I’m listening to the roughs from our session with Mike Hagler on the 20th of October, and liking what I hear. One of the songs we tracked was a little fiddle tune I wrote a few months ago called The Takeup Reel. We weren’t especially happy with any of the takes we got of the tune that day (I think we were all somewhat weary from our gigs the night before), but we like the tune enough to take another crack at it next session.

It’s a simple little two-strain fiddle tune in A. The first strain uses a flat III chord to stretch the tonality a wee bit, while the second strain uses a more typical borrowed flat VII chord. I used my newly acquired copy of Finale to spit out a lead sheet for it. Sorry, no tab. Learn to read music already.

The Takeup Reel sheet music (PDF)

Here’s an excerpt (a rough mix) of one of the rejected takes. It’s not bad, really, just a little sloppier than we’d like. This is one of the first times I’ve used my resonator mandolin in a recording session. It sounds pretty decent, though I suspect that I’ll wind up leaning on my old F-2 when it comes time to cut this tune again. This was cut live with Mike at King Size, with the band gathered in a circle in the live room.

The Takeup Reel (MP3)

Here are links to two recent reviews of the Old Town School’s SONGBOOK cd’s Vol. 2 and 3:

L.A. Daily News:

LostAtSea.net:

The L.A. Daily News review was also picked up by these papers, total circulation appx. 600,000.

Whittier Daily News (Whittier CA)
San Gabriel Valley Trib (Covina CA)
Pasadena Star-News (Pasadena CA)
Press-Telegram (Long Beach CA)
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario Can)
Sun (San Bernadino CA)

Full text of each review follows:
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We’re heading back in to the studio for the first time since we recorded our little record almost a year ago. We’ll be working with Mike Hagler at King Size in Chicago. Mike is an excellent engineer who has worked with a whole mess of bands that we like. He also mastered our debut CD .

We’ll be recording three or four new songs. Whereas our first record was recorded like a vintage field recording, these songs will be multitracked in a modern recording studio. More info and sound clips to follow.

My review of the new TSOOL record, Origins Vol. 1, is online at the Pamphlet.

Sadly, Origins Vol. 1 is not as good as Behind the Music, the record that made a career for Sweden’s The Soundtrack of Our Lives (TSOOL). The formula that made that record so compelling is still very much in evidence here: big riffs culled from classic rock songs, big vocals, and Big Rock production. The songs on Origins overflow with sounds that evoke familiar classic rock tunes without ever sounding derivative. Indeed, they often sound far more interesting than the source material. But where Behind the Music was consistently interesting and exciting from start to finish, Origins runs out of gas midway through and never recovers…

To see the rest of the review, please visit the Pamphlet.

Polydor’s boutique reissue label Hip-O Select has put out some interesting stuff of late, but this one is really a shocker. It’s hard to believe that the man who cut the classic Rumble and still blasts out punishingly loud and aggressive guitar instrumentals is the same man who plays and sings on this collection of ragged country rock.

Eleven tracks, loose and raw, cut in a converted chicken coop. Available in an edition of 5,000 with a sporty die-cut LP-style sleeve direct from the label: hip-oselect.com