ROQUE: Albums: Not!

ROQUE: Not! (studio, 1991)

BUY IT:

$10 for CD, available by special order

The Songs

Do You Want It?/Fraud/Little Miss NYC/Daddy/Pink Shoes/Follow/I Want You Now/Always/Spider’s Web/Shadows/Asylum/I Won’t Bite/Raggedy Man/Dreamscape

Additional MP3 Singles:

Don't Hate the Players:

(L-R)

Cody Weathers: vocals, drums

Nick Walsh: guitar, bu vocals

John Speranza: guitar

John Fried: bass

Matt Preheim: keyboards

with:

Jason Kay: bass on I Won't Bite

Jan Miyake: piano on I Won't Bite

SJ Hasman: duet vocal on I Won't Bite

Union Street Jazz Choir: vocal ensemble for I Won't Bite, directed by Bill Erickson

Dan Langhoff: bu vocals on Shadows and Raggedy Man

MP-FREES:

None posted

Liner Notes:

Notes on the 2000 CD re-release of NOT!:

Right on the heels of their third lo-fi masterpiece, Checkmate, tensions within ROQUE reached critical mass. Überprodusser Cat Mayhugh had a polarizing effect on the very chemistry of the band, literally splitting it in half, as Fried, Speranza, Walsh, Preheim and Goff butted heads with songwriter Cody Weathers over the direction the band should take. Weathers favored a slicker, studio approach “It just seems like when you’re selling the number of albums we were, and you’re seeing producers and executives get fat off our songs.... it just seems like our recording budget should go from dozens of dollars to hundreds of dollars.” The other members of the band passionately opposed this notion. Said guitarist John Speranza, and avid devotee of the teachings of American microtonalist Harry Partch, in a gollumesque hissy growl, “Oh yes, I very much enjoyed working with Mr. Mayhugh. I looked forward to working with him again, and perhaps broadening my use of homemade instruments, such as my pedal rubber-band guitar, refrigerator box clapomatic rhythmizer, and transcontinental goo noiser.” However, Weathers threatened to void his contract for mere pennies on the peso, and so it was decided that the band would be allowed to fulfill album four of its 35-album deal with the first of many “greatest hits” collections, re-recorded entirely in-studio. Colby Goff reportedly burnt his guitar and stormed off into the backwoods near Breckenridge, CO, never to be heard from again. But the band played on.

Despite being played almost entirely by members of Level 42, this album really set the tone for future ROQUE/Flip Nasty studio ventures, featuring a thicker guitar sound, more elaborate vocals, and a free-spirited whimsy of arrangement.

The 9-song original album featured the most successful singles from Roque and Roll and Separate Ways as well as two previously-unreleased songs. On the 2000 CD re-release, these original songs have been augmented by 5 other songs: Shadows was originally on the basement side of As Rome Burns, as was Raggedy Man. Asylum was a demo for Checkmate that never ended up being recorded, but did find its way into the score of the 1992 play The Flower That Shattered the Stone, an alternate version of I Won’t Bite (original version on As Rome Burns) as performed by The Union Street Jazz Choir --who originally commissioned the song-- is included with Cody dueting with SJ Hasman, and finally, a demo for Dreamscape (recorded in preparation for 1996’s Archaeology) rounds out the bonus tracks, a song frequently cited in interviews as the turning point into Cody’s current harmonic system, written around the time of NOT’s recording.

Lyrics:

Do You Want It?: Fancy rolls, diamond rings, lots of women, lots of precious young things. Playground children eight years old can't kick the habit of the candy he sold. Dirty money from his crimes, he spells disaster with his criminal mind. Pre-Chorus: When he finds a victim, he gets that lust in his eyes. Gonna sell the substance 'til the day that he dies. He says.... Chorus: Do you want it? Would you lie to get it? Give me your bottom dollar and I'll give it to you. Do you want it? Would you lie to get it? Give me your bottom dollar and I'll see what I can do. See the girl? Ran away. But he's got tricks to make her stay. Sells her body on the street. He gives her crack and then he treats her like meat. She's alone, can't escape. One day it's torture and the next day it's rape. all her dreams down the drain, chasing the dragon flying up in her brain. Pre- Chorus/Chorus. See the blood on the street where the lead and flesh both meet. Nasty boys have nasty toys: assault machines make such a deadly noise. Don't be late when you pay or else he'll blow your f***ing head away. Living on borrowed time, but guns can't save his life this time.

