From such little acorns!
Today is a hodgepodge of stuff that is probably only going to be of interest to Hubie, me and maybe Ted! Or...maybe I'm wrong! These are messy little demos.....but definitely evoke good memories! Specifically, memories of winter!
In the second-to-last post, I discussed us all having recorded late-night demos with Ted at one point or another. Today's post contains the Hubie and Ted recordings - with one of Hubie & Mike thrown in for good measure!
Sailing
We begin with probably the first LOOB-related recording of the 1990s....Hubie's demo for "Sailing", recorded January 7, 1990. (Ted probably recorded the last LOOB-related recording of the 80s, a beautiful, transitional version of "Rise" on December 28, 1989. But that's for another post....). It's funny....I almost wasn't sure if this demo existed or if I had just imagined it!! But here's the irrefutable proof!
Bucketful Of Rice (All I Wanted)
Now I have been hunting high and low for the "Bucketful Of Rice" demo forever and last night I hit paydirt. Apparently, Ted had played Hubie a new song of his. When Ted had finished, Hubie told him that he had a new song with the same chords! They combined the two songs and made this joyous, sweet demo. I had to do a fresh mix of this....and wow.....Hubie's lead vocal appears on three of the four tracks so it was definitely a bitch to mix, but I think this approximates what's in my memory as to how it sounded like. (I don't have studio monitors, nor good headphones, so I didn't do any eq on this; at a later date, I will probably do another mix) (better yet, maybe I'll find the original mix one day!).I remember Ted & Hubie playing us this track, proudly! I remember thinking it was charming, but slight, and we didn't do anything with it. Wrong again, Mike! At this point, Frank joined, possibly this very week, and we had lots on our plate. But - as usually was the case - I grew to love this song ardently and the demo! It took two years but I became it's biggest fan and supporter, and I vividly remember suggesting it in rehearsal....to which Hubie and Ted gave an emphatic "Yeah!" in unison, as if to say, "at last!" So much fun to play, sing, and it's just a beautiful song. The lyrics kill me. Not sure how the demo sounds to someone who's not in the loop, and you might be better served by one of the more "together" live renditions, but for me, this is the version. I'm surprised we didn't keep the ending intact - most likely, it was an oversight, not a choice.
She
Now flash back to 1988. I'm completely blowing off the band, I'm living on campus at school and in a bubble world....and Hubie showed up to have a little chat (he went to school right down the road, and lived close by). I remember we took a long walk around the campus, talking about the band, and ironing stuff out. I don't remember what the issues were at the time.....it might have been the 1988 election, for all I know! But after we had patched things up or whatever the problem was, we went back to my dorm room where I had Ted's 12-string and my 4-track. Hubie suggested we write and record a song from scratch. He picked up the guitar, quickly settled on a few chords and the idea was to free associate a lyric without thinking about it. And let me tell you: Hubie enforced that rule! "Don't think about it!" he'd admonish, as I sat there looking at the ceiling, searching for some deep line! So you get all kinds of wacky, nonsensical lyrics (mine often resorting to Robyn Hitchcock territory, yet again)....and a few good ones! "I went to the market and bought a pig....stuck it on the table, shaved it bald with a fig".... now you see that I like!!!! He'd start each line, I'd finish each line, and after we had enough lines, we recorded the whole thing right then and there. We had a great time,. and I was touched when years later Hubie asked me for a copy, telling me he had great memories about that recording, and that he associated it with Christmas. Which I do too! I know Ted loved it at the time, and once in a while, we would quote it or play a quick second of it, ala "Rain" or "Not My Girl". Hubie even suggested we do "She", many times, but the lyrics were a little too nonsensical, even for us!!!
Bambalena (aka Bambaleda)
Now flash forward to November of 1990!
In my last post, I discussed Hubie going off to Europe. Well, this post finds him returning - armed with the seeds of a new song! So for all my caterwauling and bitching and moaning.....his European trip bore major fruit for the band with what became an enduring warhorse in our sets: "Bambalena" (later changed to "Bambaleda", when we discovered it meant something like "dancing")!
Hubie - always fascinated by how indigenous people interact with tourists - noticed musicians in Barcelona playing music that sounded something like this. (at least that's the story he'd tell onstage from time to time!). This song was so much fun to play and - unlike "Gimme Fun", "It's Warm Outside", and "Someone's In My Head" - took little time to work up.
Perhaps we had a bit of naivete regarding our ethno-musical excursions, or perhaps not....but from time to time people would take issue with it. These people need to relax. They need to sit down with me for a music history lesson, I'll straighten them right out.
Until that day comes, see if you can enjoy eight minutes of "Bambaleda"! I mean...."BambaleNa"!
Rocky Point Studio, January 7, 1990
Sailing
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocals
engineered by Ted, I'm not sure if he sings any harmony, or if that's him playing the harmonics
Rocky Point Studio, January 19, 1990
Bucketful Of Rice (All I Wanted)
Ted Schreiber - guitar, vocal, percussion
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Mike's dorm, Lodge A, CW Post, December 1988
She
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocals
Michael Goodman - vocals
Rocky Point Studio, November 1990
Bambalena (aka Bambaleda)
Hubert Poole - guitars, vocals
Ted Schreiber - guitar
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