(Cassette spine, front cover, back side, tape side A/B, insert, close up of Jimi Sharp's handwritten note about the re-release of the tape, and then a few samples of Jimi's handwriting in his zine, The FIB, which was how I discerned that I did indeed have an authentic copy of the cassette, not someone's knock-off bootleg. And really, what Phil fan would actually do that?)
"Jimi Sharp Man Of Mystery" Cassette
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Before I even begin this post proper I would like to point you all the the right-hand column of the blog where you will see a little sidebar titled "Downloads, Help Yourself!" I don't put every record I post about in there since many of them are easily available all over the place. But I am going to be putting up the more obscure ones (the Lullaby, Lullaby comp for example). And as I write this I know that I am way behind on doing that was well. They're coming. And they'll be posted there as we go. Anyway the point is I am proud to present to you all what I think is the only available, online, at this time, download of the Jimi Sharp cassette with the tracks separated! (Though I do apologize, the way I did it required me to put tack numbers in the actual song titles to make them line up in iTunes in the correct order. Some people don't give a what about that and some people are anal about it like I am. Imagine that.) I know there is a zip going around out there with two, side-long, tracks of this cassette, but I wanted us all to have easier access to reference these songs. I know, in this day and age, it's not like I did something amazing there. Anyone can do it if they feel like taking the time to. I just wanted to save everyone else the trouble. So please, enjoy!)
Ok
So once again we have, as usual, a tiny, obscure release from Phil with very little firsthand info available. In fact, the only things I know about this tape are the tiny bits that used to be up on the old Mount Eerie Preservation site (R.I.P.) and what is written on the tape itself.
If remember correctly (man I wish I had a screencap of that page, or really that it was still up and running) the way the story goes is that Jimi is a close friend of Phil's and had asked Phil for recordings of a couple songs he had heard him play live but were not released on anything. Phil, in turn, proceeded to mail him this treasure trove that we have before us today. It was a limited edition of one, made specifically and only for Jimi.
The person that ran the old MEPS had, I think gotten ahold of Jimi and asked him about the tape and Jimi had graciously provided pictures of it, along with a track list and lyrics/descriptions of every song. Again, all things that used to be up at the old MEPS. As usual with these things I can use all the help I can get. If anyone has any additional info about this tape (or any info or corrections about anything I've posted so far/will post in the future) please, please drop me an email. I want this stuff to be as factual and accurate as possible. And I certainly hope that none of my posts comes off like I'm trying to sound like the ultimate authority on Phil. I'm just cobbling together what I can find and trying to improve all the entries as new info comes to me. Sorry for the aside. It's been quite some time since I've updated and I wanted to make clear my intent.
So yeah if anyone has those old pics of the actual original single Jimi Sharp cassette, or that page of lyrics etc... I'd love having them on here.*
OK SO UPDATE! Through the magic of my friends my wishes for the lost MEPS Jimi Sharp transcript have been answered! I totally forgot that way back in the day when we first learned of the existence of this thing that My good friend Coree decided to take it upon her self to write out, by hand, the entire page and then make a beautiful book out it. And here are a few snapshots of it, courtesy of her good friend and roommate Linz...
Additionally Coree has been gracious enough to transcribe the entire contents of the book/page for me to enhance this post with. So, we don't have a screenshot of the lost page but we have the next best thing, the entire contents typed out for posterity!
*All spelling/grammar/capitalization intact per original
1. SHREDDED PANTS, STINKY BREATH, PALM TREES, WHITE FOAM WATER
I had this dream where I had figured out how to breathe underwater by blowing my mouth full with an air bubble and then re-breathing that old air. I was swimming around someplace tropical and I saw the ripply image of three of my friends playing on the beach. 2 boys and 1 girl. They were throwing rocks at each other and pissing in the sand and the girl kept talking about how she thought she was pregnant and how her mom was so scared. (These friends were years younger than me, middle school and totally nuts.) Superduper teenage riot with obsessions and grudges to spare. And the contrast between their shredded pants and stinky breath and the palm trees and white foam water. I saw this from underwater, I was settling in. Closed my eyes even but like a big rumble in the distance when a jet flies over or when the crickets stop. A tidal wave lifted me up and I swam through it watching its shadow gobble up my friends. My watery yells were worthless. The wave smashed them and I saw the girl cry. She broke into pieces and fell down in between the white coral and turquoise fish, her multi-colored hair still contrasted the beauty there...I woke up and missed them because I hadn't seen them for so long.
