Twenty years to the month after the initial release of Modern Phonography, the CD reissue finally shipped. The set, which also contains the CD debut of my second solo album, Sending Out Signals, contains all of the original tracks from both LPs, as well as a number of selected bonus tracks. These include original and early demo versions of a number of the songs on both albums, unreleased demos, studio and live tracks, with some featuring The Patron Saints and Garrison. The package contains all of the original artwork for both albums, and all of the cuts were digitally transferred directly from the original master tapes, so at last, everything finally sounds the way it was supposed to without any vinyl-induced hiss, pops or clicks.
[Note: If, for some reason, the individual embedded MP3 player controls below each song don't appear or work correctly in your particular browser, you can still click on any song title to hear a soundbite with the QuickTime player.]
This was one of the first songs I had written since 1972,and was, I believe, the first track that Joe and I recorded specifically for Phonography. I recently found the original bottom track take that we used for the final version with just me on 12-string and Joe on drums. To my surprise and everlasting amusement, he was humming the song through the entire take! The ending is a sort of musical tribute to my favorite long fades; The Beatles' Hey Jude comes to mind, as well as All You Need Is Love. Check out Procol Harum's Pilgrim's Progress off of their Salty Dog album, or Steeleye Span's Saucy Sailor.
Joe Ivins: drums
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, tambourine, vocals
This song, originally slated for inclusion on the never-to-be-released Garrison LP, was basically a belated "thank you" to Lynn Latimer (and her family, actually) for her friendship and support during the Patron Saints' recording stint at her house. She was going to school in Rhode Island at the time, hence the oh-so-clever "road" reference in the song's title. I'm not sure if she ever ended up hearing it. The organ solo was originally arranged by John Doerschuk on an earlier version we had recorded; I liked it so much that I forced Chris to learn it verbatim, which, trooper that he was, he did. My brother Tom had played the recorder part on every previous version of the song, and did so again here. And splendidly, too.
Chris Suchmann: organ
Tom Bergman: recorder, tambourine
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, vocals
Another track of mine that was to be included on the aborted Garrison album. I was really big on the Allman Brothers at that time, hence the cutesy title. The bottom tracks (guitar, bass and drums) were recorded in our Garrison "Hot Rock" studio and the rest of the track was done at my "Landhaus" studio after the band officially broke up. Joe's siblings, Bill and Sue, both contributed to the clapping.
Joe Ivins: drums, tambourine, clapping
Dan Brown: bass, harmony vocals
Eric Bergman: guitars, vocals, clapping
Written for a girl whose middle name happened to be "Penny." Love those hidden references! A while later, Peter Frampton released his own song with the same title, but mine came first. So there. Another chestnut from the waning Patron Saint years, lovingly resurrected for Phonography. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, vocals
I wrote this tune based around the title, which I had heard used in some Western movie I was watching late one night. As I remember, it was in reference to the physical attributes of a young, nubile saloon girl. My take on it was apparently a little darker. The "roundabout" inclusion was a Yes reference and the "wear white at night" line was a tribute to Mick Jagger's little soliloquy at the end of Something Happened To Me Yesterday off of the Stone's 1966 classic Between The Buttons album. The "harpsichord" effect was created by playing an electric 12-string guitar along with the master tape at half-speed, and then playing the tape back at normal speed. The same trick was used on Wires Of Babylon off the Sending Out Signals album. Joe Ivins: drums
P. Lynn Radok: harmony vocals
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, percussion, vocals
I always get a chuckle out of relating the history of Monkey. It's such a vitriolic song that everyone assumes that it was written about a former girlfriend, and everyone is certain they know which one! Well, the actual story is, under the circumstances, far more bizarre. I wrote it right about the time that Garrison (Phase I) was dissolving, and emotions were, to say the least, high. The truth is, it was directed at my long-time drumming cohort, Joe Ivins. The irony, of course, is that Joe and I eventually buried the hatchet, and he ended up drumming on the song! Not only did he love the song, he even thought the lyrics were fairly accurate. You can't make this stuff up, folks. The maracas used during the break and at the end were definitely influenced by Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way, which was everywhere on the radio at that time, with a little of the Stones' Jumping Jack Flash thrown in as well. Joe Ivins: drums
Tom Bergman: maracas
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, tambourine, vocals
Sometime in 1972, a bunch of us went to a drive-in movie (anybody remember those?) and saw a double feature. The first flick was a semi-documentary called The Hellstrom Chronicles, a sort of insects-are-taking-over-the-earth doomsday creepy thing. In it, the life, so to speak, of the mayfly was explored; how it lives it's entire existence in a day, and then dies. In a similar vein, magnolia trees display their gorgeous blossoms for about three days or so, and then shed them completely until the next year. Food for thought, or song, as the case may be. The actual magnolia that the song was written about appears here. It's still standing. Eric Bergman: guitars, percussion, vocal
Hmmm. Well, let's just say that this song was about an unsanctioned relationship and leave it at that, shall we? Plenty of hints, puns and names in the lyrics for the Sherlock Holmes fans out there. Happy hunting! The synthesizer part on this song was added when I saw that Chris Suchmann had left his Moog at my house after a Garrison practice. After some fiddling, I finally got it to do what I wanted it to. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, Mini-Moog® synthesizer, percussion, vocals
Another refugee from the never-released Garrison album; this cut, however, made it to the B-side of Garrison's single. The title is a reference to the fact that my maternal grandmother, Nina, was brought up in British Jamaica, giving me a form of Jamaican reggae heritage, albeit of the "northern-white" variety. At the end of the song (the single bite has this part), you can hear me saying "Get up and dance." This line was, in fact, addressed to P. Lynn Radok's dog, Sam, who was peacefully sleeping on the rug right below us as we were recording the vocal track. Sam didn't budge. Joe Ivins: drums, percussion
Dan Brown: bass, percussion
P. Lynn Radok: harmony vocals
Eric Bergman: guitars, percussion, vocals
The long fade that just won't go away. Joe Ivins: drums;
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, tambourine, vocals
All of the cuts included as bonus tracks on the CD reissue of Modern Phonography are either original/early/live demos of tunes that appear on the original LP or songs that were considered for inclusion at one point. It's a little like "listening" to baby pictures, but collectors always ask for this stuff! I engineered all of these cuts (in the exact same fashion that I had done on Fohhoh Bohob) with the exception of One For The Road and Man Without A Country (live), which were handled by the ever-faithful Don Kratzke.
