- Title: The Party
- Artist: Anchovies
- Timespan: 21 December 1989
- Theme: an actual gig
- Length: 35:01
- Tracks: 13
- Lyrics: 8
- MP3s: 13 play all locally
- Rating: *** [3] (1 rating) rate this album
Track List
Notes
After six months of pizza, patience, and practice, the Master Anchovies were finally ready to start playing for other people. We barraged our families, friends, and parties with the "interesting" sounds of our jazz/rock group.
Yes, that's right, we actually played some parties. We recorded the second one with Jon's 4-track.
I'm not sure who played drums for each song. Anand and Allen used to rotate. I don't know what they did while the other was playing. So anyway, I'm having to guess as to the instrumentation.
There were about 10-20 people in the room. This was the biggest audience we ever had. In fact, except for the first party it was the only audience we ever had.
We had hopes of someday playing Battle of the Bands. These parties were supposed to be our warm-up.
We recorded with Jon's 4-track. We used one mic (and no direct inputs) to preserve the "live" feel. When Jon copied the recording onto tape, he accidentally set the 4-track's speed slower than it was during the concert, so I had to speed it back up later. The sound quality isn't very good, but this is as close as it comes to sounding like you're in the same room as us. What a priviledge!
Songs
Chatter (1)
- The Party track 1
- Complete Anchovies track 3
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 2:24
- Anand Ajgaonkar - talking
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470, talking
- Allen Foster - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- Luke Marshall - talking
- Audience - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
We start with pre-song chatter. You can hear the audience. Yes, that's right, I said audience.
Lyrics to "Chatter (1)":
TRAV: 3,2,1 contact AUDIENCE: ha, ha travis JON: trav, i don't wanna JON: we never actually played this song... TRAV: we don't want to broadcast that actually JON: ??? TRAV: we've never played this song before but JON: we're making it up as we go along [???] TRAV: fake reverb, fake JON: hey, feedback oh yeah, you guys [???] [lots of shouting and talking] all the way up what? all the way up LUKE: trav, are we gonna.. TRAV: ok, everybody [chatter] TRAV: allen, you ready? listennn... ???: are we ready? ???: go
Anchovy Rock (2)
- The Party track 2
- Complete Anchovies track 4
- Anchovy Picks track 1
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 3:13
- Anand or Allen - drums
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470 | wrote: music
- Jon Friesen - alto sax
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This is a nice, fast version of our theme song. It sounds much more powerful than the one from the first practice.
Chatter (2)
- The Party track 3
- Complete Anchovies track 5
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 2:12
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- Luke Marshall - talking
- Audience - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Jon was playing the announcer. He was good at it, because he was funny and responsive. I tended to be more introverted and oblivious when there were so many people around.
Lyrics to "Chatter (2)":
JON: first of all can you hear anything at all now? uh, all right, i'm gonna this ??? away we are, uh, the master anchovies and this is but a taste of what will happen later on at this party can you hear the saxophone? AUDIENCE: barely ... turn down the keyboard turn down that keyboard JON: turn luke down a little bit also, i hate being in front 'cause it's like ??? tra-la-la-la-la TRAV: anyways... JON: anyways, that was that was anchovy rock what a great song it is and now we're gonna play a little rap LUKE: reggae song JON: what? LUKE: reggae? JON: we're playing we're not playing a rap we're gonna spare you the experience TRAV: not now JON: uh so we're gonna play some ??? TRAV: reggae song we'll tell you who wrote most of these songs afterwards JON: travis wrote most of these songs TRAV: no, afterwards JON: i wrote -- no one wrote most of these songs darn it ... this is really distracting ... TRAV: ok, we're now ready
Fish Time (1)
- The Party track 4
- Complete Anchovies track 6
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- other names: Fish Time, Pez Vez, Coma Mierda
- length: 4:39
- Anand Ajgaonkar - drums
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470 | wrote: music
- Jon Friesen - alto sax | wrote: music
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This was the Anchovies' second reggae song. Jon and I wrote and recorded the initial version as IPECAC (on Extras). The Anchovies version omits the difficult intro and outro sections.
The original instructions for the song were for Anand to play drums, so he probably played them at the party. What was Allen doing? No clue.
Chatter (3)
- The Party track 5
- Complete Anchovies track 7
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 0:43
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- Luke Marshall - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
More between-song chatter.
Lyrics to "Chatter (3)":
TRAV: ??? JON: ??? extra ??? TRAV: extra long JON: concert version TRAV: extended play yeah, that was the dance mix JON: i love this reverb ??? i ??? TRAV: yes JON: we're gonna play the rap? are you gonna start with the vocal? LUKE: need some lyrics, trav TRAV: got the lyrics this time got the lyrics this time LUKE: yay TRAV: yeah, some of you will remember this one it goes way back jon wrote the lyrics to it JON: i wrote most of it TRAV: ok, are we ready do you know how to start? ok
How Ya Is'n (1)
- The Party track 6
- Complete Anchovies track 8
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- other names: How Ya Is'n
- length: 4:42
- Anand or Allen - drums
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470, vocals | wrote: lyrics
- Jon Friesen - alto sax, vocals | wrote: lyrics
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This was the Anchovies version of IPECAC's "How Ya Is'n". The main changes are the rhythmic chords during the chorus and the omission of Jon's rap.
You can barely hear the vocals during the chorus. In fact, I doubt I even sang them during the last two choruses. I think I had my hands full with the keyboard part; it was hard to sing and play at the same time.
My keyboard solo is horrid. Sorry!
