LINER NOTES FOR "ENDS & ODDS"

LINER NOTES FOR “ENDS & ODDS”

What eventually became the ENDS & ODDS album began as a way of getting one particular song on record, but quickly grew into The League Of Existence’s most elaborate studio album so far. (That one song was Expiration Date, and its story will be told in due time.)

Because I am a dinosaur who flourished ages ago in the Blackvinylian Era, I tend to think of each album I produce as belonging on a 33 & 1/3 rpm record, with two distinct sides. This means that, even though the music winds up on a little one-sided plastic disc with all the songs in a continuous sequence, I picture it as having a Side 1- with appropriate opening and closing songs - and then a Side 2, with another pair of opening and closing numbers. Also, instead of the 50 minutes or more of music normally found on CDs these days, I aim for a total between 36 - 40 minutes, corresponding to the 18 to 20 minutes per side typically found on vinyl LPs of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Thus, I see ENDS & ODDS as a “double album,” a 2-LP set, divided into four sides, and it was designed that way from fairly early in the project. With the disclaimer upfront that I’m not making a direct quality comparison between the albums, I assert that ENDS & ODDS is The League’s “White Album.” To start, like The Beatles’ famous 1968 record, E & O contains two LPs-worth of music, around 74 minutes total. Each group member gets his own feature tracks - although in the case of the LOE, we were more egalitarian with the song distribution (remember, Ringo only sang two songs on the White Album, and had only one composition). The songs themselves cover a wide and eclectic swath of musical genres and forms, from ancient to modern pop and rock, with influences of heavy metal, folk, jazz, and classical.

Although this is in no way a “Greatest Hits” compilation, it does contain a half-dozen or more of the most popular numbers from the days when the League was known as The Federation (roughly, 1976-1990). There are also some rarities (“deep cuts,” you might say) from the old days, as well as a few newer, 21st Century works.

Things began in July 2018 with myself and Gary Gagnon laying down the “basic tracks,” just rhythm guitar and drums. Then the long process of overdubbing and editing, with the final mix & master coming in April 2019. As with the previous LOE albums, Night Train Studio was our host for all these sessions. There was a conscious effort to keep the variety going, alternating composers and vocalists all down the line. Now, a few words about the songs:

SIDE A

I Don’t Want Salvation

One of the hallmarks of Federation music-making was the “spontaneous” song, when the singers & players would make up something on the spot, often based on current events and familiar characters. Some of these efforts were good for a quick laugh and then were as quickly forgotten, but others have stood the test of time. Salvation is of the latter ilk, and in fact is one of my favorite Federation songs ever. The original version was recorded in the basement of Jim McCusker’s house in Tewksbury, in the Spring or Summer of 1979. I was playing an acoustic guitar and made up a chord structure on the fly as Jim was coming up with his lyrics about a certain well-known Tewksbury family. The tape we were making was shortly afterwards mailed off to a friend in Texas, and when we wanted to revisit the song a week or two later, we did our best to remember all the parts. As the Texas tape is long lost now, we cannot be sure how close our remake was/is to the original. But I believe it is VERY close.

It’s Another 27

A Brian Farrell composition from the late 1970s, which was an immediate and lasting hit in Federation circles. The title refers to repeated epiphanies occuring on the 27th of the month, and the lyrics tell the story quite straightforwardly, no poetic imagery. If you still don’t get it, just remember: it was the 1970s….

What’s So Good About The Morning?

Stephen McMillen wrote this song in Spring 1979, about a year into his Austin, Texas, residency (cf. Texas reference under I Don’t Want Salvation). The lyrics reveal a mild cynicism towards early-in-the-day cheerfulness. Keyboards feature prominently here, as Mick’s original demo was played on accordion. LOE friend Howlin’ Dave Ambrose provides a mellow tenor sax solo in the middle.

