Released January 1998
Pilotwings was a sort of breakthrough step in the career of the All-Stars, like Compositions before it and Supertots later, hinging on a series of real-life events that culminated in a easy outpouring of artistic and musical concepts. Unlike the other recordings, thought, Pilotwings actually employs the use of field recordings spliced in between songs from the actual day’s events. Musically, the group is on a blatantly Dadaist kick here, pirating tunes and beats from a kidnapped PSR-190 while improvising several idiot savant performances in a row about Winter Olympics events, demolition derbies, skiing resorts in the middle of Ohio cornfields, and thoughts on rumors of an ex-classmate cutting off a finger while sledding. On board for this one were Walt, Burt Schmartzky, Donnie Maleriamax and Bobbi Leshmaltfe, with a few fingers on the keyboard and all huddled around a gray Texas Instruments tape recorder like working stiffs in a teleconference meeting hoping to get a word in before the line goes dead or someone spills their Diet Coke on the receiver, screaming, singing and sometimes farting towards the tiny built-in microphone. Entire passages of actual television audio footage pass by for several minutes at a time while the group was likely eating cinnamon sticks and consulting the latest U.S. Cavalry catalog for inspiration, including banter between hosts and bizarre American cable television stars like the workin’ man Dusty Rhodes, later moving into footage of the group ordering from a drive-through at Taco Bell. There are no set-ups or skits involved, just an honest record of one night’s diversions. As time has passed since this album’s original release, different aspects have come to be carry more meaning. The various keyboard programs, for instance, have proven to be remarkably suited for the task of accompanying the more or less scatological content of every song – for many, what began as a random train of thought such as athletes weighing in before competing in the Luge Doubles event ended up a cohesive musical essay on concepts of musical and textual cooperation, spontaneous creation, no-rules improv game theory and genuine look at the interactions of a few relatively insecure young artists with so much to ridicule and so little cassettes to tape over.
“Pilotwings:”
“Butterscotch:”
Track listing:
1. Mad River Mountain
2. Bob
3. Pilotwings
4. Team Luge
5. Demolition Derby
6. Kim Singin’
7. Keyboard Maniac
8. Kentucky
9. Curfews
10. Techno
11. Talker Bell
12. Butterscotch and Friends
