It was a LONG time comin'...but FINALLY! after 22 years, the original album titled "Experimental Asylum (A Soundtrack to the Movie in Your Mind)" has been re-mixed, re-mastered, revived, re-worked, and now re-published! A few of the original songs got kinda lost along the way and a few new ones got added including a couple or three very nice surprises. In "the Noodling Sessions" portion of the album "ANIceBlueSky" is an especially enjoyable little blues instrumental and "Ni Hao Baby" (in ALL it's myriad variations!) is boppy, upbeat and fun. A more "mellow and subdued" sound can be found in "Song Without Words #2" and even more so in "Song Without Words En Espanol" and "Walkin' Down Erzatz with the Birds". Most of the songs were recorded under live conditions and occasionally (especially on one of the songs....!) you might hear a mildly over-exhuberant guitarist tapping his foot near the mic stand or some other 'live' background sound. Hopefully, most of the "ear nails" have been pulled and your listening experience will be a pleasant one. There was much debate on whether to include the 53 minute "original soundtrack" which, by the way, is the one and only track on Disc #2. What was finally decided was to blend the original recordings with brand new recordings as a sort of additional "experiment" in order to maintain a certain "continuity of flow" beginning and fully developed in 1988 and culminating now, 22 years later in a two disc, dual format set which includes 16 songs, plus bonus mp3's and videos, as well as liner notes and a picture or three. Both discs are in dual format and there are PC accessible "BONUS!" files on each of them.
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ANNOTATED SCRIPT for "Experimental Asylum (A Soundtrack to the Movie in Your Mind)"
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The original recording was produced in the summer of 1988 the same weekend that the Monsters of Rock Tour was playing at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio. I really did live only a mile away and could hear the sound-check & tuning, as well as the performances. I had several songs written and ready for recording at the time and started the project that morning. There is a kernel of truth in all the various comments made in the script. It WAS the first record temperature day of the summer, the Monsters of Rock WERE blasting only a mile away, temperatures (according to the radio) WERE measured at up to 118 degrees in the stadium, scores of people DID collapse from the heat and the worst cases WERE "choppered" out, etc. My main focus in the project was the song "It's So Hot (I'd Like to Sit in an Ice Cream Cone)" which was created at the kitchen table where I was sitting at around 9:30 that morning sweating to beat the band and I wasn't even moving or exerting ANY sort of effort. Just across from the Rubber Bowl is (was?) a famous (in Akron, anyway!) frozen yoghurt stand called Stricklin's. I was thinking, 'It's so hot...I think I'll go to Stricklin's and get an ice-cream cone...NO! I'd like to SIT in an ice-cream cone!' and there was the song! The songs "LA", "Jammin' By the Lake" and "the Aftermath" are the result of the "experimentation" being conducted as the day progressed. The rest of the music, also "experimental" in nature is recently produced and was blended in to "fill out" the album.
EXPERIMENTAL ASYLUM - Script
Note: Times shown are location indicators. NOT "track" length"!
(Bell/Gong/Drip and very annoying sound fading into "frogs" at the lake...)
ACT 1 - Scene 1 “Welcome” (2:19)
(Sound of large door opening with creaking groan and inrush of air)
Host:
“Welcome to the asylum. Everyone has gathered by the lake for this evening’s lecture. Just follow the path and the sound of the frogs. Your room is being prepared for you. Enjoy your stay.” (Evening lake sounds)
ACT 1 - Scene 2 “This Evening’s Lecture” (3:12)
Lecturer:
“It seems that the radical and/or rebellious aspect inherent in much of 20th Century neoclassical music focused more on the FEELING of the music rather than on any psychic and/or intellectual aspect that might otherwise be found in it or elsewhere. Excluding the obvious role of the psyche in receiving the so-called “feeling input”, and more importantly, then interpreting it in such a way that relevance might be derived and some benefit obtained. Otherwise it may only be just simply, “…a good tune, interesting beat, easy to dance to.”
Song 1 – "Good Tune Interesting Beat Easy To Dance To" (4:16)
Announcer: (8:20)
“Our special guest tonight is here to share a few moments with you in reminiscence of the phantasmagorical past present and future tense all wrapped up in quark heaven and brought to you by the Sponsor of the Whole Show. Now without further doo-wop-diddy, here he is with the latest rage in World Bop, top of the scoop with a frosted sugar cone, “It’s So Hot I’d Like to Sit in an Ice-Cream Cone”.