This is one of the last things that the Patron Saints ever recorded as a group. It was done in our "Bunker" studio in June of 1973; you can hear that the LP version sticks pretty close to this one. Kirk Foster was out in Indiana at this point; otherwise, I'm certain that he would have played the bass part. John Doerschuk: keyboards
Tom Bergman: recorder
Joe Ivins: tambourine
Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, vocals
Recorded in November of 1972; skeletal, but still pretty close to the final LP version. You can finally hear the "sound of one hand clapping," so to speak. I had envisioned a bunch of hand clapping, but I didn't have enough tracks to work with, so I settled for one lame set of hands...mine. By the time the LP rolled around, I had plenty of clappers.
Pretty darn close to the LP version. I just wanted to record a version on better equipment; otherwise, I probably would have used this one. I made a conscious point of trying to emulate the sound of this original take which was done in December of 1972. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, vocals
My main memory of this August, 1972 demo was the one-and-only use of my brand new gold-top Gibson Les Paul guitar with mini-humbucker pickups to write and record it. It was not a good year for Gibson products; this one rattled, buzzed and wouldn't stay in tune. I sold it as soon as I finished recording this;. I've been primarily a Fender man ever since. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, percussion, vocals
Another one that's pretty close to the LP rendition, the main difference being that this version uses an open-E tuning, whereas the album version was dropped down to an open-D tuning. Much easier to sing down there! The percussive stick sound (on this and the LP cut) was made by hitting a drumstick against the open drawer of an old oak dresser; the dents are still there. Recorded in February of 1973. Eric Bergman: guitars, percussion, vocals
The acoustic version of a tune which was a staple of Garrison's live/studio performances. Now that I listen to it, this April, 1972 recording has some fairly heavy Moody Blues leanings, borrowing from Question in particular. You can check out the "orchestrated" Garrison version from our 2-CD Garrison Anthology here. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, percussion, vocals
An acoustic reworking of a song that the Patron Saints recorded during the Latimer Sessions and used to perform live. This version was put to tape in April of 1973. My brother, Tom, was often present while I recorded demos, sometimes even singing harmony on them. Even though it's been over a quarter of a century since then, I'm pretty sure that all of the voices on this take are mine, but who the hell knows? It's that Gibb/Wilson brothers gene-driven phenonenom. Eric Bergman: guitars, bass, percussion, vocals
The CD finishes off with the one-and-only live recording of Man Without A Country ever played by Garrison. We actually did one acoustic version, but this one is full-featured, as it were. Contrary to the date given on the double CD reissue which states that this cut is from November of 1977 (impossible, since the album wasn't even completed then! I must have inadvertently written down the date from the wrong tape box. They were all over the place during the track selection phase. Ooops.), it was actually recorded on June 3, 1978 during our Eric Bergman and Garrison "let's-promote-this-sucker" period. The fidelity isn't stellar, and the performance is a bit rough around the edges, but it definitely captures our live energy. In the accompanying audio bite, the first voice you here singing is Joe's, then Dan's, then all of ours together. Joe Ivins: drums, vocals
Chris Suchmann: piano, vocals
Dan Brown: bass, vocals
Eric Bergman: electric 12-string guitar, lead vocal
A number of Modern Phonography owners have told me that their copies came without the original lyric sheets. I guess that's because I pressed 500 albums, printed 500 covers and inserts, but I only had 300 lyric sheets printed! Too expensive, as I remember. Nice planning. Anyway, for those of you who really wanted to see what they looked like full-size, I've made an Adobe Acrobat PDF (284 K), available by clicking here. If you don't have the free Acrobat plug-in, you can get that here.
Sometime in 1972, a bunch of us went to a drive-in movie (anybody remember those?) and saw a double feature. The first flick was a semi-documentary called The Hellstrom Chronicles, a sort of insects-are-taking-over-the-earth doomsday creepy thing. In it, the life, so to speak, of the mayfly was explored; how it lives it's entire existence in a day, and then dies. In a similar vein, magnolia trees display their gorgeous blossoms for about three days or so, and then shed them completely until the next year. Food for thought, or song, as the case may be. The actual magnolia that the song was written about appears here. It's still standing.