Tortuga CDPS1004

Issued June, 1998

 

~ The Tracks ~

1.  Jeri (3:30)

2.  Uptown (3:15)

3.  The ApoCalypso In Rio de Janeiro (2:32)

4.  Quinn's Blues (4:46)

5.  Sherry (3:30)

6.   The ApoCalypso In Rio de Janeiro ("Calypso Mix") (2:32)

7.  Jeri (Unused Take One) (3:31)

 

 

~ Liner Notes ~

Ever since I began working with John Bockelman on his Rock Music Album in the Fall of 1984, he often told me about his old guitar playing friend Andy Quinn. John would say, "If Andy ever comes to town, which is once in a blue moon, we've got to grab him and record some stuff." And so it was that in March 1986, Andy left his home in Kansas City, Missouri for a Houston visit lasting just a few days. We "nabbed" him and recorded these tracks at my place, Rockstone Studio. We had little notice that Andy was coming. It all happened so fast that we had no time to prepare rhythm tracks in advance. Recording drums, bass and a scratch rhythm guitar or keyboard part is usually the best practice before bringing in lead guitar, and Andy turned out to be a great lead player. Therefore, we wound up doing everything (almost) "backwards." Andy and John recorded rhythm parts for four songs, Andy added lead guitar tracks to these and he went back to Kansas City. Andy's session took up one evening. The next sessions involved the addition of bass guitar to the four songs. Mike Gonzales played on "Quinn's Blues" one evening. John recorded bass for "The ApoCalypso in Rio de Janeiro" and "Uptown" on another evening and I recorded a bass part for "Jeri" on my own, on yet another night. I drug my feet while crafting the bass part for "Jeri," and I remember John telephoning me to say, "Hurry up! Frank's coming with his drums this weekend!"

I got the bass part ready in the nick of time, only a day or two before Frank Cebello came to lay down his drum tracks. This was going to be a tough job for him. Musicians need to follow a drum track while recording rhythm parts or else they can slow down and speed up. Yes, our tempo varied in spots but Frank did a Herculean job of smoothing it out. He recorded drums for "Jeri," "Quinn's Blues" and "Uptown" in one evening. Frank returned on another night with an assortment of percussion instruments for "The ApoCalypso." He'd had some sort of brainstorm for the percussion parts, where he and John would play together and fill two percussion tracks. We followed Frank's directions that night and it turned out great. John added vocals and extra keyboard tracks on subsequent evenings. ("The ApoCalypso" was originally sung "straight," but John recorded it with an accent at my request.) The sessions spanned no more than a week or two and, as I think the final product shows, we had great fun in the process. A little more than a year later, in 1987, John added new vocal tracks to "Jeri," replacing that name with "Sherry" as a special gift for a co-worker. Finally, this year, in June 1998 I remastered all the tracks for compact disc. These wonderful songs have rarely been heard until now, and I included an unused take of "Jeri," along with a special remix of "The ApoCalypso." Diverse is the key word I would use to describe this tiny collection. Ranging from blues ("Quinn's Blues") to the tropics ("The ApoCalypso In Rio de Janeiro") to pop ("Jeri" and "Sherry") to what is perhaps my favorite, the jazzy "Uptown," I am hard pressed to imagine a more varied set. My only wish is that we'd had more time with Andy, possibly to record a full album's worth of material. Andy has since passed on and we miss him, so we're grateful that he left this much behind with us. This disc is dedicated to Andy Quinn.

- Colin Kennedy

 

~ Credits ~

John Bockelman - all instruments and vocals except:

Andy Quinn - Lead and electric rhythm guitars

Frank Cebello - Drums and percussion

Mike Gonzalez - Bass guitar on "Quinn's Blues"

Colin Kennedy - Bass guitar on "Jeri" and "Sherry"

John Bockelman and Frank Cebello - Percussion on "ApoCalypso"

Recording engineered by Colin Kennedy at Rockstone Studio, Houston

Produced, remixed and digitally mastered for CD by Colin Kennedy

Promotional Use Only, Not For Sale