As Dr. Chadbourne writes in his liner notes: I hope listeners
will enjoy this collection of material designed to show the great variety, depth of research and
life-affirming philosophy of my various ensembles as the 20th. Century draws to a close.
This CD signifies a definite change of direction in Dr.
Chadbourne's music, the emphasis being on his singing; he finishes the CD with his
favourite song I've Got a Crash on You - and I can guarantee that his singing will be a revelation for many!
68 Minutes of sheer fun and pleasure.
The total time is 67'55
i talked to death in stereo
I hope listeners will enjoy this collection of material designed to show
the great variety, depth of research and life-affirming philosophy of my
various ensembles as the 20th century draws to a close.
The CD's title piece was taken directly from an information caption on my
television... it was a film entitled I Talked to Death, being presented in
stereo, so... This inspiration came about just at the point one of my
associates had obtained employment as a high school band and orchestra
teacher; he had been discussing the possibilities for me to do some guest
workshops with his class. I came up with I Talked to Death in Stereo and
created a score made up of simple motifs that any amateur musician could
play, these fragments governed by a concept that demands constant
concentration and listening to others, both of which I imagine most
teenagers could stand some work on.
I thought the provocative title and creepy subject matter would make this
of great interest to pimply adolescents. However the principal of the high
school heard about my title and told my friend I would not be welcome on the
high school campus. So I took the idea and put it onto the repertoire of my
Horror Part Two Band.
Ochre Ringlet is a selection from the Butterfly Garden, and for more of
this material please check out my previous Leo CD Beauty and the
Bloodsuckers. What makes this performance unique is that I played all the
instruments, on suggestion from my associate �Pink Bob' Harper, who did the
recording in his home studio.
The Buttefly Garden suite is part of the Insect and Western collection.
Ochre Ringlet consists of three lines of notation, played almost non-stop
and then repeated over and over, with the player instructed to eliminate one
note per repeat, beginning with the first note, until there is nothing left
of the piece. This is practically a form of torture in which every player
gets completely confused, including the composer. But as one learns with
recipes as well as scores, part of a happy philosophy of life is the ability
to eat whatever one comes up with.
Don't Happy Be Worry is another piece in which I play all the
instruments, inspired by the comments of Slovenian Marco Brecelj, who runs a
youth community centre in Koper and is also a great singer and songwriter, a
giant in the world of Slovenian underground music since the �60s.
Because of Leo Records' strong success with records featuring musicians
known for their ability on other instruments playing piano, I thought it was
necessary to include a track in which I play piano. The drum track was
created by an accident on purpose, that is by recording on top of already
used multi track tape and mixing in the drum track that was there already. A
lot of the other sounds come from mutilating a somewhat similar hit record
with a reverse philosophy, which by the way was the official theme song of
the George Bush re-election campaign. Perhaps he might have won if he had
used my recording instead!
In case there are people out there who have trouble deciphering my cheap
imitation of a Slovenian accent, here are the lyrics to this meisterstucke:
*Some of these lyrics come directly from the comments of Marco, who
incidentally ran for a mayor of Koper wearing an African hat I had given
him. Other stanzas I created from actual incidents. In particular I want to
explain the line about the bottle of Sprite. Rather than being some kind of
product placement meant to enrich Leo Records, it refers to an incident when
the drummer Jimmy Carl Black and I were held up at the Slovenian/Croatian
border for nearly two hours. We observed a strange jeep pull up with two
giant Sprite bottles in back. After a quick conversation with the guards,
they were on their way. We wondered what was in these bottles!
Here's a little song from Istria
Customs man, police, Interpol each way you piss-tria
Don't happy be worry
One thing for sure gives a rock band the blues
Touring engine destroyed before use
Don't happy be worry
Out of love I cannot say
It makes me puke to think about my country
Don't happy be worry
Used to be lights out on the open sea
Now the checkpoints for different countries
Don't happy be worry
Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Jews
Everyone wants to destroy before use
Don't happy be worry
Hear what I say! Not just destroy,
Its destroy before use, that's the real joy
Don't happy be worry
Yugoslavia was my country
The one I always choose
But everything is different
Since they destroy before use
Cancellation of gigs, more than half I say
Backline held at border station
Thirty meters away
Don't happy be worry
Bottle of nitro,
going to blow up Kosovo
Like a bottle of Sprite
It gets the easy flow...
Don't happy be worry.
And so forth...
The ballad I'll Never Smile Again, recorded solo at a concert at Oberlin
University continues this depressed philosophy.
Next comes the music of Albert Ayler. There has been arrangements of his
material in the books of just about every band I have led in the last
decade. Here we have the Horror Part Two Band with Prophecy and the Insect
and Western Party with Change Has Come.
Then it's time to rebound back to our previous obsessions and hear the
latter group interpret Glad to Be Unhappy.
The Walking Dead lumber in next, guests from the seasonally-performed
suite The Post Day of the Dead Ritual. One of the delights of the year 1999
for me was the revival of the Camper Van Chadbourne band, now an acoustic
trio. Since the Post Day of the Dead suite had been part of that band's
repertoire back in 1988, it is only natural that we want to go back out into
the sugarcane fields looking for bug-eyed zombies.
We finish with a night like many others in my life, a neighborhood bar in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. People from around town that like to hear good music,
in a place that advertises free admission and a 10-drink minimum. And I'm
singing one of my favourite songs, I Got a Crush on You.
See you next century.
Dr. Eugene Chadbourne
Greensboro, North Carolina,
Summer 1999
