1) What's The Big Idea
This was originally written for the Muffins' big band album, which was supposed to come out after "Mother Tongue", but the band imploded as we were finalizing it. Tom took his compositions and turned those into an album and I took mine and made the first Manna/Mirage album, "Blue Dogs". This one had not been finished at the time of Blue Dogs, so I shelved it until later. But it was time to revisit it with this CD. After I recorded it, I noticed that some Moondog had somehow slipped through. Lucky for me, I think. Stand out jazz drumming by Sean Rickman and bass punch by Jerry King. My go-to rhythm section these days. Mark Stanley's guitar solo makes this sit up and take notice.
2) World Song
This was written for DIRATZ's second album, but we disbanded before we had a chance to finish it. So again, this became the album in which to bring it back to life. (I'm starting to see a pattern here.) The lyrics by me and Carla are about emerging from the Pandemic isolation that we had all experienced and entering back into a somewhat normal world again. I like to think that it's a song of hope and rebirth. It was so good to work with the old DIRATZ band again. I miss that band.
3) In For A Penny
A new composition put together during the Pandemic. My Canterbury DNA took over here. Dereck Higgins on bass. Rich O'Meara brings the beauty to this piece with his mallet work. And yes, that's my lyric-free voice on there in the middle. I was channeling my best Brazil 66 at the time. My apologies right up front. That's Alanna Cohen Duvall on voice at the very end. Wonderful vocalist. I hope to work with her again on the next album.
4) Red Ball Express
The Red Ball Express was a convoy of trucks during WWII, staffed mainly with African American soldiers / drivers, that supplied allied forces throughout Europe after the Normandy invasion. This is all me on this one, sloppy drumming included. I wrote and recorded this one during the Pandemic and stay-at-home isolation and actually made a video of it as part of a "Stay-At-Home-Concerts" series that I posted on Facebook at the time. I had a lot of fun with this one, and I think these "Stay-At-Home-Concerts", which many musicians around the world were posting, helped a lot of people get through the isolation that we were all feeling. I think it helped connect us and bond us a bit.
5) 4 Steps Back
This was also one I started and competed during our Pandemic isolation. It was a string of Canterbury and RIO ideas that I was able to piece together so that it made a nice long complete package. Hats off to Guy Segers (bass) and Sean Rickman (drums) in particular on this one; it was very complex and long and they worked it until they mastered it. I think Sean even recorded it straight through rather than in sections, which is, if you think about it, quite impressive. Guy's bass sounds on this are both kick ass and delicate. Kudos also to Mike Potter who mixed this monster and made us all sound like proper musicians. If you listen closely, you can hear a melodic reference to an old Muffins comp called "The Adventures of Captain Boomerang". Thus the title "4 Steps Back"; I wanted to offer up a bit of an hommage to those old Muffins days of music and writing. This track has the most guest musicians on it from Gary Rouzer (cello), Forrest Fang (great RIO violin), Rich O'Meara (necessary mallet-work again), Mark Stanley (kick-it-out guitar), and Jerry King (trumpet, trombone, and crazed yelling).
6) Fred's Dream
So, this was composed just before the Pandemic isolation began. Fred Frith's great band was scheduled to appear at one of our beloved venues in Washington DC called Rhizome, and the night before I had a dream that I was at the concert. For some reason it was not at Rhizome but at a high school auditorium. We were seated in folding metal chairs looking up at the stage area with the curtains drawn closed. Suddenly, we heard a pop band start up behind us. I remember thinking to myself that that CAN'T be Fred's group, it's too normal, too poppy. So we all turned around in our chairs and looked at the back of the auditorium, and sure enough it WAS Fred's band set up and playing this wonderful pop tune! And then I woke up. And ran downstairs to the studio and recorded the chords, beat, and melody from that pop song that was still in my head. What you hear on this track is exactly what I dreamt. (Thank you, Muses!) I had Sean and Jerry add drums and bass to it and then I sent it on to Fred and told him the story. And somewhere in our back-and-forth correspondences, I asked him if he'd consider playing a solo on it (after all, it IS "Fred's Dream"), and he said yes. Needless to say, I am over the moon to have him as a guest on this song. It just had to be.
7) Silver Age
This refers to a particular age of comic book production, generally between the years 1956 and 1970, when I was reading and collecting comic books as a kid. It was written and recorded around the same time as "Blue Dogs" but never made it onto the album. I offered Mike Potter free reign to do whatever he wanted to the mix on this one. Thankfully, he did.
8) These Days
Again, I wrote and recorded this one during our Pandemic isolation and posted it as a "Stay-At-Home-Concert" video. Rich added his gorgeous vibes and marimba fairly recently. I love the melody here. Wanted to keep it stripped down and simple. "These Days" refers to something that I say when I'm meditating / chanting at night. I usually thank Buddha for "These Days" and the wonder of the world and the ability to still be here and be a part of it all. This is also a little tip-of-the-hat to Robert Wyatt, certainly not the first or last time I will do so.
Dave Newhouse - compositions, keys, woodwinds, and marching drums
Sean Rickman - drums
Jerry King - bass and brass
Dereck Higgins - bass
Guy Segers - bass
Carla Diratz - vocals and lyrics
Mark Stanley - guitar
Bret Hart - guitar
Fred Frith - guitar
Rich O'Meara - mallets
Forrest Fang - violin
Gary Rouzer - cello
Alanna Cohen Duvall - voice
Mike Potter - mixing and mastering at Orion Studios
Eric Kearns - digital layout at PhinBot Graphics
Anne Hage - cover illustraion