Song 2 - "Interlude #1" (8:35)
News Anchor: (11:52)
“We interrupt this meaningless drivel to bring you this senseless report from our slow-moving, LIVE!, man-at-the-scene, ex-private detective, now Jack-of-Many-Irons-in-the-Fire, Arnold Paganini. Uh, Arnold?”
ACT 1 – Scene 3 “Warmed and Waiting on Standby”
Narrator:
“It was the first record temperature day of the summer and, to make things even worse, the humidity was a slow…raking…eighty-three percent. The Monsters of Rock were blasting only a mile away and the sea of black-shirted spike-heads was throbbing in molten rhythm to the pulse of metal monsters maniacally modulating the mental morass of thousands of faithful worshipers ecstatic at the near presence of their chosen gods. My equipment was warmed and waiting on standby. I decided to play something compatible with the heat . . . something . . . tropical . . . yes! Reggae, of course! Quite appropriate . . .
Song 2 – It’s So Hot (I’d Like to Sit in an Ice-Cream Cone!) (12:55
ACT 2 – Scene 1 “Awesome Anticipation” (21:18)
Arnold:
“Temperatures have been measured at up to 118 degrees in and near the center of the milling turmoil of frenetic bodies quivering in awesome anticipation of tonight’s main attraction, the illustrious Edwig Van and the Multiple Wavelengths. Scores of people have collapsed from the heat and Red Cross volunteers are having trouble caring for everyone. A sort of triage system seems to have been initiated and the worst cases are being choppered out to various facilities equipped to handle them.
With the twilight of dusk beginning to shimmer and sparkle overhead, the frenzied fever pitch of sight and sound mingled with an indefinable aura of something about to happen. My best strategy for an effective countermeasure seemed to indicate the need for an “Improvisational Gestalt”. A rhythm contrived around a Muzette Jazz Waltz motif seemed to be as good as any and to keep things mildly interesting I decided to start with a Fine, Fat and Full, F Major chord and let it lead the way…”
Song 4 – Improvisational Gestalt (23:09)
Song 5 - Interlude #2 (27:37)
ACT 2 – Scene 2 – “They’re Still Out There” (28:15)
Arnold:
“They’re still out there like smoked sardines lying fetid and festering frying in the seething sun. Chaotic screams blend into shrieking silence deafening the senses to the knowledge of what it’s really all about. And now, as we wonder what that could possibly mean . . .”
Song 3 - La (28:35)
Announcer: (33:12)
Tonight's Main Attraction! The illustrious EDWIG VAN and the Multiple Wavelengths!
Song 4 - Edwig Van and the Multiple Wavelengths (33:30)
ACT 3 – Scene 1 – “The Aftermath” (38:40)
Arnold:
“And so, with the moon full and bright, and the sun, too, far away on the other side of the planet, they departed the enchanted realm. Some frantic . . . listless . . . consumed with sheer and utterly horrified delight. Simple, hysterical, and overcome. Others calm, vibrant and unconscious, and many quite nauseated while the vast majority remained acquiescent and downright together leaving the scene littered and abstract with the effluvia common to most large gatherings of humanity. Balance had been well maintained and wondrous creation became manifest, as is so obviously evident. I decided to experiment just another small step further and, being after midnight, it was without much effort that “the Aftermath” became REAL.
Song 5 – the Aftermath (40:22)
ACT 3 - Scene 2 (44:40)
Host:
“Well . . . Well, that was fun wasn’t it? We hope you’ve enjoyed your stay. Please feel free to come again, anytime.”
(Evening lake sounds)
Act 3 – Scene 3
Song 6 – It’s So Hot/Ni Hao Baby (reprise) (45:27)
here it is with a segue to a 'zippy' "Ni Hao Baby" called "Ni Hao Zippy Baby", heheheh...and, of course the frogs
make another appearance. This version of "It's so Hot" is actually the main song on the original album and the main
song on this album is the reprise of "It's So Hot" on the original album. To wrap things up I decided to cross-fade
out with the Bic lighter bellgongdrip and the rather annoying sound. So there you have it. Not sure what you can
DO with it...but you've got it anyway. 它是所有好 !
(Bell/Gong/Drip and very annoying sound fading with music)
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