2. TEETH
[The sound of teeth chattering]
[Airy sound effects]
[Whispery beat-boxing]
Damn, damn
[Air blown into the microphone]
3. JOSH YOUNG
[Two Acoustic Guitars simultaneously playing different chords]
4. NIGHTLY
Daily I wake up
Like clockwork
My head buzzing
Around the room
Sweating, squinting
In the sunlight
Nightly it hits me
Like clockwork
I miss her
So bad
Shadows from the moon
On the back
Of the car seat
Where she sat once
5. RETARDED TWIN*
[Intro: A guitar is played/sounds of dogs barking are heard over guitar]
Diaries
And the clothes we wear
Seven days
A week
Everything
Used and permanent
Permanent
Good
Good
*(Jimi's note): The lyrics are sung by the “singer” and repeated backwards as if a mentally challenged dyslexic twin were attempting to sing along.
6. BEAUTIFUL FACE
[Acoustic Guitar]
7. PAINTING OF A CAT
Late at night in a house
I fall asleep in a chair
Right in the middle of very important things
[Electric Guitar/Drums]
Right when I wake up
And a little bit before
I always feel a little bit crappy
Because of this girl who's not with me
All of the time
But I'd like her to be
[Electric Guitar/Drums building up w/ intensity]
But I know she'll never be
Hanging out with me
That one time in the tree
Was the only time with me
I sit here in the dark
In this soft chair
I fall asleep sometimes
Underneath the painting of a cat
[Electric Guitar/Drums]
8. MOOGTOWN 2
[Sounds like any song off of The Microphones' “XRAY MEANS WOMAN” cassette]
9. DEM HARD BLUES
[Intro Slide Guitar/Electric Guitar]
I woke up this morning
I don't got a shirt
Tattoos
I don't got no pants
Because they caught on fire
Sing it brother
I woke up this morning
I was lying in my bed
Oh yeah
My face is on fire
And I got the bluuues
Yeah
I got the bluuues
Yeah
My face is on fire
I got the blues
Yeah
I got the bluuues
Yeah
Down by the river
I knew this old man
He got a stump
Where there used to be a hand
He got lots diseases
From sleeping with whores
If he don't quit it
He's catching some more
That boy got the blues
He got them high blues
Don't know what to do
My feet is on fire
I got a feed
The chickens are after me
I got the bluues
My woman just left me
Alone in the swamp
Got bit by some gators
Got the bluuues
Yeah
I got the bluuues
Yeah
My face is on fire
I got the bluuues
Yeah
The blues
The blues is in all of us
Let me tell yeah
We got the blues in the air we breathe
And the birds that are flyin' in the sky
And the fish swimmin' in the sea
The blues
The blues is a part of all of us
Let me tell yeah
Don't tell me
I've been playin' the blues since 1942
In the back of a juke joint
In the back of Mississippi
In the Bloxi
The blues it's in all of us
[Ends w/ harmonica/Slide Guitar]
10. MOUTH + EYE DISEASE
Schemes fill up my head
Though not word for word
I try to tell you how
I understand real hurt
My stupid mouth
I can't talk now
Please show me how
To say or do
[Piano/Drums/Guitar]
Each time I sing to you
I crack my voice or lose a tooth
You never know
Never know
My stupid mouth
I can't talk now
Please show me how
To say or do
I've got a tragic case of mouth and eye disease
11. TEENAGE MOUSTACHE
What could be more
Weird than young kids
With yellow beards?
