Compositions 1978-present
1978-1985:
"Dilemma" [1979]
The first serious compositions were written for Newlight. The band began in the ashes of Spectra (aka Phase) which disintegrated in early 1979 (see the ". . . Musical Endeavors"page for further information on any of the bands mentioned). I was already listening to the next wave of progressive bands like those connected with Rock In Opposition and what I was writing reflected this harder edged, more obscure style. My first completed piece was called "Dilemma." It was about five minutes long and was mostly in 5/4. The middle section, using the cliché device we called "the ethereal section," had Matt's guitar flanged, Tony playing a pleasant enough melody on the synth part of the organ/Moog combo keyboard he was using at the time, and me on a Floyd-ish type vocal. This flew right into a Crimson-esque guitar chord wake-up call with Tony improvising wildly on the synth. Tony always hated playing this part for some reason. He lobbied heavily for us not to include it when we opened up for National Health. We did play it at our second Main Point gig in June 1980. It was recorded during the sessions we did with Brad Hall during a thunderstorm. A severe clap of thunder threw us off just before the wild coda. We didn't have time to record another take, but the one recording survives albeit slightly flawed.
"My Hobby" [1980]
This is a somewhat legendary abandoned piece, owing to the inspiration for it and the tortured history of it's aborted composition. The idea came from a story Cathi told me about a veteran from the Vietnam war who was caught stalking Asian women. I wanted to make it a kind of theater piece. The main progression, which became "Mike's progression" only because none of us could figure out what else to do with it after "My Hobby" was abandoned, was constructed from chords I liked from John Abercrombie's "Timeless" and Greg Lake's "In the Beginning." Gary was supposed to sing the stalker part ("Every day I go to work on time...") and I was going to do the screaming parts. Part of the bass line was based on incidental music from several Looney Tunes (Carl Stalling and Shecky Green were Newlight's patron saints).
"When I Get Out of Line (Breathe Again)" and "That's Right" [ca. 1981]
Needless to say, the music that A-Four-40 played wasn't really what I was into at the time, but it was still sometimes fun. Some of Gary's songs like "Wildlife" (although I did get to play a fun reggae drum part) and "What's Going On" (a really dreadful ska-type song) really didn't excite me. However, I did get to play some keyboards when Ed played drums and we played some horrible gigs that I can look back on and laugh (sometimes) now. Also, I got to sing lead (weakly) on these two songs. "That's Right" was particularly fun. Originally, I thought it was based on a bass line Sterling started to goof with at a rehearsal, but after reading the first update of this part of our website, Ed reminded me that it was him, goofing on some Adam Ant-like drum bits, that got us going. I came up with the melody, such as it was. "When I Get Out of Line" was not very memorable , but I wrote it so I have to live with it. It was about being in a suffocating relationship, but it was not autobiographical. No, really, it wasn't.
"No Ambition" [1983]
This one was written while we were reforming as The Wire Service. Gary always liked this song. It was one of my few ballad-like attempts, even though it was still on the dreamy side. When Private Sector was still billing itself as the reformed version of Newlight, we segued into this song from one of Matt's instrumental pieces (a mutated version of which he still plays during his solo guitar sets), in which I was playing flute. The quick-change was done by lightly striking a cymbal with the flute to give me a chance to pick up the sticks. We played this during the second Newlight (Private Sector) radio concert for WXPN in 1984.
"Who's to Blame?" and "Bitter Days" [1984-5]
A lot of the music from what was to become Private Sector were collaborations (of a sort) with Tony. He wrote the music and I did the words and singing. Later the music came from improvisations, with me writing the words and singing. Private Sector's ill-fated attempted fusion of psychedelic punk and progressive rock was an uneasy coalition. These two pieces were the only ones I composed totally, I think. Neither was very memorable, as I recall. The refrain (aka "chorus") for "Who's to Blame?" went "I never tried to run / I never hurt anyone / But never blocked the sun from your eyes").
