Awakening.
(SST 230) - 8/89
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AWAKENING - where the songs came from
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During the tumultuous 2 week recording sessions for "Confession",
Bill Stevenson kept rhapsodizing on how cool it would be to really
have the time to do it right, to double vocals all over the place
and produce a Last masterpiece.
We decided that the follow-up album would be just that.
"Awakening" was recorded in two brief spurts - first
in the fall of '88, after which All had to go tour, and then
in Spring of '89. We spent our time, did lots of doubled vocals
as Bill had wanted, and in the process lost all sense of accounting
for studio time. SST thought we (Bill) had it under control,
and Bill and I each assumed the other was keeping track.
The result was that we ended up inadvertently creating the most
expensive album SST ever put out. It sold less than "Confession",
and is largely responsible for the severe label cutbacks that
destroyed our 1989 tour.
It's also, arguably, not as good as what we'd been able to pull
off in two weeks with "Confession" a year before.
There's a lesson in there, somewhere.
I was, however, able to get Vitus Mataré and David
Nolte back to lay down some tracks. It improved the album, was
fun to do, and effectively gave the lie to any complaints that
this lineup of The Last was less than authentic.
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. . . . . (written May 1985)
I'd just gotten back into songwriting in '84 & '85, brothers
Mike & Dave had returned (too late) to save the band, and
this thing came out of that era. Musically, it's an obvious Doors
homage. Lyrically, it is officially about nothing - I was happily
married at the time, and hence had to confine myself to writing
"made up" songs. In retrospect, it may have been a
bit of prescience, since said marriage did indeed end nine years
later (though the ex & I remain friends). Not sure . . .
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. . . . . (written August 1984)
Yet another Work song. My reasons for returning again and again
to this theme are, I assume, obvious. I have been (and continue
to be) stuck in the 9-5 rut for most of my life, slaving away
for a buck or two and sacrificing valuable time which would be
far better used writing songs, or at least sleeping in.
You write what you feel (ideally), so - another stupid diatribe
against the millstone workaday torture that almost all of us
endure.
Interesting post release note: some time later (probably early
'92) I got a phone message from someone who said he was with
SubPop. He left a number, mentioning a possibly financially beneficial
proposition, and ended by singing "Assembly Line".
Unfortunately, the number was bogus, and a call to SubPop
revealed no such person.
I wonder to this day who the hell it was, and if this was
missed opportunity #876 . . .
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. . . . . (written Feb 26, 1989)
Another song for H. The chorus came out of the same '85 song
whose verses ended up in "Going Gone". The verses were
musically concocted immediately after the 1987 Mardi Gras party
that made me realize I needed to become a musician again.
Lyrically, the song had to wait till I discovered H, which was
four or five months down the road at that point.
The bulk of the lyrics had been written by mid-88 - this was
the final H song, the grim realization that it was all for naught
and that only shadows lay ahead for each of us. We had indeed
already done the backing tracks in fall '88, but the lyrics were
still not quite there.
Then I went up to Arrowhead with some friends, and something
about the climate triggered something, and I woke up one morning
and feverishly wrote the lyrics that ended up in the song. I
like them.
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Now outside night is falling,
see them dancing in the rain,
They dream the only dream that's left - to die before they go
insane -
It's all pre-ordained - and they call to You . . . |
Yeah, I like them a lot.
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SOMEBODY NEW
Listen to a clip of this song: (Real Audio)
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. . . . . (probably written mid
1988)
A Mike song. As soon as I heard his demo I wished Vitus were
still with us, as I immediately heard flutes.
Well, we were able to get Vitus to come in and do that flute
thing. I'd written a part, he came in, read it, and just did
it (improvising a bit, of course).
So, Mike, care to elaborate?
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Mike Nolte says:
This was also written on accordion. I was living with a couple
of girls in Playa Del Rey at the time. The song was written about
falling in love and all the usual horrors that come in the same
package. And not being able to express it for fear of rejection.
And knowing the whole time my object of affection wasn't in love
with me, not in the slightest. And knowing the whole time I wouldn't
be able to handle it, hence the words "you'll never be ready
to face the lonely nights awaiting you..." I asked Vitus
to play flute on it and was floored with the outcome (thank
you Vitus!)... Joe wrote his parts out for him (thank you Joe!)
and I think it made the song! This will always be one of my favorites
that I wrote (my favorite Last songs being Joe's songs,
of course).
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GARDEN GROW
Listen to a clip of this song: (Real Audio)
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. . . . . (written January 1988)
Another H song. (I wonder if she's online? I wonder if she ever
heard this album? I wonder if she's even alive . . .)
Having been spurned for the millionth time, I asked her "What
the hell do I have to do?" (I should point out that this
was entirely a psychodrama, as nothing actual ever resulted -
as much as anything, I believe, this little scenario was an attempt
to revive some genuine feeling, some fleeting residual reincarnation
of the Old Joe. By '95 Old Joe had returned with a vengeance,
is writing these words now, and is about to emerge from self-inflicted
retirement.)