Popular things
Fly the air
Kids wear T-shirts
Slick back their hair
--------------------------------------
[One Voice Sings:]
Hanging out underneath the tallest tree in the world
Sitting there in the shade outside
It's cool
--------------------------------------
[Simultaneously A Separate High Pitch-Shifted Voice Sings]
Calls come late at night when I am watching T.V. or sitting there
I'm so happy to hear her voice
Side two on this tape follows side one
Cool with you and me
Now we'll both be free
--------------------------------------
Teenage moustache
Zits and cigarettes
Pawn shop gun case
Skateboard rider
Living on an island
Never been to Compton
Giving me dirty looks
Treats me like a piece of crap
--------------------------------------
[One Voice Sings]
Summer's gone
School is done
I stay up late every night
Learning how to make up songs
Without thinking about problems
Chipping paint and plastic cups
Piles and piles of rusty books
Late at night on a sugar high
Loud car
Young kid
A hundred bucks
You smell like fish
You'll go far
Young kid
You stupid car
Song of a bitch
Grow a beard
And look so weird
Uhnnh
--------------------------------------
[Simultaneously A Separate HighPitch-Shifted Voice Sings:]
Make up games played on an island
In the summer riding bikes there
Hand me down from one to another
Outside of a building
Keen on tons of people outside in the fresh air
She hasn't called for a long time
Playing songs like genetic
Giving up and dropping dead now
A hundred bucks
You smell like fish
You'll go far
Young kid
You stupid car
Son of a bitch
Grow a beard
And look so weird
Uhnnh
12. SO WRONG
Everybody's never seemed so wrong
Especially now when I'm feeling so fucked up
13. PERFECT SITUATION
Like a dream right now it seems more secret than before
Rain and dark and chemical skies and wet feet all next day
Who am I to take away this beautiful situation?
You have one chance don't show it off and pretend that it's not there
Switch between water and land
Quicker than a weasel
I have to move away pretty soon
Or stay there under water
[Another minute of guitar/drums lingers on before the song ends]
14. THE CREEPS
[Instrumental/No lyrics]
15. CLUB THEME (from Zombies Ahoy)
[Most lyrics inaudible because they were recorded at same volume as instruments, however, the listener can clearly the humming portion of lyrics]
16. ICEBERG
Plastic palm trees five miles high
Filling up the skies
Head expanding 'til I blow up
But can't seem to die
Moving closer
Staying small
Messing up my eyes
It takes five minutes though
Before I feel this way
Baaa Daaa da da da
Bm ba ba ba baaa
17. KATY SONG* (by the Red House Painters)
Some escape
Some door to open
This path seems the blackest but I guess it's the sanest
But there in the clearing I know you'll be wearing
Your young aching smile and waving your hands
Can't go with my heart when I can't feel what's in it
I thought you'd come over but for some reason you didn't
Glass on the pavement under my shoes
Without you is all my life amounts to
*(Jimi's note) The rest of this song contains two voices [both Phil's] singing different lyrics simultaneously. Listen to the original RHP version to know the missing lyrics.
18. OCTOBER
A whole day of dirty looks
I spent it sorting books
The weather outside here looks
So stormy and grey
October
October stormy nights
Recording
October
I'm serious there's too much books
It's messy so why complain?
The feeling I have is nice
Just like the old days
Too bad I can't say a thing
But I've got a tune to sing
It's messy but why complain
These feelings are so nice
October
October
October stormy nights
October
October
October
October
19. IN THE WAY*
Plan out what to say
Think of it all day
Want to do things right but know I'm only in the way
[Guitar for a few seconds]
Uhhhh, Huuuuuuh
So obsessed with speech
And seeming extra smooth
Want to do things right but know I'm only in the way
*(Jimi's note) “In the Way” is multi-tracked vocals w/ no instruments except where noted.
