I was digitizing a tape of old demos of mine, and remembered that on the flip side there had been something of Lawrence's. What a great surprise I got....and now, as tonight is the night he's screening his new movie, "Wendell & The Lemon", at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, at 8:30, I thought it's fitting to keep up this "week of Lawrence" and post this tape.
First you get Lawrence and myself in the Red House studio, where Lawrence lays down "The Horrible Child"....the song. Let me set this up.
Before I met Lawrence, he had made a really great, really short film, "The Horrible Child". You can see it within this video here.
From such tiny acorns!
"The Horrible Child" has since gone through so many incarnations - a play, many productions of that play....a feature film.....I think there was a prose version.....well, now I give you...."The Horrible Child"...the album!!! Actually...The Horrible Child, the album AND the song! The less I tell you, the better it will be. If this isn't "theater of the mind", pray tell me what is.
After "The Horrible Child" - which is a half hour long - that would have been more than enough for a night's work - but instead what follows is a beautiful....suite. I'm not so sure that this ("The Horrible Child" and then everything that follows) is actually two different "sessions" that I comped onto one tape. I think this half of the tape is what was recorded first. Maybe not. Regardless, it's gorgeous, life-affirming, and unlike anything you've ever heard before! The only comparison I can make is to the Hubertsongs cassette, though that's a stretch. They are nothing alike except that, again, the muse is unfettered and with the soft, disembodied voices, the effect is that you feel as if you are actually inside Lawrence's head....not a bad place to be!
For a while the listener is treated to something really special: clusters of trumpets, a Lawrence brass band as he(they) runs through such things as "Hey Jude", "My Funny Valentine" and the jingle for Bumble Bee tuna. Undiluted Lawrence horn. Beautiful player. He comes full circle, twice. First by restating the theme he began this "suite" with - and then by ending the tape the way it started..the tape literally is about to run out, and I return as we run through a beautiful song he had written through the night.
Basically.....this is what Lawrence did as we all slept.
Lawrence Songs
The Horrible Child
"Take This" (theme)
Trumpet clusters
Hey Jude
Trumpet clusters
Tiger Rag
Bumble Bee Tuna
Trumpet clusters
"I can't wait...."
"Take This" (theme)
Song
* Other than "The Horrible Child" and the songs written by others, I don't know what the titles are, and I'm sure Lawrence had/has some, so I'll update this should I ever learn what the true titles are. (the last song may be something written for "The Whaler's Mass"? Not sure).
Lawrence Krauser - auteur
Michael Goodman - guitar, approval
PLUS:
I could have sworn I heard Hubie and Lawrence talking for a moment somewhere in there, so.....I don't know....maybe Hubie wandered back into the studio while Lawrence was recording? Everything about this tape is an enigma!
download here
http://www.mediafire.com/download/l0qnsu4j0awag3j/1993+-+Lawrence+at+the+Red+House.zip