Lyrics to "How Ya Is'n (1)":
INTRO: and it goes a little something like this hit it! VERSE 1: cruisin' down the street i got to the place where the weirdos hang out and i got my mace ready for an incident 'cause you never know what a blind quadroplegic morphodite might show you i kept my distance from the darkest alley where the schitzofrentic ninjas were having a rally i heard a noise and i spun around but couldn't [see who] made that sound CHORUS: how ya is'n? VERSE 2: suddenly i saw what i really had feared worse than kleptomaniacs, he really was weird behind him was a trail of arms and legs he stuck out his tongue to show his underarms he said "you got a nice tan but i got a nice blue that's right, i'm a leper, you can be a leper too" i said, "god you're slimy" and walked my own way the guy was gross enough to finish my day CHORUS: how ya is'n? VERSE 3: i kept on walking to find my friend jon the leper had disappeared; i hoped he was gone i went to jon's place and he was waiting for me i was glad to be there, with a capital "e" i said, "hey jon, what's shaking?" "cooling. what's up?" i said "girlies!" "oh, i guess i better get ready [huh]!" CHORUS: [solos] VERSE 4: i saw an ant by the side of the road beside him sat a rabbit and a big fat toad i asked him to my house and see if he did he came instead with some friends of his CHORUS:
Chatter (4)
- The Party track 7
- Complete Anchovies track 9
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 1:05
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- Luke Marshall - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This introduces "All Blues".
Lyrics to "Chatter (4)":
TRAV: smattering of applause uh, uh oh my god it's time JON: ??? microphone TRAV: ok, i'll ??? jon and allen get ready ??? sorry LUKE: tell this it's the first ??? TRAV: this is the first song that we ever learned that we haven't written it's called "all blues" and it's by miles davis if that makes any impact on you at all so if it sounds bad that's because it's bad on the tape we play exactly like it's on the tape even that feedback it's all ... ready? JON: yeah
All Blues (1)
- The Party track 8
- Complete Anchovies track 10
- Anchovy Picks track 2
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- other names: All Blues
- length: 4:12
- Anand Ajgaonkar - drums
- Travis Emmitt - mellophone, Yamaha PSS-470
- Allen Foster - bari sax
- Jon Friesen - alto sax
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- Miles Davis | wrote: music
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
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.
Chatter (5)
- The Party track 9
- Complete Anchovies track 11
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 0:44
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- Luke Marshall - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
Jon was introducing "Canon".
Lyrics to "Chatter (5)":
TRAV: quickly we go into "canon" JON: ??? TRAV: no, canon gotta end on a positive note, jon JON: ok, well ??? oh, this song, by the way this song is not an original it's by klaus dorfeldingeldorf AUDIENCE: ??? JON: miles davis i learned this from miles davis LUKE: ??? finished, jon JON: uh, i'm gonna solo on it for a long time by the way ??? and then TRAV: ready? we're losing our audience
Canon (1)
- The Party track 10
- Complete Anchovies track 12
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- other names: Canon
- length: 4:31
- Anand or Allen - drums
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470
- Jon Friesen - alto sax
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- Klaus Doldinger | wrote: music
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This was by Klaus Doldinger. I don't think I ever heard the original; Jon transcribed this for us.
I really didn't like this song. I hated the harpsichord sound. The rhythms were awkward. You couldn't dance to it. You couldn't even tap your finger to it.
The only good thing about it was that it sounded sophisticated and made us sound like a "serious" band... Well, we had the school band for that, so why subject ourselves to this weird classical stuff for fun? Why not rock our in our free time?
My banging around through different sounds shows my frustration. My keyboard was way too loud. It obliterated Jon's solo and all the other music. You can barely hear anything other than my bang-bang-bang chords and clunky melody. So much for ending the party on a positive note.
Chatter (6)
- The Party track 11
- Complete Anchovies track 13
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 0:17
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
I was eager to wash the memory of "Canon" from our heads and ears. So I got us to jump immediately into our "encore" song, "Christmas in Cancun".
Lyrics to "Chatter (6)":
JON: will you people stop laughing at us? AUDIENCE: we weren't laughing at you we were laughing with you TRAV: ??? JON: wasn't that exciting?
Christmas in Cancun (1)
- The Party track 12
- Complete Anchovies track 14
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- other names: Christmas in Cancun
- length: 5:28
- Anand or Allen - drums
- Travis Emmitt - Yamaha PSS-470 | wrote: music
- Jon Friesen - alto sax
- Luke Marshall - Yamaha DX21
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
This was probably my favorite song for the Anchovies. I wrote and recorded the demo one evening after a practice, layering at least 3 parts on top of each other. You can hear the original version on Trex's A Caustic Gutter.
The song was named after one of my family vacations (to Mexico). For Tripecac I later wrote a completely different song called "Christmas in Cancun 2". Both songs were great (IMO).
The Anchovies liked it too, although this particular performance was sluggish and lifeless. The audience seemed bored. I think they'd had enough of our racket for one day.
Chatter (7)
- The Party track 13
- Complete Anchovies track 15
- recorded: 1989-12-21
- length: 0:51
- Travis Emmitt - talking
- Jon Friesen - talking
- mp3: download listen locally (flash player)(HTML5 player)
We asked if they wanted to hear more. They said no.
Thus ended the concert.
And our dreams.
Well, it wasn't that bad. We kept practicing, and kept recording. In fact, the vast majority of our tapes are from after this gig. Interesting, huh? Not really.
Lyrics to "Chatter (7)":
TRAV: does anyone want us to play another song? AUDIENCE: no TRAV: does anyone want us to play another song? AUDIENCE: negative JON: we don't have any more songs to play AUDIENCE: majority rules you lose do you want me to stop this? travis, travis? push stop