Fraud: If you've got the time, he can tell you how to make a million. Join him in his crime. Buy or sell --he can make or kill you. He did well in school, always tied for top of his class. He says that it's cool; don't be a fool --one day he'll crash. Pre-CH: Gamble your life, roll of the dice, give him your money: he won't stop you. He knows it's wrong, you're taking too long. Walk away now 'cause you can't later. Chorus: The police came to arrest him and they're charging him with fraud. He won't have to say anything --he's protected by the law. The judge brings down his gavel --gives him twenty years for fraud. He set out to make money, but to steal's against the law. Other side of town, he's licking stamps --sending mail to widows. He says that he's found just what they need --clearly all his lies show. He takes a hold of grief. Blind from tears, they give him all their money. Like an autumn leaf, he blows away --he'll be back come next year. Pre- CH/Chorus. Down in cell block B, he cools his heels, waiting for parole time. Plans for when he's free. All new bad deals, waiting for a new crime.

Little Miss NYC: Now I find, alone again, memory is my only friend. I wonder if this ever ends --it leaves a scar that never mends. Pack my bags, get on a plane, try to sort what's in my brain, seek my fortune, seek my fame, make somebody know my name. You've got to have talent, you've got to have friends, you've got to be in the right place at the right time, got to stick it out 'til the very end. CH:Little miss New York City, my, you sure are pretty. I know I treated you bad, but don't you feel so sad --I love you. Letters sent, but none returned; deep inside the pain still burns. I guess I'll have to wait her turn --I'm alone, but still I yearn. Cut my feelings with a knife, sticking thorns into my life. I tried to do what would be right; I loved her, now I pay the price. I try to have patience until my heart mends. I'm going to break down the walls with endless love, going to stick it out 'til the very end.

Daddy: When Daddy gets home, I think he's been drinking. that means he don't know just what he's thinking. I know that he loves me, I know that he cares, but when I hear those creaking stairs, I know I'll be blue, I'll be black and blue. When crying is done, I'm empty inside. I know I can't run, I know I can't hide. 'Cause this is my house --it's daddy's house, too. But when I hear those creaking stairs, I know I'll be blue, I'll be black and blue. Mommy is gone, she left in a hurry. Now I need someone to take all my worries. I know that he cares. I know I do too. But when I hear those creaking stairs, I know I'll be blue, I'll be black and blue. Daddy, Daddy do you love me? Please tell me you do. Daddy, daddy do you love me? 'Cause I love you even though I'm black and blue.

Pink Shoes: Dim lights, loud noise, leather skirt, fun toys. Party time, Pink Shoes, yes no, she;ll choose. Long legs, figure eight, like to dance, getting late. Nice hair, giver her 10, 11, 12, then again.... Party time, Pink Shoes, strip poker, my rules. CH: I'm no snake in the grass, come on and take a chance --life leaves us much too fast to not ever dance. Come on, Pink Shoes, you know that you can't lose. Pick up all the clues, only one way to choose. Hot flesh, cold blood, all sweat no fun. Party time, Pink Shoes, one by one, two by two. Dark eyes, dark hair, wet lips, hot stare. Party time, Pink Shoes, wasted time, sad blues. CH. Get it on, take it off, love to watch the way you walk. Party time, Pink Shoes, flip a dime, pay your dues. Smile more, life's fast --have fun and make it last. Party time, Pink Shoes, blank dice can't lose.

Follow: Pride is very hard to try to swallow. From time to time, it is shoved down my throat. I look at you look it him with such sorrow, and I know I can't make you like before. Now I wish I'd listened when you'd spoken. Now I taste the salt of my own tears. I tried so hard to find a way into your heart --melting ice with fire, I got seared. Chorus: Follow your heart - -if it leads you to me, I'll be happy. Follow your heart --if it takes you from me, I'll accept. Far away, a heart can bridge great distance. In her hand, I read her love for me. When I write, I pay her great attention --her reply is love on which I feed. Telling her to wait, I am impatient. These are not the words that I belive. I could say I love her in an instant. I will regret this tapestry I weave. I need someone to rescue me or I think I will explode. Chorus. You've got a bright red indicator; I'll set it off here sooner or later. I'll keep an eye on what happens in between. I try to kiss you but you pull away. You want to save it for a rainy day. I lock it up, but I don't throw away the key. You're giving signals, but you're missing the signs. I think it's time that you realized there's more to life than what you see on your TV. I like your smile and your eyes are great. i'd love to hold you --I can hardly wait. A piece of you keeps control of all of me.

