Listening to "Eat my cloud" after all this time.

After the fairly horrible experience I had recording up in Maryland with Jon Brayton (aka Mystr Treefrog) and having him trash me brutally afterwards, he and I have made amends. I even decided, despite my dissatisfaction with how he produced my original songs, I would finance the manufacture of a limited edition vinyl LP. He has done some legwork on how to do this and I sent him $600 by PayPal to spend as needed getting the project going.

Today, I got around to the task of listening to the original CD to give my input on how the songs could be ordered within the parameters of a standard 33 1/3 vinyl album. I took notes as I listened. My notes and the Messenger text I sent Jon follow below:

 Me: Heading to my car CD in hand

 Me: I didn't like the sound in my car so I moved into my studio and played the CD through the PA speakers. That was a lot better. I made notes on the songs as I played through. A lot of memories came up. Prior to this, I've only listened to the songs on the CD including my own a relatively few times since we recorded it. I enjoyed it this time. I'm going to paste my raw notes (no pun intended but my brain likes to do that) into this message, then go back and think about the order of songs. Whatever I think, I will be happy for you to have the last word. Any disappointment I've had about the way the CD came out are resolved for me. The quality of the music is extremely good, even if I would have gone for a different effect on some things. Everyone can't always get their way. You've always said we could be proud of it and I agree.

Teeth of the Wind Vocal is pretty good. Don't hear any glaring bad notes. Background harmony is nice. Bass is not as prominent or clear as I would have liked it.

Put U Thru Mandolin intro. Hilarious raunchy assed vocal. Deanna is the shit. I'm not on the track. Pretty strong. Funny laugh at end.

Biscuit in the Jesus Room. Jon wants to cut it. It has a similar flow as Goddess. A very fine song, well done. I don't play on it. Almost sound likes "fucking up a storm" on one chorus. I like the discordant last notes.

The Goddess Who Dances. Strong intro that sounds like "Roam." Groove is pretty strong. I don't hear the signature open guitar chords that define the song for me. Vocal is actually OK, I don't hear any horrible notes, although it sounds a bit thin. I hear my anxiety in the shaky spots. I can't hear any subtleties in my voice. Oh, well. I like my vocal at the end pretty well: "Madly, madly..."

Time to Go Home. Music starts pretty strong. Vocal has pretty good expression. Deanna does a good job of following my melodic journey and we sound in tune to me. Wah-wah licks are pretty fair.

I Got Frenz I like this song a lot. The vocal is very good. Keep it rockin', bro. Guitar and bass have plenty of power. Quote from Lucy in the Sky cuts it. Some nice double stop bends in there. I remember having trouble getting right with the guitar solo. But it came out nicely. Definitely one of our best tracks for my ears. Should have been big on underground radio. Maybe it's not too late. I seem to have gotten warmed up after the guitar solo. ABS rating is 99.

Ubiquitous ID (pronounced "id.") Intro will be cut. It's almost like a separate song. It is a separate song. This was always my very favorite track. I have to admit I play the shit out of it. Deanna is the shit, did I already mention that? Love MTF's vocal- yes, that's you alright. Riffs are Cream-like except funkier. Great composition, James. Lyrics are really, really good. Brutally so. World class. This should also have been a hit on the dark web.

Bed of Hot Coals Sultry Latin groovy intro. Another very good composition. Tres cool bass line. Did I mention... I believe I did. Sexaphone is saxy. Guitar solo is OK except a little bit stiff, despite some crazy bends. It's that anxiety again. I was fighting it every second and never actually relaxed and just cut it loose except on Ubiq ID.

Impress Me. This is my kind of song. Punk Power Pop like a sophisticated version of the Ramones. Couldn't relax playing it, either. Did I even end up on it? Does it matter? The song sounds great. OK, there I am at the end. Not bad actually. I must have been drunk and on speed.

Mystr Treefrog Roadtrip. Hot rock & roll usually works pretty well. Listen to that, my voice is expressive here. I think I was actually having fun until I got in trouble for acting crazy around Deanna. I sure did like her, though. I hope I didn't come across as a sexual harasser or something. I thought silly was kind of the way people acted around there but I must have read the signals wrong or something. My best vocal by several kilometers. No complaints about this track.
I'll check back later this evening on song order.  Don't fret over anything I said. I'm just being honest.

Me: Here's one way it could be done. Check my figures.

SIDE 1

 Mystr Treefrog Road Trip 3:25
 Bed of Hot Coals 4:10
 Time To Go Home 2:29
 Impress Me 3:45
 Goddess Who Dances 3:28

 =15m + 137s = 17:17 of music

 Side 2

I Got Frenz 5:12
Ubiquitous Id (minus I disagree) 5:29
Put U thru 3:16
Teeth of the Wind 3:43

 =16m + 100s = 17:40 of music