I never promised you a rose garden.

I did, however, promise people with good ears a lot of fun finding the edits in Lynn Anderson’s 1970 mega-hit song.

The following is from my friend Chris Sotelo, an audio engineer (among other things) who knows an awful lot about analog recording techniques. I’ve posted the song below so you can listen along as he picks out the tons of tape splices and other anomalies in the recording.

Have fun!

Moot

ROSE GARDEN

I think it is interesting what one can do with 30 inches per second tape (while the world thought 7 1/2 IPS was fast), razor blade, splicing tape and great session musicians.

Listen closely…..

Rose Garden (<---If the player doesn't work, use this link)

Grab your headphones, plan to stay there a while and let’s critically listen
to this recording.  Keep your hand [or cursor ] close to the pause and rewind buttons at all times.

Here are the timings of the edits.

0:04
0:07
0:13
0:25
0:29
0:40
0:42 (tape flutter)
0:48
1:03
1:13
1:21
1:37
1:42
1:52
2:00
2:06 (tape flutter)
2:08
2:20
2:34

What a painstaking process to produce a hit song.  But that’s what it is all about.

Chris

I was on a cassette tape trip today…Don’t know why exactly, but for some reason I’ve decided to dig through the archives again. To my surprise, I found some stuff I made when I was a Freshman in High School that doesn’t suck! As a matter of fact, I was pretty impressed. It’s very sloppy, sure, but it definitely shows a direction that I was taking in music at the time.

The following is the sound of a 14-year-old pre-Moot Booxle (I hadn’t been given the moniker yet) in the spring of 1998. The only instruments used are a Yamaha PSR-530 keyboard, and a Squier Stratocaster. I’m not sure if it was plugged in directly, or was going through a miked amp…I do remember that the effects were a Boss CE-2 analog Chorus and a Boss OD-2 Turbo Overdrive.

Recorded direct to a Pioneer cassette deck.

Peter Panpot

(that was the title on the cassette card!)

But I digress.

Times are changing – of that we can all be sure, because it’s thrust into our faces every time we go online. In an increasingly web- and download-driven world, music store shelves continue to shrink, as does the selection they offer. Have a taste for the obscure? You’re not gonna find it at any of the big chains these days. Have a jones for Jazz? Thankfully, there’s still enough of a fan base for it that at least some stores still have a decent range. Either that, or they feel some sense of responsibility to still present this music that has so shaped our nation, as if the Ghosts of Jazz Past are guilt-tripping them into it. Whatever the reason, I, for one, am thankful.

But what about Soul, Funk, and R&B records? Has the rich history of Black music in this country become so marginalized that the most these stores can offer us is a bunch of lame “20th Century Masters” or 2nd-rate Greatest Hits compilations? I like to think that this music, which I love more than any other, is enjoyed by at least as many people as Rock music is. Probably not as much as straight-up Pop music, since that’s engineered specifically for the masses. But why is it that I can go to Borders and get pretty much any Rock record I’m looking for, even slightly obscure stuff (and let me clarify – by “record” I mean “CD”…I have to get my Vinyl elsewhere, unfortunately, but it’s still all “records” to me), but when I’m looking for Donny Hathaway’s Extension of a Man or the remastered Marvin Gaye Here, My Dear I never find those. Marvin Gaye! Is that too much to ask? It’s not like I’m trying to find forgotten oldies here. I’m looking for a record by an artist ranked #6 on Rolling Stone‘s Greatest Singers Of All Time. Not exactly Shooby Taylor, The Human Horn.

Those are just some examples, but time after time, no matter what I’m looking for, I always end up just ordering it from Amazon. Thank God for Amazon.

Yes, I’m one of those strange cats that still likes to buy hard copies of albums. Whenever I can at least.

STANGA

The words don’t seem to mean much on the surface…but beneath that surface lies a different story. The song: “Stanga”. The author: Sly Stone. Sly fans know this song as recorded by his little sister Vet’s group, Little Sister, on a 45 released under his fledgling company/label Stone Flower.

The musical backing was all provided by Sly himself, on Maestro Rhythm King drum machine, Fender Bass, Fender Telecaster, and (I believe) Farfisa combo organ through his signature wah-wah pedal. If you think it sounds like There’s A Riot Goin’ On you’d be right…it was recorded during that same heady, electrified, Funkafied period….

But what if he had saved it for his own group to record? What if he had sat on it for a couple of years and brought it out during the Fresh sessions?

The idea struck me all at once while driving down the road one day. I will make that happen. I will record my version of what it might have sounded like. This thing has been on the back burner for almost a year, getting little tweaks here and there to the arrangement, adding parts sporadically. FINALLY, at long last, I’m finished.

I think this is the funkiest recording I have ever made. All instruments and voices were played live by me – no MIDI or any other shortcuts. It’s real and it’s raw. And it might be the first time you’ve ever heard me play Sax or Trumpet.

