Well, it's been a hecka-busy week. Grant proposal, fussy baby, lawn care, fussy baby, and so on. By Sunday night it's become clear that I'm not going to write anything new for this post. So, INTO THE ARCHIVES!
This recording is pretty old. About 1991, I'd have to guess. At the time, I was playing in a very short-lived blues-rock outfit called "40 oz. Soul." I was the bass player, George was the guitarist. The singer, who really really wanted to be Jim Morrison, was Ryan, and there was a drummer whose name I've unfortunately forgotten. He was into Mr. Big. Ah, youth.
We cut a demo tape using my 4-track Portastudio and Dan Biemer's effects units/mixer. This song, "Crystal River Fantasy," was on it, in the straight-ahead smalltown blues-rock style that we intended to become famous for (maybe I'll post that rendition on some other day).
One of the other things we apparently intended to become famous for was band members not showing up to rehearsal or writing/recording sessions (did I mention this group was short-lived?). On one weekend afternoon, when we were supposed to be recording, George and I found ourselves in my Mom's basement without a drummer or lead singer. Marg was visiting from Chicago for the weekend, though, so for fun we did a little (pretty loose in the bass and guitar, but that's what spontaneous is all about) mostly-acoustic version of this tune with her singing.
Oddly, this recording helped bring on the band's demise, which occurred not long after that weekend (announced by Ryan on stage at an open mic we were playing, with no advance warning!). I later heard the story from George, when he and I were both playing in better bands that shared a festival bill at the American Legion post. Apparently, Ryan heard this rendition by accident at George's place, and had some weird kind of ego-jealousy reaction that caused him to dissolve the band at the next highly-public opportunity. George's interpretation was that Ryan didn't like how our track was way better than the full-band recording. Of course, George could sometimes be a little snarky.
In retrospect, it's crazy how low-fi these Portastudios (4 tracks! on a cassette tape! awesome!) were. Kind of charming, in their own way.
music by 40 oz. Soul, lyrics by Ryan;
guitar, George; vocal, Marg; bass & keys, Mark