Louis Connolly Driving Blues

Another spontaneous song from the Summer of ‘79, this time a Cogswell-Pestana creation. Donny and I were in his living room at the old Cogswell homestead on Pond Street, Tewksbury. McCusker was on the premises, too, but he was out in the backyard painting. Inside, we were working on a tape for Mick, and the subject matter was Louis Connolly’s recent activities, which included booze and brawls, and a whole lot of mileage being put on his car. Donny started with a mock sermon, something along the lines of “Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the Church of Louis Connolly….” I had my electric guitar and at a certain point, Donny indicated a musical moment, so I provided slow pseudo-hymn chords while he intoned lyrics about Louis being the god of the Jade East (a local Chinese restaurant/bar). After a minute or so of that, we mutually decided to kick it up a notch, and I began a Chuck Berry-style guitar rhythm. This opened the floodgates, and Donny let loose with four verses about Louis’s life on the road (mainly Route 38 in Tewksbury). All made up on the spot. When he was finished singing, he picked up his clarinet and honked out a quintessential Cogswell one-note solo as we headed down the home stretch. The song and the tape were mailed off to Mick sometime after that, and to be honest, I forgot all about it until Mick later sent us back a copy on one of his tapes. It then became a minor classic. The studio version opens with an instrumental rendition of the pseudo-hymn, the melody & chords now played on organ. The fast portion is then replicated as faithfully to the original as possible, but with guitar at the end in place of clarinet.

Informal Discussions

A McCusker composition that clearly pays homage to The Beatles around “Rubber Soul” era. He and I made a home tape of it on the porch at 22 Whited Ave. in January 1978, and that was my reference point for the new recording. I even copied Jim’s original guitar solo note-for-note. He declined to sing it for the album, as he modestly downplayed its merits, so I took on the vocals, adding some harmony that wasn’t there in the original. The lyrics refer to Nick Minton, a Politics professor at U Lowell that Jim, Mick and I all had during our respective tenures there. His catchphrases, especially the enduring “Basic Thrust” are scattered throughout the song.

Don’t Sit On Turnips

I wrote this song in early 1980, and its one previous recording, a rough home demo with Jim McCusker on vocals, was made in March ‘80. For this studio remake, I rewrote the 2nd and 3rd verses, the latter of which makes a glancing reference to current political matters. The middle section, featuring Howlin’ Dave’s tenor again, is based on a short song I wrote in 1979 called English History that never really went anywhere but never quite disappeared either.

Lights In My Window

Another early (January-February) 1980 song, this time by McMillen. It tells the story of a Texas friend who had a bad experience during the visit of an old girlfriend, and spent some time under observation in an institution. It started with the “ex” shining a flashlight in his window, and ended with the official verdict “He’s not crazy, he’s just obnoxious.” Contains a verse that I consider one of the cleverest in ALL of popular music:

I read in Revelations that there will be signs

Flashing from the heavens at the end of Time;

Now you know I’m dreadin’

A date with Armageddon

When I see a window that shines!

SIDE B

Back To The Trees

We flip the record over and get to my “back-to-nature” song. The lines about “cell phones, SUVs, and cable TV” were written newly for this recording; the rest of it goes back to September 1980. The studio choir (Brent Godin, Bobby Briggs, Nick Kaffine) were brought in on the spur of the moment and added enthusiastic chanting at the end, as they did with It’s Another 27 on the previous side.

Second Thoughts

This is a Farrell composition from 1980, voicing the complex feelings arising from the demise of a relationship. It is pretty straightforward pop-rock, decorated by a Dave Ambrose sax solo in the middle.

Cokernauts

Rory Coker was Stephen McMillen’s Physics professor at University of Texas, and this homage to him was written shortly after Mick’s return to Massachusetts in early 1982. Mick and I made a home demo of it in May 1982. The style of the song always made me think “spacey” - equating Cokernauts with Astronauts, I suppose - and that was the atmosphere I aimed for in this version. Originally played by Mick on accordion, it is intentionally heavy on electric keyboards.