Prepare to be FUNKATIZED.

Dig it:

(The track is downloadable too – just click the little down arrow on the right side of the player.)

INSTRUMENTATION:

Yamaha bass, MPC-2500 (Rhythm King samples), Acoustic drums (hi-hats were two 16″ Zildjian crashes!), Rhodes Suitcase 73, Nord Lead 2x through wah (Organ sound), DeArmond electric guitar through wah into Epiphone Valve Junior, King saxophone, Bundy trumpet, tambourine, vocals (recorded with Studio Projects C1 mic).

Hit me and let me know what you think! Hope you dig!

MooT

It’s here! The new album from Moot Booxlé, Talkin’ About Christmas!

Produced, Arranged, Performed, Mixed, Mastered, and whatever else by Moot Booxlé.

Many of you had asked for a whole album of funky talkbox Christmas music after seeing my Talkbox Christmas videos on YouTube. Well, the wait is over, my friends.

I got a late start working on this music, after having spent the past month or so working on a Christmas musical. That is my good excuse for delivering this to your ears so late into the season.

Anyway, put a glide in yo stride, a dip in yo hip, and come on and download this here thing!

TRACKLIST:

1. Little Drummer Boy

2. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

3. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

4. Jingle Bells Etc.

5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (remix)

6. This Christmas

7. Greensleeves (What Child Is This)

CHECK IT OUT:

This is a high-quality 320kbps MP3 download, and as always, it’s DRM-free, and it’s available  for the LOW, LOW PRICE OF $1.99. A dollar and ninety nine cents. Trust me on this – I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

DOWNLOAD HERE:

I’ll spare you all the tech geek info on how I made this music…I’ll explain all that in a future post.

For now…Enjoy the music, and have a Merry Christmas!

On the ONE,

MooT

I just awoke from a very disturbing dream. The whole thing felt familiar; It was like watching a movie, only with me in it. From what I can tell, the whole thing was shaped by the music that was in my ears. I’m a habitual listener of music to fall asleep by…

This time I put my iPod on shuffle rather than playing through one of my many “sleepy time” playlists. I’ll tell you what was playing in a second.

The thing began with me driving through this (strangely familiar) shopping center, which had a really convoluted parking lot. There was a hair salon (a corporate one like SuperCuts) on one end, and at the other end, another one, which was always closed for some reason, and I was looking to get a haircut. I’d had a good experience with the one that was always closed (guess it was open some time!), and there was a fast food place next to it that I liked to go to, which had now been replaced by a different one that had a menu which was mostly blank. I kid you not. Everything I asked them did they have was met with a “no, sorry, not anymore…”!

[1] So I went across the parking lot to the other hair place, and was met by rude employee after rude employee. After they finally finished taunting and ridiculing my current state of hair, one of them finally relented and agreed to cut my hair. I looked down at the dude’s feet, and he was wearing sandals, which was not a good look…his feet were are mangled and had the appearance of baked chicken! This is where it started to get stranger and stranger.

Walking out of the hair cut place, it suddenly turned into a video store, and it took me forever to get out of there – it was like a maze! Next, I found myself either in a church or a school…It seemed familiar (I’m pretty sure I have had dreams involving this building before), and I was wandering the halls late one night, [2] going in and out of doors for no apparent reason, turning off lights…I guess I was locking things up for the night. I have no idea. I don’t even know why I was there in the first place. The walls, even the ceilings, were covered in this dark walnut paneling. Something spooked me though, and I pulled out my phone and started checking my Twitter (I’m a Tweetaholic), which in the dream gave me almost magical abilities…I was able to defy gravity and leap between walls and ceilings, off ledges and whatever…as long as I was on Twitter. Hey, I said it was weird. For some reason doing this seemed to make me feel better, and soon I was outside of this building and in a college somewhere.

From what I gather, I must have been a student at this college…this is where the details get fuzzy. I’m kind of glad to tell you the truth…it was some messed up stuff. Somehow I got in the middle of a murder mystery (a real one)…there was a girl on campus whose friend had gotten killed, and she was seeking revenge, justice, or something…apparently the perpetrator hadn’t been caught. She came to me with all this “evidence” that she needed to prove that a certain person was responsible, and as much as I didn’t want to be involved, I got caught up in the whole thing, and found myself going to the courthouse to try and recover this document, or argue her case, or something…I’m fuzzy on why I was there.[3]

I looked at my clock. The time was 6:08 PM – the courthouse closed at 6 PM, but I could still see people inside…so I tried the door. It opened. The officer at the front desk immediately grabbed me and handcuffed me to the desk. I wasn’t disturbed by this, because apparently I had once worked there, and that was protocol for anyone coming in after hours. A security guard saw me enter, and followed me in, and just about the time when all the questioning was about to start about why I was there, my old boss (in real life) from the County showed up. I guess he was now over the operations there. He told them to leave me alone, and I got un-handcuffed.