The Studio Vheissu Compositions
1985 to present:
Attack of the Morning Glories
This was what the first collection of pieces from Studio Vheissu was going to be called. The name came from a young lady who worked at the Postal Service with me around this time who was incensed that her neighbors morning glories were growing up and over her side of the fence that divided the two properties. Personally, I think morning glories are beautiful and this would not have bothered me, but this young lady was very agitated, which was her natural state, apparently. Some parts were composed before the Atari ST was purchased (April 1987). These bits were done on the very limited sequencer on the Sequential Circuits MultiTrak, which I bought at the same time as the Ensoniq Mirage (September 1985). I called these sketches that were done this way "nuisances." Some of these nuisances were transferred to the computer and work began on constructing whole pieces in the spring of 1987. One of the first things that was written was the bass line and choir parts for "The Flat Earth Prelude," which was added to and reworked for eventual inclusion on my tape, Above the Chaos . Other pieces that were written around this time that survived were "Insects" (started late summer 1987, still unfinished), "The Poisoned Purse" (included on the tape), and the ever-changing "Piltdown People Don't Throw Rocks." The name for this collection was abandoned when it became clear that these pieces were turning into creatures a bit more wild. Come to think of it, I probably should have stuck with it - I still like the name. Oh, well.
Above the Chaos
The pieces that were included on the tape Above the Chaos were mixed and mastered to DAT from November 1993 to January 1994. The first attempt to mix them (to HiFI VHS) was made during the summer of 1993, but the sound quality of that effort was very poor, so it was done from scratch after I acquired the DAT machine in September. The tape was released through the Creative Musicians Coalition in the summer of 1994 and sold a few copies.
"The Flat Earth Prelude" [2.26]
This was the first composition that was finished using the ST and the SMPTE Track MIDI software. It was the most gentle piece that was finished for the tape, so I thought it fitting that it be the first one on it.
"Piltdown People Don't Throw Rocks" [8.06]
Work on this gnarly bastard began in the fall of 1987 and I was still tweaking it during its latest incarnation which was remixed during the fall of 2000. It is still one of those pieces that people I've played it for respond to, even though it is one of the craziest pieces I've ever written. There are many meter changes throughout and the solo sections (for clarinet and trumpet) propel it through some rough territory.
"Never Say Always" [10.47]
The inspiration for this came from being told that my friend Michael Scheip was going to be a priest. The name kind of says it all. It's as progammatic as I get. The occasionally very unchurchfully syncopated organ lines pursue an unbalanced dialectic with the freer, more lyrical flute dancing around the full string orchestra chords, low ghostly voices that sound something like those gutteral Buddhist chants, and higher voiced angelic chorus. The flute was meant to sound birdlike. The drum parts are a bit strange and attempt to go beyond mere timekeeping, which isn't all that strange for me, actually.
"The Poisoned Purse" [7.28]
Geez, what a mess this piece was! The three melody lines (for oboe, alto sax, and French horn) got hopelessly tangled up and some extensive recomposing was done when this piece was rerecorded in the spring of 2000. In 1993, though, it was my least favorite of those that ended up on the tape. Cathi always though the melodies, especially at the beginning, sound sort of like birds. When I thought about it, the opening oboe part does sound a bit like a Red-Winged Blackbird. I always did like Olivier Messiaen and Eric Dolphy.
"Cut-Up #1" [2.05]
This and its counterpart below were culled from an improvisation that I recorded via MIDI from my old Ensoniq Mirage (mono) keyboard in July of 1987. Using techniques adapted from William Burroughs and Brion Gysin writings, I used the sequencer to piece together two pieces for solo piano. People that are not to familiar with progressive music seem to rather like them more than some of the denser pieces.
"Tipper's Twat" [2.40]
This was another problematic piece and the drum part, to my ears in 2001, seems a bit boring and will be recomposed when this one is rerecorded. The title is simply "T.T." around the faint of heart and on the cassette cover. It was written long before Mrs. Gore was the second lady or the almost first lady. It came from a time when she was one of the "Washington wives" that objected so much to naughty music. Eventually, there were congressional hearings at which the late Frank Zappa testified. I thought she deserved the title and I still do.
"Cut-Up #2" [4.04]
This is the more melodramatic resequencing of the material in the piano improvisation described above. I still like this one, too.
"Beneath the Layers of Lies" [6.24]
Before the tape was released, I had a hard time deciding whether this piece should be first or last. It is still my favorite of the pieces that went on the tape and, at the time, it was the most recently composed. A gong splash, followed by two contrapuntal bass lines screech into the drums , trumpet and flute. The melodies from the two lead instruments lead into a more straight ahead section dominated by a horn solo. The middle section's trumpet solo, with some small percussion instruments to push it along, is wild! The horn parts were originally thought to be the basis for vocal parts and still may be if the piece is rerecorded.
Music from a Frozen World