Slide Trombones

A very similar demo of this, recorded extemporaneously in June 2007, appeared that same year on a homemade CD called “WABR.” Standout features are a strong Cogswell vocal, surrealistic lyrics, and the insistent Latinish beat.

Iced Coffee

One of our favorite activities in the Summer of 1979 was making tapes to send to Mick in Texas. On a Saturday night in mid-August, McCusker and I were doing just that, working on a tape series he called “Many Things.” Late in the evening we found ourselves driving through downtown Lowell, taping in the car while looking for an open package store. Failing to find one, we drove to Jim’s brother John’s house to see what he was up to, and continued taping there into the wee hours. Thus it was, at a little after 1 a.m., we sat in John’s living room playing Beatles songs and making up off-the-cuff originals, including this paean to cold caffeine which relies heavily on what I call the “George Harrison chord,” G-diminished. The song was played only one other time, a brief remake taped in 2006, but I always really liked it, so revived it for E & O.

Katrina Blues

In late 2005, Don Cogswell wrote a set of lyrics criticizing the Bush Administration’s response to the hurricane disaster in New Orleans. Trying to come up with some fitting music, I applied a chord structure from a half-finished song dating back to 1998, and the words seemed to fit. I made a rough demo of it and gave it some thought, but did not proceed from there until the E & O album was in the planning phase. It may seem odd, in our current crazy political climate, to produce a song concerning a President who’s been out of office for over 10 years. But History is ever-present, and….well…..Better late than never!

SIDE C

Snowman Rag

A McCusker composition, and one of the very earliest Federation hits. Written around 1975 or ‘76, about a fellow ULowell student known for indulging in coke (the powdered variety). Like a traditional piano rag of the Scott Joplin school, it contains four different, brief musical sections, with a repeat of the initial strain to conclude.

Can’t Say Goodbye From Your Grave

This was a spontaneous creation at a home session in early Summer 2013. I had a chord riff going and Donny started singing some lyrics over it. That rough version appeared on a home demo CD called “Eye, Nose & Throat.” For the studio remake, I built up an arrangement from the original chords and asked Donny to add more lyrics.

Moonlight March

In the first week of January 1980, Mick was back in Massachusetts, visiting for the first time since his sojourn to Texas began in April ‘78. In a two-man jam session at my old home on East Street, Tewksbury, we recorded two of my originals and two of his. (My two both wound up on the first 4LT album in the early ‘90s.) One of Mick’s tunes was this classical-sounding instrumental. For ENDS & ODDS, we began to record it with “rock” instruments, but eventually it seemed more appropriate to go the “classical” route, so I took Mick’s composition and worked up this arrangement. He approved, and we went with it.

Comin’ After Me

When the Blizzard of '78 snow melted as suddenly as it had come down, the Concord River in Billerica flooded. Brian Farrell’s house was a victim. In his own words: “With 4 feet of water on the first floor everything was under water, including the fan. I wanted to blend other goings-on from this time period with the emergency year. So, when my friend Dave told this girl at a party that I really liked her but was too shy to do anything about it, she followed me around the rest of the night to the point of exhaustion. In the end, over the years, it was really the flood waters chasing me as I had problems with water everywhere I lived.” First home demo recorded in Fall 1978.

Yastrzemski Manifesto

The original demo from June 2007 had Cogswell reciting his lyrics over abstract musical backing, and wound up on the WABR CD. For this update, I used the musical theme of an instrumental track left over from the WEEN OF HALLO sessions. I think of this as the album’s “jazz” number.

Paul Darko

McCusker’s song about Cogswell’s neighbor, one of those lonely souls who winds up in a small shack surrounded by stacks of junk and newspapers piled halfway to the ceiling. The Darko song was one of the most frequently played Federation tunes over the years, and finally gets its due in the studio.

Funeral Music For Paul Darko

A semi-orchestral composition I wrote after Darko’s demise in 1990. And for the record, I did attend Darko’s funeral at Tewksbury Cemetery.

