Again and Again -Liner Notes

The Real UnderGround
One thing I really miss about getting a big, bulky vinyl record, apart from enjoying the almost poster-sized artwork, is reading the liner notes. Sure, alot of it can be pretentious, self-congratulatory stuff, but it's simply fun to read about the artist in a format that urged you to listen while you read.

So here I am, sitting highly caffeinated at a coffee shop, writing some virtual liner notes for Again and Again. Honestly, I'll be very surprised if this CD sells anything at all. Two other CDs I've made sold absolutely nothing--nada, zilch, zip...you get the idea.

 So, that pushes me to another category altogether: I'm a member of the underground--the people that you might glance on the street, who secretly have 1,000 poems written, songs recorded, or tons of pictures painted. We can also be the people who have a passion for collecting bottle caps, or building model boats out of balsa wood, or design and re-designing a dream house that they may never build. The people who have a project or passion that probably seem pointless or an absolute waste of time to others. The outsiders...

Who We Are
Like so many of the people that you may on MySpace, Facebook, Jango or wherever, we fund our own projects, we spend countless hours tweeking and honing our craft, with the hopes that somebody, somewhere will listen--and with the sobering knowledge that listening is never guaranteed. And there are many times when no one listens.

That said, it can be a healthy process to create something, and then release that creation.It must have something to do with letting go of something that is so precious to the creator.You just may find somebody, somewhere who will appreciate what you do.


The Songs
The songs for Again and Again span about fourteen years; the oldest being Forever (1996) and the newest being All Messed Up (2010). More than a few hundred songs have been written during that time, (some I like more than the songs one the CD) but some tunes just don't move well together.The songs that made it for Again and Again were written for people who may feel a bit worn down, but are too busy with their lives to think too much about anything. There also might be an unsettling realization that they are closer to the end of their lives than the beginning.

Again and Again doesn't have much ambiguity; each of the songs are about something very specific. Sometimes the point is made over and over again, hence the title.

     Songs 1-3 are things that are talked about during a drunken conversation between two close friends. Oh Lord, the first song, occurs when one speaker tells his buddy that he's about at the end of his rope.
     Songs 4-7 cover the span of time when both of the friends return to their own homes with their families later that evening/morning, and the eventsthat occur the following day. Songs 8-10 focus on the rush of thoughts thatgo on before both of the friends fall asleep, after a long day. Song 11 is when one of them wakes up with an undisclosed epiphany, but also understands that its impact will soon fade away when the day goes moves on.

And that's about it. All of these songs were recorded either in a walk-in closet, a bedroom or a bathroom, depending on where the vocals sounded better. Toy bongos,toy keyboards and a cajon was used for the drums, along with some drum loops. Rick Bryant played drums on It's Over Again, thanks Rick.
I'm guilty of all  the other noises. You do what you can. Thanks for reading!-John