AROUND THE MAYPOLE ONCE MORE/SP ALBUM/B-SIDE(S) UPDATE

There you see once wee me in front of Zuzu’s on the last days of an unfulfilled summer, in an SP t-shirt no less, on what you might allege was a one week vacation between end of album/RAVINIALand and this new deal: DAY FOR NIGHT. But first, we must do a few b-sides, or bonus tracks, or whatever they’re referred to as these days (‘so and so’ exclusives?)…

The notion being that while Jeff and I dig back into the material under a different process, why not make the b-sides a sort of test run for what’s to come? But here when I say that, that red light of warning goes off in my head; because haven’t I been down this lane before? SP releases experimental track and suddenly it’s deemed the ‘new-new’ sound? Where a few like while others condemn, and so on…

Yep, sounds familiar; in a familiar way, too.

But that won’t stop us, no! for currently we’ve gone from synth/drum machine combo to acoustic/Farfisa combo (ala early Floyd) back to the first, taking Jeff’s acoustic riff with us. So in QUEEN OF THE MEADOW, as this extra track is being called, you get kind of a sparse, relentless under-feel with a spacious, pretty top; which given all attempts sounds the most modern and ‘Howard-friendly’.

For myself, I’m struggling a bit, still friend from what’s preceded this, and still a tad uncertain in how to proceed in a manner that will continually excite. Because as Jeff put it, MTAE is lightning in a bottle and there’s no repeating that. And I wholeheartedly agree, nor would I want to repeat even if you could come backwards in time and tell me ‘it’s a smash, kid!’

For if it’s the last, or the first, or just hyperbole stacked on too many quotes, the fire in the well, or how high that fire burns is a great indicator of self-interest. And since my self-interest has tended to lean on where art meets commerce meets merit, I’m betting that DAY FOR NIGHT will, in the end, shoot for a higher moon.

If only we get there…

W.P.C.