20. FLORIDA LAND
It snowed for the first time
Since ten months ago
It's all melted though
My love
Living somewhere high
She knows I love her a lot
21. BLIZZARD
I walked all the way home from the bottom of the hill where I was stuck in the snow
I tried driving up it four times but there was no way it could go
On the fourth time when I got near the top the back wheels started to slide
I just about fell in a crack in a crack in the earth but got out of there alright
I had to just walk so I parked the car and then put on my coat
When I opened the doors snow blew in my face and freezing temperatures too
After awhile though the walk was nice because of the quiet and dark
My body stayed toasty and feet were like coals and my eyes watered and froze
The grey and the dark all around the weather felt great and I closed my eyes
But when I thought about it I knew that something was gone
She's far gone in Florida for three whole more days a love I have in the sundayI've got numb cheeks feel hot and she knows just how I feel
Now that I think about it I miss her beautiful face
The road grew thinner and wound around into the woods
It was so weird there between the trees and there was no feeling or light
Soon I just gave up trying and shut my eyes and walked along without a clue
After while I couldn't tell whether or not I was dead
All that had happened was that I closed my eyes and all I saw was my head
I felt the sun and the heat of the beach and my love resting near by
Although she probably imagined herself in the cold weather back home
22. COME SEE ABOUT ME (by the Supremes)
I've been crying
Ooh Ooh
Cuz I'm lonely for you
Smiles haltered to tears
But tears won't wash away the fear
That you never ever had your turn to ease the fire that within me burns
Keeps me crying baby for you
Keeps me sighing baby for you
So won't you hurry?
Come on boy and see about me
Come see about me
See about your baby
Come see about me
Gave up my friends just for you
My friends have gone and you have too
No peace shall I find until you come back and be mine
No matter what you do or say I'm gonna love you anyway
Keep on crying for you
I want to keep sighing baby for you
So come on hurry
Come on and see about me
Come see about me
See about me baby
Come see about me
[Whistling/Acoustic Guitar]
Some kind of love
Some kind of love
Life's so weird
But then I run
From my arms you won't be out of reach
But my heart says you're here is the key
Keeps me crying baby for you
Keep on crying baby for you
So won't you hurry?
Come on boy and see about me
Come see about me
See about your baby
Come see about me
So lonely
Come see about me
I want you only
Come see about me
See about me baby
23. MANHOLE PIE*
Grow back from dead
Spend life in bed
Yo, A copy machine and a rabbit made of money
Tear up a the street and that's fault turns running
When the lave seeps through the shower stall all the fish on the curtain don't see it at all
Yo, fax machine and a town of whores
Running out of money and making more
Than the thousand of rocking horses stuck all up and down the street
Break it down for me
Three books left from a hurricane
And all the carbon monoxide's collected on the brain
Through the tube in the window coated in grease rubbed off the hair of a super sleeze
Piled up high
Manhole pie
Uhhhh Uhhhh Uhhhh Uhhhh
*(Jimi's Note) “Manhole Pie” uses Rapmaster/Guitar/Drums
24. MY SWEETIE
Secret life and twisted King plays opposite the perfect Queen
Such a match in heaven
Forced to feel a certain way or cry from my remaining days
Such a price to pay for our perfect love
Soon though after cars drive by we'll have the time to be
Me and sweetie
me and my
Sweetie
25. GHOST TOWN
Two times
In a row kicked out
Of all the trees without
Making any noise
Who's got
The courage for me?
And how can I complain?
It's all on down the drain
Dead life
No ones waking up
Automatic talk
Petrified and stale
Long life
But not one time's stepped out
A soar covers our necks
Writing tricky checks
Ghost Town
All been wired away
Who knows if they'll stay
Dead like that
Bombs blast
Open in the woods
Doesn't do any good
To make up any words
Ghost Town
Long life. Dead
26. HEART DAY*
Having someone by your side
A love to be there too
It took awhile for me to decide
And let myself see true
A day made for love like this
With cards and hearts and sweeties
When me and mine will hug and kiss
Because everything's so good
We're not allowed to spend the night
Although we really want to
Because waking up with honey there
It's been awhile since we first smooched
Lots has happened since then
We've come all the around
And here we are now
Nothing else is sweeter
*(Jimi's Note) For the actual title of this song Phil painted a “heart” and wrote the world “Day” beside it, so maybe it is supposed to be called “Love Day” or “Valentine's Day”.
