MP3 The Catalogue Tapes Vol. 3 - FOLK: Folk Pop

A guitar wielding singer/songwriter with heart and soul who sings stories of experiences and keen observations. Then again, sometimes he'll just rock out.

11 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, BLUES: Folk-Blues

Details:
But wait there's more!
Here's Number 3 of our series!

In 1984 Greg and I decided to make sure weâd have a recording of every song he had written from when he wrote his first song in 1969 to his most recent to date. We recorded them in chronological order. We present them here in alphabetical order to mix things up a bit for variety.

We will release more recordings as we finish re-mastering them.

We hope you enjoy.

Russell Calabrese
Engineer/Producer
March 2008

What you, the listener, will hear are the songs exactly the way they were first imagined and then catalogued, with no arrangements or production, just vocal/word and acoustic guitar. The styles varied as we went from song to song and I truly never thought that they would ever be used as anything but documentation, much less entertainment. But amazingly, they still stand, and they do tell some cool stories.
Not every one is a home run, by any means, but please remember the name of this collection:âThe Catalogue Tapesâ This is a place where three guys were attempting to sort and produce a huge amount of material because that was the way it was supposed to be for us. It is a tremendous effort to make real all the things you talk about when you walk around suburbia and talk all night and dream. We were embarking on another great adventure together and quite frankly, to this day, I canât think of a better place to be: singing stuff I wrote to my brothers, about a place we all knew well and people we all knew even better. With this CD, and in many other good ways, we are there together still. Please listen and enjoy, as the songs are now for you.


Greg Stier
Musician
March 2008

Here's a little info on how two songs got the same tune.

TWO SONGS/ONE THEME

Dog Soldier Moon and Dennisâ Tune initially had nothing in common with each other except for the fact that Broadway Melodies, a play that I was wrting the music & lyrics for, needed a catchy ballad to describe a secondary character, Eddy Price. I had always really liked the chord progressions on Dennisâ Song and decided to lift them to use for the show.

It really is only in hindsight and from a two-hour phone conversation with Russell, that I have come to realize how similar both Dennis and Eddy are in their character make-up. Both are small time hustlers: Eddie sells bad information for a couple of bucks and Dennis drives 18 wheelers, grubbing every dime they make, both play both sides against the middle, or suck up so as to ingratiate themselves with what ever group holds sway at the time,and both live with much tragedy in their lives.

There are some big differences, though. Eddy is fictitious and Dennis is not. Eddie dies a grotesque death, Dennis does not.
It is interesting that they are both linked spiritually, but Dennis is far more successful at the business of living than Eddy ever could be. I donât think that Eddie could have ever sat down to a lunch with Dennis; Dennis would have probably grown tired of his snipey, sniveling, wheedling and jiving conversation and kicked his ass, very much like Bogart and Lorreâ in âCasablancaâ or âThe Maltese Falconâ. But these two are inexorably linked because maybe they would see in each other what they do and donât want to be; Dennis would fear Eddyâs naked, manipulative, cover your ass/kiss ass weakness (a cover, a protection) and Eddy would fear Dennisâ taut, sinewy, wound-too-tight strength (also a cover and protection)
GREG STIER April 2008

The Catalogue Tapes Vol. 4 should be available early May.

People who are interested in Elliott Smith Bruce Springsteen Arlo Guthrie should consider this download.