I Want You Now: Going for a walk, I'll try to sort what's in my mind. You always say you want to talk but never have the time. You always want to call me, but you've never got a dime. You're making me look guilty when there really is no crime. I try to make ammendments, but I end up all alone. I try to read between the lines but nobody's home. Hey you, listen to me. Talking to you, can't you see that I'm in love and can't shake free. Stuck on you, so you're stuck with me. Desperation strikes a glancing blow, car won't start and it's ten below, but here you are, so whaddya know. How much time before you go? Chorus: I want you now, here with me. I want you now --set me free. I want you now, on my knees. I want you now, begging please. Hey, baby, what do you need? I can give you a ride --I aim to please. When you smile, that's enough for me, so how's life been for you this week? Count on me when things get rough, help me out when my life's tough. So here you are with your pretty, pretty eyes, nothing around but the open skies. Chorus. Pretty, pretty doll with the black dress on, talk with me before you're gone. Pretty, pretty queen, take this pawn --talk to me before the dawn. Lost this one, I'll try again --I won't give in until I win. But here you are, not a thing to wear. Come with me, 'cause I don't care.

Always: No money baby, that's just me --living my life and taking my time. You're beautiful, it's plain to see. I'd love to let your curtains down and make you mine. I'm easy to understand. Easy to talk to when you need a friend. Think it over, baby: I'm a good plan. I could just touch you forever. Pre-Chorus: Money's green but love is blind. Close your eyes and see me. I will always find the time. Take a step believe me. Chorus: You know that I will always hold you, even when you're growing old. And you know that I will always warm you, even when it's very cold. You know that I will always cheer you, even when it's looking dark, and you know that I will always want you, even when we're far apart. Always, I'll love you always. Even when it's dark and cold, I'll love you always. Long hair, but baby that's just me living my life and being myself. You're beautiful, it's plain to see. I could be with you in sickness and health. I'm easy to get to know --easy to figure, got nothing to hide. You're funny and you're never slow. I could just hold you forever.

Spider's Web: It can sing the sweetest song, it lures you from the path into the woods. It can play games with you and make you think that no control is good. It can take memory and burn it up like kindling in a fire. It can take solitude and forge it into chains of your desire. CH: It takes you high, takes you high as a kite, but it blows you apart like a spider's web. It can take a faithful friend and steal his brain and throw it to the wind. It can take a shallow scar and cut it up and never let it mend. It can take an honest man and make him kill five kids with his new car. It can take a jealous man and in a rage, he hits his wife too hard. CH. Come on in, sweet Alice, said the Hatter who's quite mad. Step inside my parlor, have some tea, now don't be sad. And when you're quite electric, we can throw you to the dogs. These sort of magic kisses turn the princes into frogs, and if the Cheshire Cat seems to grin, he grins at you, for somewhere you have lost your dress - -now please don't look so blue. Ambrosia from the bottle is everyone's favorite drug, so have some tea, sweet Alice, this is everybody's drug. CH. It can take a quiet man and make him share his secrets with the fools. It can take a pretty lamb and make her throw herself unto the wolves. It can take a trusting man and make him kill the first thing that he sees. It can take the wisest man and bring him to his knees.

Shadows: Out of bed at nine, her features are sublime burned inside my mind. love is not so kind. I whistle to myself, but my mind is somewhere else --where I cannot tell, but it's probably just as well. Well, my beating heart, we're falling quite apart, don't run back to the start over at square one. CH: The light is far away, and her face is hard to see. I fall in love with shadows, and they fall in love with me. Roses in my blood, she throws them like a flood. I sit and watch them run into the setting sun. Sun inside her eyes, I try to act surprised, but she can read my mind, and I am left behind. Hiding in the dark, she flashes like a spark and tries to leave her mark upon my longing heart. Well, my fragile heart, we're falling quite apart, don't run back to the start over at square one. CH. Forgive me, Miss Disaster if you catch me look your way, there was something I might ask you if you wanted it that way. I'm sorry, Miss Reaction that I like your pretty face. If I thought it would offend you, I would choose some other place.

