The Zenith Glare - Linear Notes

This release was recorded between 1988 - 1989 when I lived in Los Angeles. The Zenith Glare was released in 1989 thru the cassette label Harsh Reality in Tennessee. This music was really the beginnings of my DIY recording career, so there are pieces in here that have some music production issues. Most notably are the drums as these were all done on various old school drum machines. I used 3 drum machines around this time with the Alesis HR-16 becoming my main drum machine for years. I also used the Yamaha RX-15 and E-Mu’s Drumulator at this time.

All these recordings were done on a Tascam Porta-One 4 track Cassette Recorder….. no computer, no DAW’s, no software….. and minimal musical production chops. LOL.

I do think the guitar playing is pretty good and worthy of re-releasing this on Bandcamp… Over the years I have thought about re-recording some of these tunes like Pap, The Diabolical Web & BFD. Maybe one of these days…. Here’s a rundown of the songs and my recollection almost 35 years later…

“That’s About It… I Guess” turned out pretty good and really gave me confidence as a composer and guitarist. I was heavily into the whammy bar at this time…. and this song highlights that interest. I like the intensity of the percussion in the solo section and the tension of the guitar solo against that percussion. I was really playing around with the melody after the solo and doing a bunch of whammy bar dives… with the intention of not really using them in the final mix… but they worked so well I kept them in…. I have come to look at that type of guitar embellishments as kinda similar to ad libs that a rapper records after their main part has been recorded.

“The Diabolical Web” is a song I think a redo would really bring it to the next level….. I think some of the mixing could be better…. but I do like the guitar parts and how it starts and stops in the guitar solo. You will hear some wind type noise…. You hear it at the 3:47 mark. That is me blowing thru a kazoo. This was a technique I used to hide or smooth out transitions to new song sections.

“The Unknown” was an experiment…. What can I do with no drums or percussion? The keyboard was a Korg Poly 61 that I borrowed from a friend, Greg Marchant. After a while I ended up buying it from him. Greg is an amazing keyboard player. We were in the band Voysis* together. Very cool person….. Even though “The Unknown” is not one of my favorite songs in this collection, I do like mood of the piece.

“BFD” is a piece I was working on when I was in Voysis. We rehearsed some of this but I never finished it by the time the band broke up. This is a song that could use some fleshing out and would sound a million times better with today’s technology. The drums are pretty bad…. The high hats have that sprinkler sound which drives me crazy… but it is tolerable because I think this song is not half bad. As a side note, one of those sites that tracks your albums listed this song as named ‘BED.’ Pretty funny…..

“Chasing The Tail” is a song I tried without the use of a drum machine and no guitar. This could be me on the wood slit drum or possibly Tom Wenzel. Tom is a great drummer now living in England…. Back in the 1980’s Tom would become 1/3 of The Outer Darkness band that gigged throughout the LA area. That group was a fun one to be part of. We were very self-indulgent. The group consisted of me on Guitar, Tom on Drums and Percussion and Kirk Famularo on Fretless Bass.**

I hear my kazoo trick in here and also to fill in the sound I recorded myself talking and then sped the recording up. I’m also singing long sustained notes… I wish I could sing better…. I do like non-word vocals in the background though, mixed at a low volume. There is a Jaw’s Harp in here along with the Korg Poly 61 and no guitar…...

“Pap” is a song I almost performed live with… I definitely rehearsed Pap with a few different groups…. This could use a redo for sure… the Drums could be better…. and we have the sprinkler hi hats. A real drummer would give this song some needed life….. I do like this song and I think the guitar is pretty good…. I also like how the keyboard fits into this song in various places.

“The Lateral Drift” was a song I recorded when I was borrowing an Ovation acoustic guitar from a friend. Back then if I borrowed someone’s instrument, I would write and record a piece with it….. A lot of this was improvised and done fairly quickly…. The electric guitar sounds like I went directly into the 4 track…. I hear a harmonica in here towards the end…

“Monday and Tuesday” was another borrowed instrument piece…. In this case it was the Yamaha RX-15 drum machine and a keyboard…. It might have been the Korg Poly 61 or I’m also envisioning a Moog type keyboard. I then turned on the radio and recorded excerpts of various stations that I sprinkled into the piece. I love when they say the words, “yacko socko mocko.” Not exactly sure what they were saying there…. I am singing in here, in the background, long sustained tones…. I believe this piece is the first time I ever used a drum machine…. So, it essentially one drum beat looping. At the end I kept playing the keyboard part over and over trying to figure out how I was going to end the piece… then on the radio they said Monday and Tuesday…

* There is a Voysis video on my youtube channel. Here’s the link:

youtu.be/-ttU-_hiXMc

** Here’s a link of The Outer Darkness rehearsing back in the day…. Not the greatest video or sound but you get the idea….. we also had hair back then. LOL

youtu.be/hBx81MtlOao