27. HOT CHOCOLATE
Road that goes from her house to my house
Darkened by the long gone sunset
Trees hang over and make it even darker
I pass by them every single time
There's a ghost that lives right above me
Floating dead but never been alive
Not a boy or girl and only at night
Scrapes my tummy out
Makes it hollow
She fills me up like drinking hot chocolate
It's sweet and warm and she's my honey
When I have to go home we're both so sad
After that I'm awfully lonely
28. SUN WINDOW
Warm feet pressed on glass
Soaking in the sun
Any minute though
The clouds cover it up
Water on the stove
Spider on my toe
One split second though
Says she's all I've got
29. RADIO BEACH (by the Piranhas)
[Humming the tune]
Swimming naked down at the oasis
I'm the piranha biting my friends' faces
I crawl right out and back in again then I dry off in the desert wind
Who the hell are you and why are you here?
Would you like to sit down?
Would you like a beer?
Would you? Could you? In a shoe?
Yes that's fine but not with you
Hey
[Humming the tune]
I can't feel my legs she said
That's cuz they're not there I said
I go to the pond at the Radio Beaches where I sing and swim and play with the leeches
Who the hell are you and why are you here?
Would you? Could you? In a shoe?
Yes, that's fine but not with you
Hey
I've got a fish stuck in my head [repeat 4 times]
I told you 'bout the time that I lost the world
The time you were down just because of a girl?
Yeah, but I'm cool now I recovered fast
You mean you're all better now and it's a thing of the past?
Uh-Huh!
Who the hell are you and why are you here? Would you like to sit down? Would you like a beer? Would you? Could you? In a shoe?
Yes, that's fine but not with you
Hey
30. PAIN RUNNIN' (by Karl Blau)
Oh you've never known the road
As your country and your home
And your blankets are the fog
And you live better than your dog
When you're flying just to fall
And your sisters are paying for a call
Death dances in the night
And touches you with cold delight
Oh the pain
We know you well
We know you well
The pain
We know you well
We know you well
One verse about the rich man
Leads to a chorus of the thieves
And the town's people miss the bridge
Regarding turn the other cheek
We are lovers of life
And we live just to survive
There's a fire in our eyes
And we see right through your eyes
The pain
We know you well
We know you well
The pain
We know you well [repeat 4 times]
Oh the preacher tells the children
All are equal in God's eye
Why then are we still running?
Running 'till the hour we die
The pain
We know you well
We know you well
The pain
We know you well
We know you well
The pain
We know you well [repeat 6 times]
...
As legend has it, a few years later Jimi asked Phil if he wouldn't mind doing a sort "reissue" of the tape, in a limited edition, that would be given away to a few lucky attendees of that year's What The Heck Fest, along with copies of The FIB. On the tape it lists the dates as only "July 19-22" but does not give a year. This is as close to a reissue date as we have so far. In fact, Im not even sure when the original, single tape "came out". Judging by the art and the sound of it it's obviously early, cassette only era Phil. This is a place where I actually have a huge gap of information in general. I could really use someone coming along and telling me the order that Phil's cassette only releases were released. My guess on this tape would be somewhere around 1996 or 7. The reissued version I have no clue. There were ten What The Heck Fests and I'm fairly certain this did not come from at least the last three. I am also unclear on which issue of The FIB this was given away with. That too might solve the mystery (no pun intended).*
Ok update on the reissue date. I got a very nice email from a very nice person today that said he has a copy of the tape and that he bought it at the fest in 2007. Awesome. Partial mystery solved.
Reissue date July 19th, 2007. Thank you for the email!
As far as numbers released, I know that there was originally only one copy. I'm fuzzy on this memory now too. Someone mentioned to me, at some point, that they only made twenty copies for the "reissue". It might have been twenty five. And speaking of which, it is amazing to me that an artist can put out something in an edition of 20-25 and it still not be the rarest or smallest release they have. There are quite a few others in this same ballpark or even more scarce ('Twenty Bees 7", Tests Cassette Reissue, Egil's Saga?, "I Whale 7"-Cloudy Weather version etc, etc...)