Asylum: It's been 16 days since I put you away. Now I must sleep and I must see you in that dream again. You hold your arms as if to catch a falling star, but then I see the blood. Rain runs red, river's dry. There is no life within your bones as I stand over you. The eyes that held the tears of life, no more than misty dew. I walk away, I do not feel you on my bloody hands. I had to help you, can't you see? Please forgive me. As I walk through the darkened woods, the trees close on my trail. in the distance, near the moon, I hear the coyotes wail. I am surrounded by the thoughts of what you have not done. I cannot piece you like a puzzle --I can't make you one. and as I shiver, I am cold, but you are colder still. Now you are safe, you are so safe. The tears upon my face are from the rain --I cannot cry. You must forgive me. understand and please forgive me. You cannot laugh at me, don't you understand? I told you once before not to laugh again. I am surrounded by the lights, so bright I close my eyes. They try to look inside my brain like bloody, bloody spies. I'm not allowed to speak. They tell me I must go away. They lead me to a room and tell me I must stay. They say I hurt you, but I know that I have set you free. Find your asylum, please forgive me.

I Won't Bite: What you want from me is all right. What you get from me is all night. But don't ever try to tell me that you're running out of time --I won't bite. Little Red Riding Hood's been messing with your mind. Wolf in sheep's clothing --that's not me, I think you'll find. I'll show you my pearlies but I won't bite. Little Red Riding Hood's not falling for that line. I know you much too well to let you in this time. If I keep my door closed then you won't bite. Step in my parlor, you're no spider. You're no fly. I hope I can trust you. Cross my heart and hope to die. And if you are careful, you can bite. But if you must bite me, do it right.

Raggedy Man : She wonders where I've been. As usual I have harsh words --leapt before I looked. The thin walls don't block as well as my thick head. Still my temper cooks. She wonders when I'll change --as usual I would die first. Or let her slip away. I broke the camel's back, she tells me to drop stone dead, and that was yesterday. Chorus: Holes in my jeans where my knees should be, holes in my heart where she should be. I'm a raggedy man, raggedy man. Lay me to sleep, sweet angels. I take a thinking walk through puddles of old, stale rain. I will never learn. I step into the bar, looking for nothing new, still my temper burns. One more bottlecap, one more bottle drained and voices in my ear. Women leave like bottles, used up like nothing new. I wish it weren't so clear. Chorus. It's all the same. Every single day, I wipe the tears away, but even then they stay. I make a big mistake, it's something I'll never fix. I try to say goodbye. My fingers turn to ice as the tide of my life sweeps out. It's so easy not to try. I'm drifting into peace, the hand on the clock still ticks as I melt into the sun. I hope she understands. I hope that she has no doubts that justice now is done. Chorus.

Dreamscape: It's an all-out mad confusion running rings around my heart: if I touch you, you're illusion, tender ether I am bruising. If I'd learned to play the cello, then I could've been the star looking down upon you, hello Miss Victoria dressed in yellow gown -- big eyes like tidepools full of moonlit skies, Chorus: Pretty little bird. I am drifting through the buds of spring trees and you are bent over something ominously sensual --I can't see what it is. You are wearing a green shirt which, as I near, I recognize as mine. Your hair is darker than usual in the bright light of the blue sun. And your big eyes are engulfed in the wavering shadow of the canopy of leaves sifting light as a hand through deep water. Gesturing with your silken hand and blowing kisses on a butterscotch knoll, you invite me to teatime on the knoll, where soon we languish supine in sleep. Chorus. Sift now the sands of this moonshore. The sun wilts as a dandelion in fields of tar. Sip now the champagne of pearl-bedded streams fed by rain the hue of morning skies. Willow whistle, ivy rustle, distant thunder booms accord. Hear now the hiss of uncut wheat. Taste now apples off the old tree. Laying in the chaff of the harvest moon, this is your sweat upon my sheets. Chorus. Break my heart. I'll convince myself I don't need you. Cut my throat, you zombies with your pheromone drunken stench. Haunting my life with telephones, reaching through the pillow into my head. paranoid me never trust this rancid game, chess never mumbledypeg, this is a lie, this is a lie. Chorus. Always you shall be queen of this desolate man, me, pressed flat by the weight of your foot. I expose my defenses for love. Slay me, for I have no will to move on. If I cannot sip of you I shall not drink. Bury me in chains, I have no will to stop you. Chorus. So beautiful this poison --to taste it, men would die. And so I must leave, never to sip again this philter I have spent my life upon. Kiss me or my heart will surely crack. Stab me 'fore I rip myself in two. Understand this fractal dreamscape, and I will wait inside for you.

Listening Log:

This album was our first taste of the heroin that is re-recording. It's also our first studio album, recorded on 16-track analog at the now-defunct Audioworks Studio with perennial nice guy Bill Prentice engineering. We went in wanting to have what amounted to a greatest hits album, but because I was super-cocky about how great Checkmate sounded, I didn't put any Checkmate songs on the list.

