Will you help me forget
The words we said and regret?
Don’t understand; be callous.
Maliciously dismiss me
Into hopeless afternoons.

4. This Sphere
Music: McBride (1991)
Recording date: 02/92
Recording location: Nadine & Burley Hathcoat’s Stillwater address
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

The original copy of this song is on one of the tapes that Kevin has. The crappy rendition I’ve recorded here is a second generation copy from another master. The following quotes should provide some insight into the thoughts that motivated this song.

“The world can hear not the sweet notes that move
The Sphere whose light is melody to lovers.”
SHELLEY (“The Triumph of Life”)

“A perceptible and inexpressibly sweet and glowing heat passed through my belly together with an infusion and apprehension of heavenly spiritual sound that belonged to the song of eternal praise and to the sweetness of a melody inaccessible to normal hearing. This sound cannot be known or heard by anybody but the one who receives it, and he has to keep himself pure and separate from the world.”
RICHARD ROLLE OF HAMPOLE The Fire of Love

5. Not my Enemy
Music: McBride (1992)
Recording date: 12/92
Recording location: Rick, Cleve, and Jeff’s Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

Just an experiment, a rough draft. If my music hadn’t been headed down the drain, I’m sure I’d have finished it.

6. Vanquished
Music: McBride (1992)
Recording date: 12/92
Recording location: Rick, Cleve, and Jeff’s Apt.
Recording device: Yahama MT100
Engineer: McBride
Musician: McBride
Instrumentation: Korg M1, Alesis HR-16B

The end of my recording. I was tired of everything I’d been doing. That type of music was no longer relevant to anything of importance. I had to do something new, hear something new. Back to the river....

Epilogue
I am planning to make a second sally with a new collaborator, my brother Justin McBride. He has produced a set of 4-track tapes that truly astound. We think we will record under the name Master John Thursday. And, we are looking to call our first collection of songs The Case of the Haunted Rectory. Anyway, Justin can write really great lyrics, and he has done some fine vocal tracks. We should be able to record together for the next three years. With luck that will be 30 songs at least.

[ryanguest]

I'd like to hear the version of "Good-Bye Song" that you recorded. I remember that song because Dad videotaped some holiday at Grandma Dannar's house, and during the tape, he caught you sitting down at the gameroom table and performing a version of it. I was maybe 10 years old, but I remember watching that tape several times, thinking what a great song it was, and wanting to play it for my friends and say, "That's my cousin!"

[Jeff]

My degausser and demagnetizer arrived today. I was excited to try them out, and I did. But my popping sound remained. So I worked up my courage and took the lid off the damn thing. I tried several things that didn’t work. Then I tried one of two things that did. Both rest on the following assumption: Somehow a charge was building up near the playback head and periodically it would discharge and create the popping sound. This would explain why the popping becomes more frequent over time yet intermittent. So I looked first at the spinning parts. I noticed that a clump of wires had drifted underneath the carriage till they were very close to the motor, perhaps the charge was building up there. I moved them. Second, I noticed that some of the insulating jelly that had been used near the playback head had actually dripped onto it. Now, I don’t know how this jelly is applied, but I thought it was at least possible that someone with a soldering iron had dripped it on there, and if there had been metal on the soldering iron, then the jelly could act as a conductor. I don’t know how reasonable that hypothesis really is. Adam would know if he were still around. Anyway, I scrapped all the jelly off the head. And I’ve played back about 1000 feet of tape with no popping sound at all.

So, my degaussing wand arrived but worked no magic. You can tell that it does something though when you get it close to a piece of metal. The demagnetizing tape is a bit cooler since it has a semi-magical red light. Oh, word to the wise: Do remove your headphones as per the directions when you use that tape. Since I am alone now, I don’t even think of things like, “Am I wearing headphones or is that normal silence?” But I’ll remember next time.

So, after I got the tape machine working, I mixed down one of the old 4 track songs. It was glorious I used a single out for each of the four tracks and recorded them all at once. Now I can automate all my little knob tweaks inside Tracktion. The song I happened to do was just the first one I grabbed, M. Abides. It has no vocal but I think I’ll track one with the RNC on Friday. Tell me what you think!