When I first got this it went through my mind that someone could very easily have taped this over onto another cassette and photocopied the label. I like to think that Phil fans are not terrible ebay carpetbaggers but I guess it's possible. However I later obtained a few issues of The FIB and they had parts of them where Jimi himself had written things in, in ball-point pen. It was clear from comparing those to the writing on the cassette cover that it was actually his handwriting and actually one of the 20-25 reissue tapes (see pics above).
This was clearly recorded by Phil, though there may be some other production work on the Piranhas songs or The Microphones songs at the end which were recorded at Dub Narcotic.
There is no mention of where the Phil songs were recorded.
There is little mention of who else is on the tape with him. Leica Piranha is listed on one song ("Dem Hard Blues") and Bronwyn Holm on another ("Mouth+Eye Diseas"). The bulk of the songs sound like Phil by himself. Some of the stuff at the end of side two sounds like there could be others involved. Clearly Leica is on the Piranhas recordings. And Karl Blau is credited on one song ("Pain Runnin'"). It looks more like it's saying it's a Karl song, but it sounds like he's singing on it as well.
It is recorded on a Maxell 90 Minute UR Position Normal Type I cassette. "Great for everyday recording". I am pretty familiar with blank tapes of all kinds if I do say so myself. And very familiar with these Maxells (I used to live and die by them actually as they were one of the only companies that made easy to find 120 minute blank cassettes. I tend to go on and on on mix tapes as well as blog entries, go figure.) The labeling on it is clearly hand-written in sharpie on a couple of the tape label stickers that come provided in said Maxells. Also fairly certain my copy is still in the original plastic case it came in. It looks the way I recall Maxell tape cases looking.
The insert is photocopied, one-sided and folded up. With red ball point pen handwriting from Jimi on the back edge describing the circumstances of the reissue.
It is worth noting that there seems to be an unlisted track between "Josh Young" and "Nightly". It's just a little passage of sound. But then, so are a lot of Phil's songs. It stands apart enough from the other two songs that it was throwing me off when I was cutting the mp3s, counting tracks and labeling them. So I gave it it's own number and just called it "Untitled, Unlisted". Sorry for taking the liberty if anyone knows anything about that track.
On a similar note, I spent the first year that I had this tape erroneously thinking that the first song was called "Shredded Pants, Stinky Breath, Palm Trees, White Foam Water Teeth". It wasn't until, again, I was cutting the mp3s that I realized that "Teeth" was, in fact, it's own song. I'm sure the page on the old MEPS had that listed but it was gone by then.
And that's about all I can tell you here. Since this one I've seen one single copy go up for sale on ebay. I've corresponded a bit with a very nice guy from MEPS named Evan who has provided me with some really killer pics of releases I don't have and some I didn't know existed (we'll be seeing those in future posts, thank you Evan!) and he appears to have a copy amongst his treasures. So, that makes three accounted for out of the 20-25. Anyone else wanna chime in for census purposes? (see above update, about the email from the nice person, that makes three copies accounted for...) I think it would make an interesting illustration, a map with markers in locations where certain tiny press run items of Phil's are now. Or maybe I've just revealed myself as the biggest dork on planet Earth.
In trolling through the internet looking for info about this tape I was not able to come up with much. I'm gonna just go ahead and give a list of URLs that went to places that had anything at all:
http://www.last.fm/music/Phil+Elverum/+shoutbox
http://meps.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bootlegs&action=print&thread=145
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the_microphones/jimi_sharp__man_of_mystery/
hmm, and bummer, looks like most of the little bit that the Get Off The Internet Society had up has been taken down. http://getofftheinternet.wetpaint.com/page/Discography
also some guy did a video for the song "Josh Young" check it here on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBA8UFRtE4A
...