She answered, "I dunno, maybe if you wrote another song
. . ."
Hence this one.
It started as a ballad, and one of the only songs to originate
on piano rather than guitar.
And yes, that's me playing piano on the record - "Leo",
as well as being my father's name, is my real first name.
And if you think the crazy lead guitar in the final verse is
in any way an homage to "Volunteers" era Jefferson
Airplane, you would be absolutely right.
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. . . . . (probably written mid
1988)
A Mike song again. I trust he will tell us what it means at some
point.
We had a lot of fun recording this, though during said recording
we were having a discussion on a matter of tuning, and at one
point the hired engineer we were using turned to me and asked
"Do you have perfect pitch?"
Now, I can get pretty damn close to a D above middle C without
thinking about it, and I'd indeed started to answer him seriously
when I finally realized he'd only asked that to make a disparaging
point.
He quickly became our ex-engineer.
I wonder if Bill Stevenson blames me for the subsequent cost
overruns . . .
Anyway, lots of fun, and the instrumental bit I contributed is
indeed an homage to "Carry On" by Badfinger.
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Mike Nolte says:
This was written from what I perceived to be my brother Joe's
point of view of me and how I was "wasting my life away"
(I never told him this). This was what I thought I would say
to me if I was him... "I got one thing to say to you . .
. you're a fool".
My answer to Joe's classic song "The Other Side"
(which he wrote from what he believed to be me and my brother
Dave's perspective about him... "For years you've been running
my life as if I were a slave controlled by your word").
Your Wings never turned out to be one of my favorites, though
and it was always hell on our substitute drummer, Tim Edmunson
. . . we played it live every night on our 4 week tour of the
USA! (his dislike at playing this song live might have had something
to do with the fact that my keyboard started out the rhythm of
the song, and Tim had to come in and match the beat I set up
. . . and you know me . . . always chugging down a six pack before
we go on . . . not very conducive to keeping time rhythmically).
This song was also composed on the accordion!
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. . . . . (probably written mid
1988)
How did Mike get so many songs on this album?
This was his attempt to write a fast song - he's been plagued
throughout his life by a keen knack for ballads, and a decided
inability to write uptempo numbers.
Not one of my all time favorite Mike songs, but a whole lot of
people cite this as one of the best songs on the album.
So what do I know . . .
Feel free to elaborate, Mike!
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Mike Nolte says:
Also written on accordion, this song is really just about
being frustrated with life in general . . . it was my way of
dealing with the horrors of living in an empty materialistic
world filled with empty materialistic idiots! Hah! A fun song
to record!
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. . . . . (written Spring 1985)
Same time period as "No Love", and indeed this and
"No Love" were performed by the Nolte Brothers, which
is what we called The Last in early fall '85 after Vitus had
bailed and Hunter had stopped returning my calls. Someday David
will forgive me for making him sing . . .
Although yet another "fake" song, the material here
is non-specific enough to lend itself to such an approach, and
it sorta worked.
Musically I was fairly pleased with this one.
I know, I'm not giving a lot of fresh insight on this - but
what do you expect? As late as 1985, I was still writing fake
songs, songs manipulated into existence, songs not impelled by
some personal emotional crisis.
There's simply not that much to say about a song such as this.
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. . . . . (written December 1987)
Yet another song for H. This was written at the same time I concocted
"Going Gone" and "Dancing". This was the
angry, Joe-pretends-to-give-up-but-is-obviously-just-trying-to-get-a-reaction
song.
I was listening to a lot of Motorhead at the time.
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AWAKENING
Listen to a clip of this song: (MP3)
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. . . . . (written Mar 5, 1989)
Ah yeah - this turned out pretty good. As you can see by the
date, I basically recorded this right after it was written. All
them weird electric guitars were created and played by brother
David. That sliding descending note thing is him actually detuning
his guitar!
I always put this first on tapes I give to people who've never
heard our music.
This was written for K1. It worked.
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Well, the idea of covering this seemed good at the time. We'd
done killer versions at various practices, but it didn't quite
come together for this recording. Still my favorite Beatle song,
and by extension one of my favorite all time songs.
Had to try - and in truth a recent re-listen convinces me it's
not quite as bad as I'd believed.
Still, this was crammed in to a last minute chaotic flurry of
activity wherein we were struggling to finish the album before
the upcoming All tour, and - well, it could have been a lot better.
Oh well.
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BABY IT'S YOU
Listen to a clip of this song: (Real Audio)
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Same holds true for this one (if you're reading this description
as part of the SST Acoustic comp, refer to "She Loves You"
on the "Awakening" album - otherwise you have no idea
what I'm talking about).
A good idea, results again far less than they could have been.
Again, oh well - it's ancient history.
Great song, anyway. Don't say nothin' bad about my Bacharach.
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