SIDE D

Expiration Date

This, the longest and most experimental track on the album, began as a Farrell-Pestana jam, done as a home demo in October 2017. Our work at that session actually began on another of Brian’s songs, a shorter piece not yet officially recorded. After that, we decided to do something spontaneous. Brian played guitar and I played electric piano (with drum machine) and we just let the tape roll for about 12 minutes. Brian had some lyrics with him, so we played the jam back and he made up a vocal to go on top of it. Brian explains further: “It's hard to put an exact date on it because it was six different writings from different moments over at least a five year period. The very last part, which includes the four seasons, was the first section written. Those four lines sat in a folder waiting for something to fill it out. The final piece, which became the opener, was written in the last two years and was inspired by my dog. These parts sat in the same folder for years. I was expecting to do each as a completely separate entity but had no idea what to do with them. Here were lots of images of death, nausea, and other images from my years with the League. The rest is history.” Indeed! We were both so impressed with the demo that we kept listening to it, sharing it with the other League guys. During this same time period, the LOE album “The Laugh of Grave Concern” was just being wrapped up, soon to be followed by The 4LT album, “Yearn.” With both those projects completed, I started thinking about the next project, knowing it would have to include a “for-keeps” studio version of Expiration Date. So, on July 12, 2018, at the first ENDS & ODDS session, we did the remake, with Brian on guitar again, myself on keyboards, Brent on bass, Howlin’ Dave on sax, and Gary on the cans. Once again, the jam came out to be about 12 minutes long, and then Brian did a great vocal overdub with the same lyrics.

Juvenal And Swift

Mick wrote this in September 1989, late in Federation days, when the songwriting well had seemingly run dry for the group as a whole. What a wonder it was, then, that a true masterpiece should emerge at that point. Like Snowman Rag (or certain Beatles models like Happiness is a Warm Gun), J & S is really a few different pieces of music stitched together into a whole, and indeed, the segues from one section to the next work to great effect, as the piece builds up musical momentum to a rocking finish. Lyrically, McMillen shows his poetic talent with a mix of melancholy musing and nostalgic sentiment (in the best sense), surveying the passing of time with at once a world-weary but world-wise eye, and concluding that Life, while deserving whatever bitter barbs a satirist like Juvenal or Swift might fling, also provides moments of tender beauty that give a romantic like Byron grist for his mill and keep us all going when nothing else will. One of my favorite Federation/League songs ever, top 5 at least.

Sign-Off

The Beatles’ White Album concluded with a Lennon song sung by Ringo, the orchestrated ballad, Good Night. We conclude ENDS & ODDS with our own “Good night” song, Sign-Off. This comes from 1986, when Mick was living in Somerville. I wrote it thinking about visits to him there, when we were still somewhat young and inclined to “party through the night.” For me, it almost instantly came to represent a feeling toward the Federation “band of brothers” as a whole. The music is purposely old-timey, not a natural style for yours truly, but one that I felt was appropriate for the theme. It certainly seems a fitting closer to this album.

In closing these notes, I must give special thanks to the “Friends of the League” who contributed greatly to the musical creation.

My longtime musical comrade, Dave Ambrose, played tenor sax on six of the tracks, sometimes ad-libbing, and sometimes, as on What’s So Good and Second Thoughts, employing his masterful sight-reading skills to execute a written score.

Brent Godin, who did all that could be asked in handling the complex engineering duties, went above and beyond by contributing electric bass parts on over half the songs, usually being asked to follow rough chord charts on the fly as we laid down basic tracks.

And Gary Gagnon, well - what can I say? We call on him to join us at the studio for these excursions into the mad, wild world of our original music, and for some crazy reason he never says No. Diving into songs he may not know at all, or barely knows from rough demos, he plunges in at the deep end, going with the flow wherever it leads, pulling rhythms and fills from his bag of rock & roll tricks and somehow making them match the needs of each individual song. The E & O sessions came at a time when he was dealing with some shoulder problems, and that makes his efforts all the more impressive. We look forward to having him back at full power in the near future.