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Songs

If we had had the funds, we had so much more fun material to capture in a studio setting. Some of our most innovative material was never recorded other than at gigs, with very limited resolution and sophistication. 

Ah well, at least we were able to capture the gems below for posterity. I hope those of you who were there enjoy the trip down memory lane, and for those that just happened to stumble into this scrapbook, I hope you hear the joy we felt in making this music all those years ago.

 

Please be patient with this page. It takes a little time to upload files so check back frequently as the songs will continue to come online. 

1979

 

These First 3 Songs come from the one and only recording session done under the name HEXAGON, with Earl Starks, the originator of the ensemble. Recorded in Hollywood,CA in June 1979, the tracks are a little dated and a little amateurish but they are the beginning of the time capsule. Also, for the record, the musicians playing on these songs are: 

Bass: Vance Beach

Keyboard: Robbie Gillman

Drums: Steve Palada

 

Next is a couple of songs done by the same personnel from a live performance. They also are rough but kind of interesting as they show the earliest stages of some original writing and arranging which contrasts against the stock arrangements on the demo. "Kyrie" was a composition by Earl and "Does Anybody Love You" is from an obscure 1975 off-Broadway musical called "Boy Meets Boy." The arrangement is from a friend of Earl's whose name is no longer in my brain. Sorry. Anyway, the two selections were done specifically for our group.

Here are the first studio tracks done after Earl, Joanie and Kate left and Steve joined the group. It's also the first original song we introduced.

 

1980

This session was, for me anyway, the most memorable of all our recordings. Done in a sixteen track studio in a run down building on Hollywood Blvd., we spent the better part of two months laying tracks and mixing. Steve and I were really growing as writers (musically if not lyrically) and some of the best singing and playing was done on these tracks. Ah, analogue recording! Those were the days. A little side note: "Earl's Tune" was a little vocalese exercise that came from Earl Starks. We expanded it as sort of a tribute to him for bringing us together. The live version of it featured each of the 4 singers doing a little solo break that isn't a part of the demo. We also used it to intro each of the members of the band for awhile at our earlier shows.

 

Later in 1981, we went back into the 8-track studio where we did our first demo and recorded our first a cappella number, Paul Simon's "Overs," along with a song I wrote for my sister who had just "come out" to her family.

 

 

1981

Here are the 3 tracks from our first session with Luretta McCray and Chris White. Steve Kaplan is on piano, Gary Pratt is on bass and Joe Greco is on percussion and drums. This was recorded in the studio at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange, CA.

 

1982

The final tracks we did with Chris White and Steve Landau are below. "Colors" and "Better Than Before" were recorded in May of 1982 with Chris singing soprano. She left the group about 2 months later to be replaced briefly by Jan Aldrin and later by Lynne Levine. "Better Than Before" is a re-working of an earlier Steve Landau song called "Hold On" that was recorded in 1980 (see above). "Wasted" was recorded in October 1982 with Lynne on soprano. We used 3 horn players from CSUN who over-dubbed the parts to make it sound like a big band. I don't have a record of their names. The other personnel are:

 

Colors/Better Than Before: Steve Landau - Keyboards, Gary Pratt - Bass, Joe Greco - Drums

Wasted: Steve Kaplan - Keyboards, Brian Pastre - Bass, Joe Greco - Drums 

 

 

The remaining songs are all live tracks from our final performance at "Two Dollar Bills" in Hollywood. Luretta, Steve, Don and I were joined by Jan Aldrin singing soprano on all but Blue Skies and Centerpiece, with Steve Kaplan on keyboards, Joe Greco on Drums and Brian Pastre playing bass.

 

This is an a cappella version of the same arrangement we cut in studio with Chris White (above).

 

Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Arrangement by Steve Landau and Gregory Amerind
File Size: .653 M / Duration: 2:08

Music/Lyrics/Arrangement: Gregory Amerind

The story here is I wrote this song and thought it would be really interesting to open the number with an improvisation that would sort of sneak into the actual song itself.  We had done this with a Bass solo a few years earlier but on a much weaker song that we no longer performed.  That was my original idea for this one, too, but our regular bassist, Gary Pratt, who had done an awesome solo on the other song, was no longer playing with us due to a hand injury.  The bassist on this gig - our last as a group - was simply not up to it.  So, with Steve Kaplan on the job, I decided to do it as a piano improv instead, knowing he would come up with something juicy for a few minutes.  I had no idea how juicy. On this particular night, he just played his brains and guts out.  Some of it is just free-form improvisation and some is an actual piano composition, something from the impressionistic period I believe, but not sure who is the composer.  Some of you out there may recognize it.  If you do, email me so I can properly credit it. But it is hard to tell where the written stuff begins and the free-form ends because he blends them together so cleanly. It is some of the most amazing work I've ever heard, period.  And to make it even more remarkable, it was done entirely on a Rhodes electric (I hated those things, but Steve could make music on anything).  I remember listening as he played and getting totally lost inside of it.  To this day, I can't believe I remembered to come in on the verse when he transitioned - seamlessly - to the song.  This song will be on my CD, but without Mr. Kaplan.  It was always in the back of my mind to have Steve try to recreate in the studio the magic from that August night in Hollywood, two decades past.  But I guess it was just a once-in-a-lifetime moment.  I've never tired of listening to it over the years and take great pride in sharing it with you now.  In the years that I knew and worked with Steve, he was never better

Guest Artist on Blender and Cash Register - the bartender

 

 

 

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