Do You Want It?: It's odd to look back on certain songs that were the "go to" song of a particular period of the band and realize that you haven't played them in years. We would've played this song at every gig --probably as the finale.

Fraud: or, as Fried calls it, "Frog."

Little Miss NYC: Despite being ridiculously simple to play, this one has somehow stood the test of time. We didn't have enough time or available tracks to add all the backup vocals I intended on this recording, but I added them on the Songs You Hate version. I had a little something brewing with a girl named Laurie, then she moved to New York, and I sent her some embarassing letters, and ultimately had to let go of whatever ridiculous dream I was dreaming.

Daddy: My poor father had to endure more than one speculative concern on my behalf. Just to set the record straight, when I heard those creakin' stairs, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Total political song without a point. It's my Luka, only missing any insight. We liked playing this song for the outro.

Pink Shoes: This was originally written and recorded for Separate Ways, and heralded a new age of more challenging Fried bass parts after he nailed the slap intro without flinching. I like the music a lot, although the verse lyrics make me cringe for my awkward, sexually frustrated 15-year old self. Good chorus, though. Good job zit-face, nice chorus. O'Meara and I had a bunch of what would now be termed "stalkees" in our enormous high school --attractive girls we tracked with radio collars and gave cutesy pet names to. Pink Shoes was such a subject of our ongoing study. O'Meara now observes things through telescopes for a living, and I've been third author (without whom nothing gets done) on several studies about something-or-other medical in nature!

Follow: Every greatest hits album needs some new material, right? Speranza cooked up a great guitar sound for that rhythm part. This is the first real example of the new pattern of my song arrangement: bass playing a more melodic line, one rhythm guitar, keyboard and lead guitar playing contrapuntal lead lines (or else keys covering chords on "piano songs"). The endless cycle of painful rejection I weathered in high school scarred me in such a beautiful way.

I Want You Now: I didn't plagiarize, but I found plenty of inspiration in Motley Crue's "Slice of Your Pie" (that is a truly awesome song) when writing this. Typical of my writing, I desperately wanted to write these fantastic, crunchy, heavy metal songs, but always ended up with quirky nerd rock. Go figure.

Always: This remains Vaunne's favorite song and version of my entire opus masterverk. I tell her, "but such-and-such is actually about *you*; don't you like it better?" "That one's OK, I guess, but Always is your best one. And not the new one with all the mumbling and ape screaming, but that other older one." I would've totally hooked her for life in high school! I would've snagged her!

Spider's Web: Another classic entry in the family favorite "what the heck is he saying" game. Speranza's interpretation "it can take shower scum and cut it up and never let...." Actual words: a shallow scar. Unlike other social commentaries of mine, this one about alcohol actually had some deep personal resonance for me, so it's remained a favorite. Not that I hit it out of the park, lyrically. A fun bridge, and fun song to play live with the full band.

Shadows: this was originally from the B-side of As Rome Burns, which was recorded karaoke-style again. That's Dan Langhoff from Shadows on backup vocals (he also sang backup on the original version of "Raggedy Man" in the same session). That's Speranza's solo. This song is about the illusion of love packed in a crush.

Asylum: This was a demo that was hiterto unreleased, and proof that I'm still not immune from making song selection errors. It has no place on an actual CD for release. A fictional murderous lament. I'm playing all of the keyboard parts. I like the song, and it'll eventually be a good Box Set entry, but this version has some serious flaws. We never practiced this song, although I did use a piece of it in the score for "The Flower That Shattered The Stone" since it's so gosh darn moody and atmospheric.

I Won't Bite: This is the Union Street Jazz version of this song, featuring SJ Hasman in the other half of the duet. She was a no-show for the karaoke As Rome Burns session of this song, so as they say, duet no more.

Raggedy Man: Also from the karaoke-style B-side of As Rome Burns, and also featuring Dan Langhoff on vocals. I was having --as I often did-- a lot of trouble getting a clean take of the bridge of this song. One big drawback of the karaoke-style recording is that the entire overdub has to be kept or discarded, you can't "Punch In" (re-record a small portion of the track to correct a mistake). Becasue of that, when I finally got a good take, we had to keep a couple of Dan's mistakes (starting two choruses with "holes in my heart" instead of "holes in my jeans"). This is about a drunk, abusive, cheating man regretting what he's done, and wondering if he should kill himself.

Cody Weathers

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