1. Scab in the Line
I took the riff from an unearthed demo I made in 1999. Everything but the horns were recorded during one session. I had taken the talking at the beginning out for the contest, but in the context of the record I think they help set the scene.

2. Jerry's Fire

A song I did in 2003, actually, but this one's better. One of the guys has this keyboard that is...it's not really a toy, but it's not anything you'd have a problem handing to a kid who might break it. You're not going to make any money with it. When his brother was younger he poured a glass of water into it, and now the string setting sounds awesome. If you don't play for a while the light dims and it stops making noise, and you have to hit it to get it started again. You can hear him hit it right before it comes in.

3. Soon I'll Be Home Again

A lot of fun to play. I wanted three marimbas in there, so we cut three tracks.
Track one: Left marimba, bass drum, shaker, amaretto bottle (played with a quarter)
Track two: Right marimba, childrens' bell toy, organ
Track three: High marimba, vocals

4. Let the Water Run
Uses the same bell toy as the previous track. Doo-whopping.

5. The Athens of Calabria

We thought this one should sound like it was being played at a bar, so we set it up like this:
Track one: Guitar and vocals, with the rest of the band talking and cheering
Track two: Concertina, with more talking and singing the chorus this time
Track three: Just crowd noises. I'm in there this time, and I'm catcalling myself
Track four: Bass and one last recording of me in the crowd

6. War Comes to the Urakami Valley
The track and the one after it pretty well define the nature of these sessions. We had been recording track three of Calabria above, so nobody had their instruments, but we watched the PBS special on the atomic bombings of Japan and decided to record. Well, we had one cymbal (but no sticks) and a huge cardboard box. So I picked three four chords, wrote two or three lines (I'm pretty sure it was just the two) and we made the rest up as we went. Only did a few takes...the first one we knew we wanted the cymbal (hit with a fist) in there, the second had the whistling, and the third I think is the one that's here. By that time I had a few lines I'd babbled from previous takes, but still most of the lyrics are made up on the spot. The goal with this one and the next was to capture the feeling with immediacy rather than to take the time to articulate it, and risk recording it after the initial rush had passed.

7. A Technicolor Yawn
Probably the weirdest thing on here. A real simple idea and just one lyric figured out. Everything else musically and structurally was made up. I'd wanted to try and create something along the lines of Califone, and ended up with something entirely different. The shaker here is a big plastic container of rice, and I can't even tell you what we were hitting for the rest of the percussion.

-=-

8. Ninguna Mierda

Cut this one with just the acoustic guitar, bass, vocals, and tambourine. I thought it was missing something, so we overdubbed the handclaps. Still missing something, so I stayed up late one work night adding concertina and electric guitar. I am really, really happy with the final product.

It's also one of the rare times I wrote all the lyrics before we recorded.

9. Tales of an Unsavory Character

10. Ezekiel Berry

Posted this song once before, but I remastered it and fixed up the audio error near the end.

About Ezekiel.

11. The Arms and Angels of Capeheart Road

12. Where Did We Go Wrong?

This one's a long one...too long for geocities, so it can only be gotten off of my garageband page.

I should know some of these from in the tournament, right?

Right now, yeah. I think the only one that wasn't up in the tourney was Soon I'll Be Home Again. But I'm so damn close to finishing the next set I hope to get them up here soon.

Good! I'm looking forward to that.

: )

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Bump in the hope of some attention.

i liked let the water run and its simpleness. seamed really natural and the guitars sounded nice especially towards the end with a couple of them together and whatever else in the background. probably my favourite thing i've heard of yours.

Thanks! That was probably the most lighthearted moment in the sessions, and certainly the drunkest.

Bump for Ninguna

i love athens... sweet song/recording

Mcdigm,

Scab in the Line, I vote for the talking. The lead vocal seems a bit buried, 'specially at 2:02 to 2:10. Cool tune, loved "spend more on music than prescription drugs."

Nice double guitars on Jerry's Fire, so symmetrical I had a hard time telling if there were two at first. I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on the strings. I definately liked it when they first came in, but as it went on it was a bit much. Tune hits home though, I've been to that party.

Soon I'll Be Home Again reeks of your Mr. Waits influence. All the percussion is mixed/recorded very well. Good song.

Let the Water Run is a poppy little thing. Catchy melody and progression. Cool backing vocals too.

The rest of the links gave me a "Sorry, Unable to process request at this time -- error 999."

Did I exceed your bandwidth limit? I may have, now when I go back to the others, I'm fucked too.

I think it's a server problem.

You can hear them here: http://www.garageband.com/artist/CoryMcMillen

I really appreciate the feedback so far, though. Many dankes.

After The Athens of Calabria opened, I was expecting a really lo-fi recording. The Bass gave the track depth, and when the pipes and layered vocals came in, I was impressed. I loved how it built up like that. Good fucking song. ".. and I have no prayers for goodbye."

War Comes to the Urakami Valley didn't do much for me until the 1:30 mark. From that point on, I really got into it. Once the vocal stopped, I though a little acoustic lead was in order.

I was pleasently surprised by the piano in A Technicolor Yawn, nice touch. I'm a sucker for this kinda song. What's in my left ear at 2:12? How about 2:34? Another really solid tune. This one felt like an album opener to me, Really, it should be track 01.

Good stuff 'digm. Scab is the best you've posted, IMO.

Thanks again SP. Sorry I didn't see this sooner...the noises in Technicolor Yawn are actually my voice, with almost no adjusting aside from overloading the pres and compressing the shit out of it. I experimented with that technique on my first entry in the PJ covers contest, too.

No shit, never woulda guessed. The melody on the one at 2:34 is really cool.

Thanks!

Finally got the rest of this mixed, so all of side two is up now.

Cool production on Tales of an Unsavory Character. The effect on the backing vocal was sweet and the guitar sounds really tight/crisp.

Ezekiel Berry, fuck. I read the story as the song played thru the first time. Fuck. Makes the song that much more. The agression in spots, especially at 2:29, really fits. Sad story, good song.

The guitar interplay during the verses of The Arms and Angels of Capeheart Road is bluesy until it resolves in the major. Really makes the melody go. I liked the droning chords that finished it off.

The percussion on Where Did We Go Wrong has some slick production as well. Liked the guitar swells too. The vocal drop at :28 was a bit of a wart, but I'm not totally against warts. I leave 'em in all the time. Somber way to end the record. I like it.

I'd say that song is full of warts. It's hard to get a take on an eight and a half minute song where nobody forces a reboot. But when you get a song that's that long, I prefer for it to be a little unsteady on its feet.

In fact, scabs and warts aren't all that different from each other, I guess...

I'm really into old blues records, Robert Johnson, Magic Sam, Muddy Waters....

Music without the human condition reminds me of the shit American Idol encourages. What would Simon have said to Dylan, Hendrix or Joplin?

"Something is happening here, but I don't know what it is?"

Thanks, as always, for the feedback.