On a more personal note. I'm sure I've mentioned my friends (who will sometimes be referred to as the KINGS, for reasons not important to any of you) and our intense love of Phil. When we discovered the existence, or rather non-existence of this tape it was a pretty huge deal to us and came to take on a greater symbolic meaning. It was an earlier time in the world of computers and the internet and we pretty much had to accept that there was no way in the world we would ever hear these songs. I mean, come on, a limited edition of one? We resigned ourselves to the notion that we would forever be able to see the information about these songs, read the lyrics and descriptions but would go the rest of our time on Earth never knowing what they actually sounded like.
I've mentioned in these pages before, down here in these personal asides, about those lists of orange numbers at the end of some of the posts. Those really have nothing to do with my mission for this blog. Those are just personal notes/stories. Long ago when everyone I worked with and cared about was having a bad time and morale was very low, I started making these mix CDs for us all. Trying to fill them up with things that I knew we all loved and would make us all happier.
Each of these mixes featured a Microphones or Mount Eerie song and would hence be named after that song. For example the first mix featured "Lanterns" and was named Lanterns. The second was called "Antlers" and was named Antlers. The third featured "Universe" and was called Universe. And so on and on and on. All this time later we are now on mix 278 and going strong. They've become part of a sort of bonding experience for us, a support system/club house/safe shelter. I hesitate to say "religion" which is a strong word. But this little friendship/family that we've built around all this certainly has many of the good apsects of that. It is something to believe in. Something to have faith in. Something to light up the dark.
We would (when we weren't all living in far corners of the country) get together and play these mixes named after Phil's music and drink and laugh and hang out, take pictures, take field trips, see movies and rock shows, make art, make music, write, go dancing, form book clubs. All of the great things in life.
Now that we are all far apart the mixes serve as a gateway to the unreal parts of our lives. They are something that ties us together, like blood brothers. Something that we discuss and come back to when we need something to help us. When we just need the comfort of putting on some music and being safe in the knowledge that no matter how hard things are right then that we can put one these on and know that there will be one great song after another coming out of the stereo.
Sorry for the long digression here. I often struggle with this aspect of the blog. I have another conjoined blog which is sort of a blog as dedicated to all this mixology as this blog is to Phil. I try to keep them separate because I know that those things mean a lot to a few people. They aren't something I expect strangers to want to read about. This blog on the other hand I would, as I've said, like to become an online resource, like the Mount Eerie Preservation Society was and is. I want this to be an online archive for fans of Phil and his amazing music. I want it to be, well basically the kind of website I keep looking for about music but never find. A place where you can come when you really need to know everything there is to know about a particular artist or release by that artist. When you really need more information about a Mount Eerie album than can be found on a wikipedia or a record review.
It is for that reason that I hesitate to talk too, too much about these other things. I don't want to turn people off. If someone comes here for the reasons I'd like, i.e. looking for deep info about Phil, I don't want them to be confronted by a lot of flowery nostalgia from me, a lot of some person they don't know, going on and on about things that mean nothing to them.
So thank you for your indulgence from time to time on these matters. If anyone is in fact interested in the mix project and its ongoing history (in particular a full list of the mixes and all the songs that they have been named after and featured) please feel free to click the link on the right of this blog that goes to it's sister blog, THE SEANCE. A blog which has been as woefully un-updated as this one for some time. But I am trying hard to remedy all that. Here and there.
Anyway.
The point I set out to make about all that is that when we learned about the Jimi tape and the fact that we would never get to hear it (how naive) I did a series of those mixes all named after the songs on the tape. It was meant to be a sort of tribute/memorial, to that tape, to our obsessions with cataloging and archiving and artifacts. Of course we love Phil and his releases. They are all like these archaeological artifacts. these relics that feel as if they have been dug up out of the ground and carefully dusted off. Passed from person to person, down through a family line maybe. Heirlooms. Fills records are like fossils from long ago. And at that time this tape seemed like the Holy Grail of them all.