One week from today Rick and David will arrive at my house, which is sort of strange. The place isn’t very clean. Not that it’s terrible, just not presentable. I’ll get it into shape before you guys get here.

Jeff

Chris, when do you want me to turn on the ftp server, again?

[Tyler]

6/7 = Hot man on man action at Jeff's house.

[jtmx1]

So far tonight I've rescued from disintregating tape about 25 of my old songs. I haven't mixed them or anything, just copied them onto my harddrive. And you know what? Most of them just need to be forgotten. I found a whole bunch of stuff that I'd never mixed down before including a drinking song, if you can imagine. Egad.

[jtmx1]

Good lord, I only have three tapes (out of 30) and 11 songs to go before I get everything on the harddrive. I figure if the deck's not poppin' don't go stoppin'.

Just a few more seconds...

[Jeff]

I mastered Lover's Fantasy tonight. Justin likes this song, but I think that's because he knows that I was 17 when I wrote it and 18 when I recorded it. I am 36, so this was done more than half a lifetime ago. I still remember recording it. I believe it was the first or second song that I ever tracked all by myself. Back then, as today, I wasn't very concerned with sound quality. Mainly, I just wanted to get the idea of the song out of my head so I could work on other things. The memory banks were full, I guess.

www.zshare.net/audio/lovers-fantasy-mp3.html

PS The most adolescent line in this song is this one: "Tonight I drink alone, to memories I have known." Everyone who has ever heard this line has laughed at it. My mom laughed as I recorded it because I was too young to be an alcoholic. Justin laughed at it because the sentiment is so cliché. And Jason laughed because he said it sounded like I said mammaries instead of memories. I wish I had never penned such a terrible line, but the other lyrics aren't so much better. (I do still like the idea behind the lyrics...)

[Jeff]

As always, an image:

[ryan]

That's a very good song, Jeff. It may be a little overwrought and melodramatic, but it's also honest. It sounds like youth: full of daydreams, ache, and love; too short on experience to know what not to say. It sounds like a genuine expression of emotion, like a definite place and time, caught in music and words. Certainly, it's not a song to change the world -- but it evokes a strong sensation of loneliness and a kind of nostalgia. It captures the awkward feeling of adolescence.

If others have laughed at this song, it's only because they were too close to the source-material to see it for what it was. Take a step or two back, and suddenly the picture bears a kind of beauty.

[Guest Justin]

Wow. Haven't heard this song since I moved back to P-Town a mere 6 years ago (hard to believe), even though I listened to it quite a bit way back in the day, and moreso again after it was remastered for the first time. I still think it's a great song, probably my favorite of your songs, Jeff. I don't say that because this song is objectively any better than the really awesome stuff I know you're capable of now and have demonstrated throughout your musical journey, but rather because I know it came from a real place and time, one I suspect we can all relate to on some level, and it's set to some pretty damn good music. Sure there are a few strained lines in the text. But you still pull off an interesting lyrical twist at the end. All and all, I'd say it's about as sophisticated a tune as I've ever heard spring from the mind of a teenager, and, well, I just love it.

And since we're talking about honesty, I may as well go ahead and make some admissions here. As young as the author of this tale of woe sounds, I have to admit that he was much more worldly than I was at the same age. Not only could I not modulate back then (still can't), I never drank alone, I couldn't play the piano or write decent music or lyrics, and, at least to my knowledge, no girls had ever seen my dinky. So I know that I simply couldn't have written this song when I was 17. I was too busy singing about dead sheep, Polish pickles, and white women.

[Jeff]

Well, thanks guys. I never figured this song among my best. Even when I recorded it, I thought that it was appropriate fodder for honing my live recordings skills, a warmup before working on Worldful of Dreams and Good-bye Song (which I never got around to re-recording). But I agree that this recording turned out better than either of those.

Yeah, the modulations have always been my favorite part of the music.

I will keep posting this ancient stuff, even if it's all downhill from here... If I can finish it, I'll post Good-bye Song later on.

