Anchovies - Anchovy Picks

This is a nice, fast version of our theme song. It sounds much more powerful than the one from the first practice.

This was written by Miles Davis. Jon transcribed it for us. It was years before I heard the original (on Kind of Blue).

I think Allen played bari sax, which means Anand was on drums. I was on mellophone, which is definitely not my most comfortable instrument. I also played a painful keyboard solo.

My keyboards were mixed too loud. It sounds like they were connected directly to the tape deck. Ugh. Aside from that, and the sluggish playing, it's a decent version.

You can hear me clapping and counting in the background to keep Luke in time.

Ahh, a nice clean version of my favorite Anchovies song. The mix sounds better than it did for "Fish Time (2)".

Unfortunately, the first couple notes of the song didn't get recorded; I don't remember why. I guess whoever was running the tape recorder (it couldn't have been been me since I was playing) was a little late.

This seems faster and cleaner than the version we recorded at The Party. The drums (particularly the ride cymbals and toms) sound pretty cool.

The chorus is more established compared to the one at The Party. For some reason Jon didn't sing his two little parts. The solos are nice, though.

My vocals are light, not too worn out. I extended "his" a long time but didn't shriek it. Not a bad way to end our first [recorded] practice of 1990.

Wow, what energy! We rocket through our theme song. The only clunky part is the bridge, which was hard to play.

I mic'ed my keyboard, which helped preserve the live feeling of the mix. My vibe solo sounds distorted and cheesy, though. Can't win them all.

I only hear one sax. Where was Allen?

This was our debut of my swinging jazz song from College Collection. It sounds pretty lame with the canned drums; I think my Tripecac version sounds more lively.

Anand played the sax. I think this was the first time he played lead for us. I played the walking bass line with my left hand, and the piano sound in my right hand. I'm not sure what Luke did; maybe he just played the vibe solo?

It was very difficult to solo with my right hand while playing the bass with my left; that's probably why I said "oh no".

"Demian" actually sounded okay with the keyboard drums. This was more reggae than our version(s) with Jon.

I first wrote the lyrics back on 1988-01-26 for Trex. In 1992 I fit those lyrics to a completely different tune, which I arranged for the Anchovies.

This version is my favorite. The music is super-bouncy. It also contains the fantasy-themed third verse (the "punch line") which we later dropped.

This is our first full version of "Aren't You Sorry". It's a vocal version of "Old Reggae Song", which we played before Jon joined us in 1989.

Luke and I did the vocals. We were a little negative about Jon, but not as bad as in Dead Practice 1.

The good news is the music. It's very bouncy. I was in the poppiest phase of my songwriting. Luke and Anand did a great job of bouncing along with me.

This is the earliest recorded version of "Drizzle", which is a song that I later recorded for College Collage.

I wanted the music really moody, so I emulated The Cure.

This version crumbles at the end, and the lyrics are unfinished. However, there's a really nice texture here that we weren't able to recapture in later versions.

I like this better than the Dead Practice 4 version. The sound quality is a little less muffled, and my vocals are more energetic, even a bit hyper. It even has a rare fourth verse.

The lyrics' "August" reference makes me think this practice was recorded in August.

This is one of my favorite renditions of "Anchovy Rock". It's just me and my drum machine, live. It's not rock solid but it's got lots of really cool bits.

This is the final, live-drums version of "Drizzle". I rearranged it to fit my Tripecac version (on College Collage).

It's clumbsy as heck. The transitions to and from the reggae section are total clunkers. It's kinda funny, though.

I don't know what the phone call was. It sounds like one of us wasn't there, but I can't tell who. At times it sounds like there are three keyboards plus drums.

This was our final version of our theme song, "Anchovy Rock". This one had three keyboard parts and vocals!

We switched parts (and tempos) in the middle of it. I moved from keyboard to drums. From what we were saying, it sounds like Allen was initially on drums. I don't hear Anand at all, so I'm guessing he had left by this point.

This is the final version, which I included on the tape version of The Hermit (my 1994 Tripecac album). Luke wasn't there, but Allen was. We changed the lyrics to include Allen in the story.

We recorded direct line-ins this time. The difference in sound quality is enormous. I also added more sounds to the backing music.

This was the last thing we ever recorded together, and probably the last time more than two of us were in the same room together; after that we scattered to different states and countries.

It's interesting how the last words are "I'm free". I guess I was, for better or worse.