So I made a series of those mixes all named after the songs from the tape. Of course I couldn't put those songs on the mixes, which is how it is usually done. So in their absence I would leave a hollow space. No Phil tracks would appear. We would just feel his presence in the spirit of thing. A great ghost. When we would play these mixes, when we would hang out, I would always preface by saying "We will never know what (fill in a Jimi song title here, Painting Of A Cat, for instance) sounds like. But it might have sounded something like this..."
I won this cassette on ebay in October of 2008. I had recently moved back to Atlanta (where I'm from) from Boston (where I had lived the last nine years). I decided that I would justify the possible exorbitant amount it was going to cost me to win it by calling it my birthday present to myself (my birthday is in October).
I remember the night that the auction was ending I was out at a rock show at a bar with a friend of mine. I didn't have a phone with internet at the time but she did. I remember standing at the bar with her trying to explain Phil and the Microphones and the unearthly significance of this cassette. How important it was for me to win it. How it was going to be a life changing moment in the lives of myself and my friends and would she please help me to keep upping my maximum bid as we waited for the next bad to play.
I ended up winning it and it wasn't really all that expensive. I was prepared to go a lot higher. I wish I still had the text I sent to the KINGS (the previously mentioned group of far away friends)
exclaiming my disbelief and joy.
When the package got to my house I celebrated that evening and also did a little ceremonial opening of the box photo essay. I debated about posting those pics on here but decided, in the end, I looked too silly.
Normally at this point in the post I'd be listing those previously mentioned mysterious orange numbers, which correlate the songs on the release to the number of the KINGS which used its namesake. In this case it's odd because all of the song titles have been used, but none of the songs themselves. Since, as I said, those ones were made as tribute to the fact that we'd never get to hear them. I guess, for all intents and purposes, those songs are open to be used again, for the first time, on mixes where they actually appear. But just for my own self-indulgence and documentation's sake I'll list the number of the tribute mixes (mixes with two or more numbers listed are "double" or "triple" etc... albums, i.e. a normal mix in mixology is, traditionally, one CD length [even though the mixes are no longer made on CD it just has always seemed that that length, about and hour and twenty minutes, is a pretty satisfying one] a double is 2 CD lengths, and so on down the line. At this point in mix history I was really on the exploratory kick, so some of these mixes are very strangely themed, some are, very, very long etc...)
In the order they appear on the tape, they were used/homage'd on:
--145, --211, --146, --219, --147, --148/182, --149, 150/187, --151/185, --152, --153, --154/180, --155/191, --156/192, --157, --158/189, --159/193, --160/194, --161/179, --162, --163/233/234, --164, --165/235, --166, --167, --168, --169, --170, --171, --172/236, --173/230, --195, --196/231, --197, --198, --199/223/224/225/226/227
Tracklist*
*The parenthetical asides are Phil's, written on the tape
---------------
Side A:
Shredded Pants, Stinky Breath, Palm Trees, White Foam Water
Teeth (1st 4 track ever)
Josh Young (early)
Untitled, Unlisted
Nightly (nice)
Retarded Twin
Beautiful Face (early)
Painting Of A Cat
Moog Town 2
Dem Hard Blues (w/Leica)
Mouth + Eye Disease (w/Bronwyn)
Teenage Mustache
So Wrong
Perfect Situation
The Creeps
Club Theme (from zombies ahoy)
Iceberg
Katy Song (by the Red House Painters)
Side B:
October
In The Way
Florida Land
Blizzard
Come See About Me (by The Supremes)
Manhole Pie
My Sweetie
Ghost Town
Love Day*
(this track has a drawing of a heart and the the word "day" not sure if he meant it to be "Love Day" or "Heart Day" or maybe even "Valentine's Day" ...anyone?)
Hot Chocolate (early)
Sun Window
Radio Beach (Microphones version-by the Piranhas)
Pain Runnin' (Microphones version-by Karl Blau)
Coach Fuckhead
Sunglassez
Riverboat Man (all those last three songs are bracketed on the tape with the label "Piranhas")
Pr Amp
Feedback Love (and these last two are also bracketed with the info: "The Microphones recorded at Dub Narcotic)
xo.