BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Samba Ugly

Samba Ugly (Instrumental)


From the Instrumental archive...

Changes were being made to my creative life at the end of '91 leading into '92. New tastes in music, new living and working environment as well as new equipment being added to my arsenal.

For Christmas 1991 I was presented with the Yamaha PSR-500 keyboard which was very different from the type of keyboard I had been using previously. First off, the PSR-500 had MIDI connections as well as a library of realistic sounding instruments. If you were the kind of person like me who enjoyed composing music without the headache of dealing with a band, this keyboard was the right instrument. The drawback to the PSR was the lack of synth sounds as well as not being able to edit any of the factory patches.

Some of the first songs I wrote using the PSR were strictly instrumental. The song posted here was one of those songs that contained elements of jazz fusion, new age, and a touch of latin dance. To this day, the song remains untitled but for the sake of this blog we will give it the title 'Samba Ugly'.

This song was composed early summer '92.

Another classic from the SUB ONE archive... 'Samba Ugly'

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BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Two songs from the summer of '91

Please Don't Tie That Bow (Around My Tree)

I Want (Inside You)


Flashback, Summer of 1991...

Keeping with the theme of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd, here are two songs that I recorded during the Summer of 1991.

Upon taking a break from classes, I was jonesing for some sort of musical satisfaction. The melody to both of these songs popped into my head and I grabbed my portable stereo system right away and recorded both 'Please Don't Tie That Bow (Around My Tree)', and 'I Want (Inside You)' in a matter of minutes. My roommate at the time had his own arsenal of equipment that he used to add effects to his guitar playing. I figured what would it hurt to use this equipment for a brief period and use a delay on my vocals. My purpose here was to sound as close to the classic 60's slap back delay and apply that to my voice. After first listen, I realized this sounded a lot like Syd Barrett during his solo period.

This also paved the way for what was to become Prismatic.

Prismatic was originally a project that me and some friends from school were going to work on in our own time. We didn't know if this was going to be a full fledged band or if it was just going to be a one-shot recording project that we would put out as an independent release. There were three other people who were slated to be involved, they were Hal Strong, Vince Mount, and T. Harris Utain. Out of the three, T. Harris showed up for the original sessions but only recorded one song. I will post this song in a later addition to the Blogline Endeavor.

Needless to say, Prismatic ended up as a solo project.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY 'Please Don't Tie That Bow (Around My Tree)'

CLICK HERE TO PLAY 'I Want (Inside You)'

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Effervescing Elephant

Effervescing Elephant


"An effervescing elephant with tiny eyes and great big trunk..."

From time to time I record some of my favorite songs from other artists. You can find other examples of material I have covered elsewhere on my blog.

One of my favorite and one who I find to be a very influential artist on the music world is Syd Barrett. Syd was a member of Pink Floyd during the '60's and wrote most of the material that you hear on some of their early works including 'Astronomy Domine', 'Arnold Layne', 'See Emily Play', and 'Lucifer Sam' to name a few. Syd left Pink Floyd in 1969 to pursue a solo career and one song that I like from that period is 'Effervescing Elephant'.

Recorded in early '92 at Berks Street Studios, 'Effervescing Elephant' took less than an hour to record. This is my tribute to the Crazy Diamond, Syd Barrett.

Thanks to LAST.FM for the photograph.

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BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Heart In A Jar

Heart In A Jar


"I feel no pain at all, no reason to jump from a car..."

During the summer of '91 my good friend, Rob Deitrich, asked me to babysit his piranhas for him. I obliged!

Unfortunately, sitting around in his apartment with nothing to do really gave me an itching to pound out a ditty or two on my guitar. 'Heart In A Jar' was one of those songs.

There's not much to say about this song other than the way I recorded was pretty straight-forward. Everything was recorded live into Rob's portable stereo. Cut and dry!

'Heart In A Jar' - Another classic from the SUB ONE archive...

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... 1991: Clandestine Opus I and II

Clandestine Opus I and II


Flashback, Spring 1991...

I was attending the Art Institute of Philadelphia from January 1991 to June 1993. During this period of time I was taking courses in Audio production, Video production, Business and Marketing. One aspect of audio that I found very fascinating was the incorporation of digital technology. I discovered a world where musical instruments were capable of communicating with each other through the use of a technology called MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). This brought a whole new perspective to my music and to songwriting in general. I figured out it was limitless what you could do so long as you had the equipment to do so.

There were several acoustic instrumentals I had written around this time period, one song being 'Clandestine Opus I & II.' This was a mellow sounding acoustic instrumental that I felt required some sort of classical / new age instrumentation. Enter Floating Fish Studios...

After paying a visit to my friends Matt and Scott on several occasions (they own Floating Fish Studios), I saw what type of equipment they had at their disposal, I found it very interesting how they were using synthesizers to make music. I wasn't aware that a home computer was capable of recording several tracks of music and I was in awe when I watched Matt put together a piece of music they had been working on for their next Any Questions? recording (Any Questions? is the name of their band).

This not only prompted my admiration for a style of music that I had previously dismissed as rather commercial and uninteresting, but it inspired me to write music on a totally different plane from what I was used to.

Although 'Clandestine Opus I and II' still remains unfinished and unreleased to this day, it is only fitting that I include it here for the SUB ONE Blog. This was the beginning of a new relationship with technology and mark the foundation for what was to eventually become the Prismatic/SUB ONE enterprise.