[Jeff]

Here is Good-bye Song: www.zshare.net/audio/good-bye-song-mp3.html

This one was recorded live at John T. Hull's house in 1987. We used two mics. One (a Shure SM58, I think) was placed close to the voice and another lesser quality mic was placed near the keyboard amplification. The capture was done without dolby onto a normal (but good quality) component tape deck. The tape speed was normal. Further, John T., I am pretty sure, kept the real master of our recording session. The one I have was dubbed from it. Add to this mess the fact that the tape is now 19 years old, and you have the recipe for unkillable omnipresent hiss.

Still, I could live with all that if only I had been able to play the song on a real piano. It sounds so much better that way! But there was no piano in the house, so I used my Casio for the bass (left hand) and a little keyboard I borrowed from my Uncle Terry for the right hand. The latter had tiny keys which were very difficult to play, especially since the Casio had normal sized ones. (And I happened to be singing!)

About a year after the recording, I went back and added a couple of tracks with my Siel DK70. These tracks are mainly there to provide a fuller sound and a tiny bit of counterpoint.



PS I have a persistent but uninteresting memory associated with this song. I used to carry around my lyrics (and poems) folded up in my pants pocket. The week I wrote these lyrics, which was sometime in the fall of 1986, I ate lunch in the cafeteria with Rick. We almost never ate lunch over there. It was sort of uncool to eat with the kiddies. Anyway, as we were going through the lunch line I had the lyrics out and I showed them to Rick. He said they were pretty good. And while he was reading I noticed that he had a pretty heavy beard growing. I asked him why he didn't shave it off his neck at least. And he said, "Because it itches so damn much." That's it. That's the memory.

[Jeff]

"Goodbye Francis" by Mark Bryan:

[Jeff]

Here is another one: www.zshare.net/audio/afflicted-march-mp3.html

This is Afflicted March. I wrote this song during the fall of 1988, my first semester in college. It was one of the first things I recorded on my Yamaha MT-100 4-track, a machine that I still dearly love.

Not much to say about this one except that if I had had real strings it would be better. I think the orchestration still makes sense. Too bad the Siel has such crappy sounds.

[Jeff]

An Afflicted Image:

[Jeff]

Okay here is an untitled rarity from 1990: www.zshare.net/audio/shatner-mp3.html

I don't think anyone on earth has heard this but me. The source tape was lost or destroyed, probably the latter; so this is a mix from a mix tape I made for myself. I do that periodically to decide what to shitcan. This song got the axe. And I must have really hated it because I think I destroyed the master.

When I heard it again, I didn't think it was so very bad. Now, I have some lyrics for it, and those are pretty stupid. They're probably the reason I destroyed the master.

The song has no name, so I am going to call it Shatner, mainly because i found an image that made me laugh. It's sort of relevant to the whole concept of rarities--though Justin's are much better than mine:

[Jeff]

Here is the last one for a while: www.zshare.net/audio/missopportunity-mp3-7mz.html

Miss Opportunity. Egad. I was 19 when I wrote it, almost 20, and it took until this song for me to realize that my lyrics were for shit. I didn't track another lyric until 2002 or so. I do still like the organ solo.

The lyrics just suck so hard. There is nothing else to say. And even now that I know I can write better lyrics, they still aren't so much better. It just sucks to realize that you are a middling talent. Oh well.

The Image:

[Jeff]

Justin’s rarities are useful. Mine aren’t. But I have a hatful of them. Here is another one I don’t think anyone on earth has ever heard. This shitty abandoned song I like to call “Trudging Song”: www.zshare.net/audio/trudging-song-mp3.html

Here’s the story: As most of you know, I survived college on 10 meals, $5, and a box of Little Debbie’s Snack Cakes per week. As you might imagine, I had lots of down time. Generally I would play on my keyboards and, every now and then, record something on my precious and expensive cassette tapes. I wrote this song at OSU one night during the second or third week of the Fall 1989 semester before I got my drum machine. After I got the HR-16B, I added the drum line manually by hitting the keys at the right moment. That’s why they’re a little off.

But why, Jeff, why, did you write this dog loaf? Well, my DX7 has a log drum sound on it. The first time I heard it, I thought to myself, “When would anyone ever use that?” I think the song came about as a kind of challenge to myself to use it. As for why I went for a reggae song, I am not sure. It just felt right for this song.

After I finished it I thought that it might work okay as video game music. I was thinking of a kind of laid back Zelda game where the overland journey music was less heroic.

An Image: