Released 2002
This lightning-round style horde of little numbers could be one of the most efficient songwriting sessions in the history of songwriting. The statistics say a lot – 41 songs in just under 15 minutes? One night of recording? Yes, yes, it’s all true.
Alright, it is the All-Stars and no, these aren’t 100% pop nuggets. The initial line on the album was a sort of brash minimalism, something about boiling down songs to their essential, memorable cores. But I’d have to say it doesn’t end up being that simple. Sometimes, like in the case of “Everybody’s Got a Problem,” you could make that case and get away with it. But the real modus operandi here was a strict adherence to a facsist deadline and productivity quota. Were there any theories thrown around about how to construct the nuts of a song and cut away the fat? Not at all. Had anyone in the room ever really even consciously tried to write an honest pop song? No.
Here’s the lineup: Walt, Slippy, Kalamitysax and Schmartzky. The studio (i.e. bedroom) was filled with a drumset, a guitar, keyboards, theremins, floppy tom toms, etc.., The only regulations set on the recordings were loose time limits (10-20 seconds) and a must-rotate after every song. The results are mixed, surprising, and turn new corners with every track. What became obvious, probably after the fact, is that the inability to get comfortable on any instrument or melody keeps every little bit of sound on the album completely spontaneous. Example: the squiggly rhythm on rims and squawked guitar on “Blouq.” You can almost see the pattern drawn out like blueprints in real time as the thing quickly unfolds into a quick collapse, each instrument leading the other down the slippery slope to the tidy finish line.
There are machine gun call and response tactics (“People Move Too Fast,”) mangled echoes of standard rock melodies like the honking apish trumpet line of “Rock’n'Roll Pt. II” in “We Burned All the Copies” and plodding micro-dirges (“Window Shopping”).
Some of the brightest spots, though, are the most inventive, the most surreptitious, are the ones that just happened. Keys locked, psyches mingled, I don’t know. Check the weirdly sensible narrative in “I’ve Been Late All Week and I’m Late Again.” The whole thing moves through three sections almost seamlessly, unrehearsedly, Peter and the Wolf-ishly. And then it’s over. It’s not clear why this works, but there you have it. Check the audio samples for the real deal – for once, you’ll have a clear view of things with just a tiny audio sample, which is on a scale of 1:1.
Vocals, generally overdubbed on the single track remaining on every song (recorded on a pristine Maxell tape in our cherished Tascam 424), are a cherry on top here. Desperately grabbed from books, random magazine pages, trivia cards and REAL LIFE.
“Feel the Bark and Leaves, It Cannot Flower:”
“I Buy Eggs and Juice for Breakfast:”
“Everybody’s Got a Problem:”
TRACK LISTING:
1. The Grass and the Water
2. Black Hood On My Head
3. Blouq
4. Botany Lesson Number Nuthin’
5. The Ultimate In Authenticity and Musical Usefulness
6. We Burned All the Copies
7. Seasons Greetings
8. Pilgrim Freshener
9. People Move Too Fast
10. Church Is Weird to Me
11. Through Grit
12. I’ve Been Late All Week
13. Man’s Gotta Hunt, Bird’s Gotta Fly
14. Puking All Over the Ferry
15. Everybody’s Got a Problem
16. Fell the Bark and Leaves It Cannot Flower
17. Window Shopping
18. Iguana Burger Snack Bar
19. Ivy Day In the Bedroom
20. I Buy Eggs and Juice for Breakfast
21. Lucky Day
22. Two Men Enter Only One Man Leaves
23. Migraine Nightlife
24. I’m Never Sick Doctor
25. Olive Baboon Salmonella
26. Peanut Brittle
27. Willy Wonka II Is Coming
28. Charmless Benefactor
29. Pill Confession
30. Public Restrooms
31. Come and Swab Me
32. Pumpkin Driver
33. Red is the Wiser
34. Oh My God, He’s Got a Knife
35. Rod Sterling Getaway
36. Sounds Like a Swell Life
38. I Can Make a Better Toaster
39. Thought I Heard Her Talking
40. Public Property
41. Stuck in a Cab-Over