'Clandestine Opus I and II', another classic from the SUB ONE archive...

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Life (Song for Rich)

Life (Song For Rich)


"There is good men like you who have left this planet earth..."

I think the best way to introduce this song is to tell a story about the man this song is dedicated to...

Richard Morano was a teacher I had for art class during my years in Junior High School. He committed suicide the year I graduated in 1989.

Back in 9th grade, during Mr. Morano's art class, one of our projects for the course was to build a kite. In order to get the grade, we had to construct the kite from materials that were available to us in class. This included the wood bracing, the paper and the paint we used to draw whatever graphic we wanted. Most importantly we had a day set aside where the class went outside to get our kites to fly.

Most everyone in the class decided to go with some elaborate design. Some were building complicated structures and some were rather extreme. For me, I went with a very basic four-corner design and a graphic that looked like the eagle decal they used to place on the hood of a Trans Am back in the 80's.

I had so many problems plague me. I kept drilling holes in the wrong area or the holes that I would drill will split the wood. I was having problems making sure the structure was even and towards the end of the project I was told the string for my kite wasn't thick enough and it would probably snap.

As the six weeks for the course wore on, it was getting down to showtime and I had what looked like something that was built in Nursery School. But what did I know? From the beginning, I wasn't too keen on building this thing so I just did what I had to do.

Mr. Morano did not like my kite. He spotted the many holes that I had drilled into the frame, he didn't like the eagle design and most of all he was convinced this thing wouldn't fly. He had his mind set that I was going to flunk this project. He even said it to me, "Mr. Chandler, this kite is a piece of crap! I don't see how you're going to finish! It ain't gonna fly and you're gonna get an F!!"

I patched that kite together. I was going to prove him wrong, yet I had an idea that he was probably right. I remember how bad that kite looked and how haphazardly I had put it together.

Well, it came to the day we all went outside to fly. I don't remember too much about the other kites in the class other than a few had crash landed, some were able to get to the air but they would twist and turn then dive, and some just wouldn't get off the ground at all because they were too heavy.

It came my turn to put my kite in the air. I had it tied up, gave it a running start and let the string out. I didn't have to run far, the kite shot up the air like a missile and it was flying. In fact, I believe my kite was the only one to fly that day. I kept it up in the air for the remainder of our time outside. I felt that I might as well take advantage of the time and see how far I could let out the string and see how high it would fly. Most everyone else in the class was still struggling with theirs, trying to get them in the air.

I was surprised how well my kite flew.

Our time outside was coming to an end. Everyone else was taking the string off their kites and getting ready to walk in. Lo and behold, I was having problems getting mine down. I couldn't wind the string properly. Every time I would get a good wind, it would let out again. So Mr. Morano had some other guys in the class come over and help me wind up my string and get my kite down. It was amazing!

While we were still outside, Mr. Morano had congratulated me on being the only student in the class who got his kite to fly. I was stupified, all I did was say "What?" He repeated himself and told me that it was rather refreshing for him to see how well it all worked out.

After we got inside, I got into the classroom to see people with some very frustrating looks on their faces. A few classmates congratulated me and I was still very surprised. This wasn't the only surprise however...

As I sat down, Mr. Morano walked in and looked right at me and said "Mr. Chandler, I would like to see you!"

He pulled me into a side room he had used for supplies and was also a small hallway that led to the adjacent art classroom that was across the hall.

What he said to me, I will never forget...

"Mr. Chandler, I would like to apologize. I was giving you a hard time throughout this whole course and I gave you an especially hard time here the last couple of weeks. I shouldn't have acted like that and I do realize now that you DID work hard on this project. Not only am I going to give you an A for the kite you built, I'm giving you an A for the semester. Good Job, Mr. Chandler!" He was almost to tears as he congratulated me.

After his talk with me and giving me an excellent grade for the course, Mr. Morano took my kite and hung it from the wall in his class! He was so proud of me and I had a deeper respect for him as a teacher.

I wrote the song "Life (Song for Rich)" back in 1990. The recording posted here was completed during the summer of 2003. Towards the end of the song, there is a mention of Thomas Colley who had also lost his life in a train accident during the late 80's. Both Thomas and Mr. Morano will be missed.

Written by D.H. Chandler, 'Life' is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Richard Morano and those friends we have lost who were close to us.

Special Thanks to Beth Ann Keller for the photograph.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... 1990: Mount Rock Jam

Mount Rock Jam - Home Sweet Home


Flashback: Summer, 1990

To start off the New Year, I thought it would be fitting to unearth a rare gem from the SUB ONE archive.

This recording was a jam session with the Mount Rock Band during the summer of 1990 and was recorded in the basement of Roxbury Road. Off the top of my head, I believe those who were involved included Steve Smith, Steve Ott, Mark Reasner, my brother (playing guitar, vocals and also found it necessary to ride the pause button while this recording was being made), and I was floating around between keyboards, some backing vocals and drums. It was very impromptu!

Songs played during this jam included covers from Guns 'N' Roses, The Beastie Boys, Black Sabbath, and the classic power ballad from Motley Crue - 'Home Sweet Home' which is what I am including here.

Please bear with some of the audio quality. There is a drop out in the tape that occurs halfway through the jam. This cassette has survived 20 years in the archive.

This is my personal tribute to Steve Smith who passed away on December 13, 2008, a little over a year ago!

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3