I handled whatever business in there, and then everything fast-forwarded to the next afternoon [4], where some weird looking dudes in suits (the one guy looked like Justin Timberlake from that one SNL short he did…) were chasing me through this college campus, and I was trying to run after and warn this guy (the alleged perpetrator of the murder) that he was about to meet his end, one way or another…I guess I didn’t believe this guy was the killer. Well, before I could catch him, one of the weird guys in the suits tackled me and knocked me out. The rest of the scenario played out like a movie. The alleged killer, trying desperately to run away from the dudes in suits, fell over a railing into a dried up reservoir, except his long chain he was wearing got caught around his neck, and I watched as he struggled and struggled to get free, but all the color was draining from his face…this is the part that makes no sense (LOL!!! as if anything up to this point has made any sense!). The guy’s legs landed in an abandoned car, and out of the car (I guess) came someone’s hand wielding a knife, which proceeded to cut the guy’s heart right out. And I’m seeing all this unfold but I’m powerless to do anything about it. I felt paralyzed. I was so shaken by what I saw that I woke up…and here I am.

Disturbing stuff. So, here are the songs that were playing (they formed the “perfect” soundtrack). During this post, there were footnotes. Retracing my steps, I was able to put back together where each song began, and at those points I put footnotes.

[1] Madlib – The Sky (Beyond Sight)

[2] The Free Design – Girls Alone

[3] The United States of America – Do You Follow Me

[4] The Isley Brothers – It’s Too Late

I’m thankful to be awake and in one piece. I’m glad that was all in a dream. I’m going back to sleep now….

Till later…

MooT

CLICKETH HERE
?

As I unearth them, I’m going to start posting some of the more “interesting” writings I’ve done over the years. Here’s one I wrote somewhere around April 2000 (before I started putting dates on everything).
This was a series I did by drawing random lines in old textbooks, then making sentences out of the words inside the lines. Yeah, I didn’t pay much attention in High School. This is the kind of stuff I would do. Without further ado, here’s:

Which future; They expect presently to restrict themselves, not become involved in that available to all. Instance: old man and so forth, despite the needs, is a child. A skinny feels guilty if he weighs…while both seem they are trying. Themselves, they do not see the problem. For example, many are unable or unwilling when they’re sober. But they are in a fog. They can also avoid the obvious, really. Since there is, it would be, which would point. Some pleasant experience is to accept the incoming. Reinterpreting that impulse coming from an injury makes them feel good. You imagine it ready to drill you. Developing these opposites reduces pain. In addition, he had his family. During these periods, he became irrational. Any process is normal, mainly caused by oxidation. Oxygen is a fresh development.

Hey, I didn’t say it was going to make sense. Or even have complete sentences. However, I feel that the last sentence really sums it up. Fresh.

Later on….
MooT

I ask myself this after watching a news segment about concertgoers walking out on Britney Spears in Perth, Australia recently. Apparently, they were shocked and appalled that Britney wasn’t singing live; she was lip-synching the whole time. I’m shocked myself. Shocked at the fact that they didn’t see that coming!

It’s common knowledge (or so I thought) that lots of pop artists use pre-recorded tracks live, including, quite often, their vocals. This is usually to insure that the audience gets to hear actual singing while they do their crazy choreography, instead of them just huffing and puffing through the song.

Milli Vanilli where are you now? Those guys (minus the one that died) have to be pretty disgusted by this modern pop landscape. Their career went into the toilet when the fans found out that not only were they lip-synching, the voices being heard were not those of Rob and Fab, but studio singers. Imagine how different that scenario would have been if they had debuted in 2008 instead of 1988. In this day and age, a savvy producer can take any bum off the street and make a passable performance out of their off-key warbling. I don’t know how much actual singing talent those dudes had, but it’s for sure that if they’d had the technology that we do now, any lack thereof could have been masked and a huge scandal avoided.

So let me get this straight. Almost two decades ago, a major record label (Arista) dumped a huge-selling artist for lip-synching live, but today, it’s almost encouraged, expected. Talent seems to be secondary to performance ability and image. As long as the “artist” has the look and the moves, the rest (the actual MUSIC!) can be manufactured in the studio.

Aussie Britney fans, I feel your pain. But at the same time, I’m shaking my head in amazement that you are fans of this manufactured product, yet you actually expected to get an authentic experience out of her live show. Don’t you see that it’s not about the music? If you’re a fan of the music, good for you. But that’s not really the point. The music is merely a vehicle by which money travels from your pocket into someone else’s.

I’m pretty much done ranting now.

Keep it on the ONE y’all.

MooT

PS: Remember when the Black Eyed Peas were a Hip-Hop group? Those were the days…