Later that year, I moved to Goleta (where I recorded the Goleta Daze album). I moved back south, and logistics of getting everyone together to do the album was just a nightmare. So, Humboldt Rick and I did most of the album over the course of about 8 weekends.

During the mixdown, I used a Miniverb (half-rack) reverb unit, and I use the Yamaha RX-50 multi-effects unit for phase, flange and chorus.

The first three songs were mixed down to a Metal cassette tape. NEVER BUY OR USE METAL TAPES!!!! I thought they were good--they were expensive. All of the songs sound like they are being played under the ocean. The sound is muddy, and there are "waves" of EQ changes. I have 15 year old TDK 'D' tapes that sound better than the metal tapes. So, I was unable to include those first three songs on the album.

Sgt. Gershwin's Lonely Hearts Club Band

This song and the reprise were the first songs recorded during phase II of the project. The vocals and guitar are "live", and the rest of the music was recorded using my new i386 PC and my new Roland U-110 sound unit. My surf and Cure influences can be heard clearly on the guitar parts. The main vocal was recorded alone, then I invited Humboldts Mark and Rick to come over to help with the backing vocals.

I Am the Walrus

Humboldt Rick actually released a version of this on one of his albums. I'm never satisfied to leave things as they are, so I asked him to bring over is 4-track, and I dubbed his master onto my 8-track. While listening to his song in my car, I would always sing along with an additional harmonly, so I added that backing vocal and a 'radio' track consisting of Abbott & Costello's Who's On First routine.

She Said, She Said

This might be my favorite song on the album. I was just starting to get back into acoustic guitar, so I played acoustic guitar on this one. The sitar sound is from my U-110 sound unit with the 'Ethnic' card.

Rick did the main vocals on this track. I told him to do a quick run-through to get the queues down, and I recorded that (without telling him :-). He then did a 'real' take. I used both of those vocals.

As Rick will tell you, I'm really hard to work with some times. Especially when recording his vocals on this. During the chorus (When I was a boy, everything was right.), I change the timing from the original version of the song as The Beatles did it. I just couldn't get him to come in on time, so through the clever use of reverb, you never notice that he never says the first syllable of the word everything.

Cold Turkey

This was originally released on my The Point Is Taken cassette, which later turned into the Goleta Days album. On the original mix, I decided that I used too much reverb. (The reverb unit was my new "toy", so I used it a lot.) On this mix, there is no reverb. Various instruments and vocals are sent through the RX-50's phase patch.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

One weekend at Thurin Studios, I was figuring out the chord sequence for this song, and playing with some of the patches on the U-110 unit. Rich came in and started crooning the song, and I sang along with him. I said "we must record this!". So, I did the basic vibraphone track, and he sang. Even though I sometimes find it difficult to tell his voice from mine on a track, Rich still has better control over his voice, so I taught him my arranged harmonies, and he sang all four of the vocal tracks.

I later added the bass (via keyboard) and shaker track. Unfortunately I didn't record a count-in at the beginning of the tape, so only the vibraphone starts on the first note.

I recorded the inner and outer grooves of one of my really old 10" Romanian records to get the vinyl noise. I then mixed the song in mono, and piped it through a mid-pass EQ to get that old radio sound. Rich's voice is very full and impressive, so I may release a "rarities" version of this track in stereo some time.

Get Back

I hate this version. I absolutely hate it. The only reason this song is on the album is because Rick asked to have it on the album.

The song is actually over 7 minutes long, and has the lyrics from both The Beatles' Get Back and The Rutles' Get Up And Go. Rick's guitar playing is pretty wicked, though. He played two guitar tracks, and I punched them in and out to create the "lead" guitar sections (as usual, I can never let Rick's work go unscathed).

She's A Woman

Rick came over and said "I've learned the chords to She's A Woman." I said "Have you ever played a banjo before?" Rick said "No." So, I handed him the banjo, he figured out the chords on the banjo, and he did it that way.

I played the drum machine, and sang along a bit so he could have queues. I ended up putting that vocal way in the background of the final mix.

Also, while putting down the bass line, I accidentally mixed the drum track in with the bass track. So there will never be a bass solo in this song. This song features my first and only acoustic guitar slide lead.

Since it had that country feel, I added a hick accent to one of the vocal tracks. Rich put his really nice backing vocals on this song.

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

Nothing interesting about this song. I think it's got the best White Album feel of all the songs. I really like the horn sound from the U-110 unit.

Oh! Darling

Brad Peterson (a friend from high-school; we were in a surf band and a progressive band together) came over to my place from far away with his guitar in hand ready to record a song. I had already done the music, so I asked him to do vocals. I did the my standard "sing the vocals once so I can get levels and I'll record it without telling you" trick. I had him sing it again, and like with Rick's vocals, I used both vocals on the final mixdown.

Rick and I couldn't help laying down a couple of James Brown backing 'oooh-aaaaah' vocals in the background. Especially after hearing Brad's powerful vocals.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Rick had purchased a Roland General MIDI sound unit (the same chip that's on the GS-1 PC card) that has excellent sounds. I set up a loop with my Cakewalk software and had it going for at least 12 hours that day. I'm glad my roommate was out for most of the day! I played the melody on the keyboard using as many different sounds as I could get. I finally settled on the few that ended up being in the mix.

Again, I had Rick over to do vocals, and I did the background vocals. There's another background vocal track that was not mixed in, which is a very low harmony. I was unsure whether or not to mix it in, and I finally didn't.

Blackbird

This is simply Rich. The cricket sounds come from one of the Environment CD's.

Blue Jay Way

This is the first song I did that was strictly MIDI. After listening to the pizacatto string sounds, I couldn't help adding the little Jack-In-The-Box fast-food riff at the end.

I'm Only Sleeping

This is my attempt at jazz. Again, Rich does some wonderful vocals.

I've Got A Feeling

Rick hates this song. Especially the original version. Rick is not on this song.

I started out trying to MIDI-ize an acoustic guitar line for this. The next day, when I played it back, the sound unit had different instruments selected. I kind of liked it, so I recorded it that way. Rich has a cold while singing on this one. We both do our best Dylan/Petty immitations on this one.

Come Together

I was in the car listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers doing Give It Away Now, and I just started singing the words to Come Together. So, I used my sound card's great bass and drums to record the backing track. I turned on the recorder and started doodling on the guitar, and I kind of liked that, so I used that guitar track.

Sgt. Gershwin's (Reprise)

This was done the same day we did the vocals for the title song. The only live instruments are the bass and guitar, played by Rick. The audience track is taken from a VH-1 concert by Paul McCartney.

The End

Mark is a bit peeved at this one. I set up a basic drum beat and backing music, and I made Rick, Mark, and Rich each play lead guitar for 20 minutes or so (the length of one cassette tape. The idea is that I would grab all of the best bits and mix them together. That became a very daunting task, so I just ended up using the first few minutes. During the mixdown, I am switching between each of the guitar tracks to grab the best bits of any measure.

TNK '84

This was originally released on the 1984 cassette Before And After Gershwin. It was probably recorded in '81 or maybe '82. On this song, I'm using the Mattell synsonic drums to trigger my analog synthesizer, which is set up to create a bell sound. I'm also pumping the guitar through an Electro Harmonix distortion box, then through the pre-amp of the synthesizer to get lots of distortion and lots of sustain. I think the guitar may also be going through Mark's DOD Multi-effect unit. I had the drum machine going for hours while I was figuring out the riffs.