Cody Weathers

The Stunt Beatles: 2x3<4 (studio, 2000)

2x3<4 is intended to be taken aurally.  Remove disc from case and place --reflective side down-- into a physician-approved dosage-administration device such as a CD player.  When taken as directed, relieves symptoms of Stunt Beatles Fever (SBF), a chronic condition wherein an initial viral attack upsets the delicate balance of doldramine within the central nervous system, leading to irritability, restlessness, insomnia, and incessant humming. This album works by binding to the doldramine receptor sites which are damaged by the SBF virus. This amazing process inhibits the doldrification of the bloodstream and allows the body's natural antibodies, funnites A & B, to gain momentary control.  Should be taken once daily.  Continued doldrification may indicate more advanced SBF.  In this case, please increase the volume of this medication.  It is not necessary to consult a physician prior to cranking it.  Not intended for use as a suppository.

Lyrics:

Listening Log:

This was, on several different levels, the best side project band I was ever involved in.  Hal Mortensen and I had a very good professional relationship, and I'm very happy with how this album came together.  In reviewing these songs, I'll mostly focus on my approach as a producer, since they are mostly not mine.

Round the Bend: One of Hal's originals, co-written with members of a former band.  This is an example of this album's "default ensemble:" dry acoustic guitar panned hard lef& right (mic on one side, pickup on the other), djembe just off-center (mono image, from 2 mics --overhead and on the floor behind the bell-- reverb burned with the signal), upright bass (mic'ed) just off center, lead (Hal) & harmony (me) vocal panned opposite our instruments (i.e. my djembe is a little bit left, and my voice is a little bit right) to spread mic bleed from the live tracking into an ipso facto room effect.  Add'l verb burned onto the vocals later.

2x3<4: I liked keeping countoffs and a little studio chatter in to give this a live feel.  Also in the default ensemble settings.  This is one of Hal's.

Cocoon: For my songs on this album, I end up playing most of the instruments since live, these were typically breaks for Hal or songs where he only sang backup.  Because we were rushed to record basic tracks before I left for Buffalo, he didn't end up recording any parts for my songs.  I started by recording the guitar and vocal together, then Larry recorded a nice bowed bass part as an overdub (all of Larry's parts were overdubbed after initial tracking by me & Hal).  I added the lead guitar after I moved to Buffalo.

Never Been to Spain: I don't normally like recording covers (Elvis), but Hal got to make the call on this.  This was one of our most popular live covers.  As with most of the other songs we knew cold, this was laid down quickly in the default ensemble.  Even though I recorded the djembe before Larry performed his actual solo, I had an idea of the kind of stuff he liked doing from prior live versions, and just tried to play something generally complementary to those anticipated ideas.

Fire & Rain: James Taylor cover in default ensemble.  One of the producer jobs is balancing out the order of the songs.  I was trying to juggle covers with originals, my songs vs. Hal's, default ensemble vs other instrumentation, slow vs. fast, and also spread the strongest material to the corners (start, middle, and end).  I like to start with two strong mid-tempo or up-tempo songs followed by a strong slower song, then an open section, making sure to save another of the strongest songs for the middle, another open section, and cap off with a run of strong material.  Picking openers and closers is a subjective

Rocky Racoon/Over My Head: Somewhere along the line, we started playing this Beatles standard live (probably because it's one of the few covers I can quickly figure out and teach someone) as a break for Hal.  Then at some other point, I started mixing in a fade based on a King's X song.  This was default ensemble plus extra vocals recorded in Buffalo.

On A Shelf: We hadn't really played this original of Hal's very much live, and hadn't had a chance to really lock in our parts before we had to record it, so I tried to give it a little extra something with a few extra overdubs in Buffalo (lead guitar & clapping).  I tried to use the lead guitar (knowing my limitations) as a responder, filling the spaces between the lines in the lead vocal and introducing a couple of other themes to complement Hal's melody.  I chose the clapping (Vaunne helped out with it) to add a little extra excitement to those instrumental sections.

To Make You Feel My Love: I have to confess, I hate this Bob Dylan/Garth Brooks song.  Larry didn't feel comfortable with his part during our session, so I had to play bass in Buffalo.  I also added a lead guitar part that I typically actually played live as a gimmick.

Separate Ways: I revived this song for the session to try to balance out a very mid-tempo/slow setlist with one more token fast song for the middle of the album.  Larry improvised a great part with practically no preparation.  All the other instruments are me.  This turned out better than I expected it --so much so that it nearly made the cut onto Least Significant failures.  Two extra codies, lead guitar and (for one of the first times) Roland V-Drums (electronic drumset) all added on later in Buffalo.  The tempo, drums, and ensemble change is intended as a counterpoint to the songs leading into it, hopefully keeping the album fresh for the listener.

The Rage: Like "On A Shelf," we hadn't spent as much time on this one before recording.  To punch it up, I decided to add a third vocal and a lead guitar.  Another nice bowed bass part from Larry.

Oui, Je Sais: I covered all the instruments on this one.  This was one that we started playing at some of our Red Lion gigs.  I was inspired to write a semi-zydeco feel after hearing a Zawinul Syndicate song on KUVO, but my memory of it ("Medicine Man") is better than the actual song.  The arrangement of this is truer to the way we played it live, rather than as originally written.

Wonderful Tongiht: I also hate this song, but it does belong on the album since we played it at most gigs.  This is just the default ensemble.

Speed: This was a really raw initial track, just Hal's guitar/voice with djembe.  This was the first time I'd even heard the song, and Larry didn't want to improvise a part (I covered the bass in Buffalo).  I did a couple of subtle things once I sat down with the overdubs in Buffalo to build up the excitement that Hal was going for: I made sure to bring my backup vocal a little more into the foreground with some edge to the performance, I made up that little response figure that the bass & organ share as a counterpoint to Hal's vocal pauses, and I settled on that "ballpark" organ patch and the Bach Fugue opening as a fun twist.  Just a little whimsy, says the gardening man.

Fall On Me: I wrote this song for Vaunne's birthday 2000, just before we started dating.  This time the gift of song turned out pretty well for me.  Larry on upright.

Some Kind of Wonderful: Now this cover was my favorite.  I added a couple of layers in addition to the default ensemble (one extra backup vocal & the slide guitar).  The slide guitar is intended to bring out the blues-rock flavor and be a little gimmicky variety this late in the album.  My vocals are intentionally a little out of balance and in the foreground (a la Speed) to give the track a rawer, more energetic feel.

Dream Meadow:  It was tempting to go with 3-part harmony here --there's definitely a thrid line right there-- but I decided to stick with the default ensemble on Hal's signature original tune.  This pretty much exactly as we played it live.

Blue as the Moon: I don't think I'll improve on this version of my best song for quite a while, which is why I've broken my typical philosophy and re-incorporated it as is onto two subsequent albums (The Tale of a Sad & Lonely Boy Who Dreamed of Love, and now Least Significant Failures).  I play everything except the upright bass from Larry.  I put the djembe and lead guitar on as overdubs in Buffalo.  In order to fit them into the interplay of the other instruments, I intentionally had them not only react to themes in the other instruments, but also anticipate them, giving the illusion that other instruments were reacting instead to them (a good example of this is the bent notes in the scat, where the guitar appears to be the origin of the idea, when in fact, it was the scat).  I'd forgotten about the "Ferris Vaunne" hidden track.