u/Mother_Respond_5239

Thought this was a funny picture so I posted it. I have to keep things on my laptop keyboard to help keep my cat off of it. But, sometimes she won't be denied and no matter how uncomfortable it is, she will lay on whatever I have placed on top of it. This time she's "relaxing" on top of the Grace EPs box set, a water bottle and a metal basket.

Alright, so I've been creating playlists lately to come up with some new ways to listen to Jeff's catalog.

For instance I re-did Sketches Disc 1 and made it a little bit better by adding Haven't You Heard as Track 2 and swapping in the Verlaine mixes of Nightmares by the Sea and New Year's Prayer which imho are slightly better than Wallace's mixes. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6CPluelRXmqFVxTOuAKVwu?si=95ad02a0ae7f4eb2

I thought the idea for this one was pretty cool. My premise is that in an alternate timeline Columbia and his management push Jeff to put out an album of songs that he had at his disposal that were already recorded or largely arranged as they had been played live and could've been quickly recorded in the studio with the album coming out by the end of 1996.

This would've accomplished three things: 1) Given Sony product to move 2) Given Jeff an album to tour behind in 1997 to put himself and the band in a better financial position 3) Bought time for Jeff to write more songs and fully realize the new sound he hears in head.

The pool of songs I drew from were the songs from the first Tom Verlaine session in June 1996, outtakes from the Grace session and the new unreleased songs that were played on the Grace and Hard Luck tours or were being rehearsed during Eric Eidel's time in the band. I also included I Want Someone Badly as that was recorded some time in 1996 and could've been co-opted by the Sony corporate overlords for Jeff's album.

Even though this playlist only contains 4 songs from Disc 1 of Sketches, not only did I keep those tracks in the same spots in the order, I tried to keep to the same feel Andy Wallace and the folks at Columbia used for the track sequence of that release. I didn't have to, but I thought it was appropriate for some reason.

1. The Sky Is A Landfill - whatever minor warts this track has it still kicks ass and works as the playlist opener. Eric Eidel's finest moment as a member of the Buckley band.
2. I Want Someone Badly - Donnie Ienner co-opts this little gem from the Shudder to Think guys and saves it from being relegated to an obscure movie soundtrack. As Landfill led into Everybody Here Wants You in real life, here it leads into another soulful track with gobs of commercial appeal.
3. What Will You Say (no applause edit) - One of Jeff's greatest songs. A shame there is no studio version in our book of existence. I used the live track from Subahnhof and clipped the end to get rid of the applause to give it a more studio feel.
4. I Woke Up In A Strange Place (no applause edit) - Another live track that for the life of me I can't understand why it wasn't tried in the studio. Used the track from Mystery White Boy and edited the beginning and started it off with the cymbal crash to remove some carry over applause and clipped the ending. Sounds really good with the quick start.
5. Forget Her - Sony gets its wish and Forget Her gets released. Jeff could've re-recorded it or they could've simply used the Grace outtake. As they had the very commercial Yard Of Blonde Girls as Track 5 on Sketches, I put Forget Her into that slot.
6. We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted To Be) (Full Band rehearsal) - While this track wasn't quite ready for prime time in '96, it was close enough that Jeff could've tightened up the arrangement and improved the lyrics (like he did eventually on the 4-track recording) had he taken it into the studio. While the audio quality isn't the greatest I did improve it a bit from what's on youtube and felt it was worthy of inclusion for this experiment.
7. Moodswing Whiskey (no appaluse edit)-  another cool live track that sadly doesn't have a studio take. Again, I clipped the ending of the Mystery White Boy track to remove the applause and the very beginning to get rid of some audience member whistling.
8. Morning Theft
9. Vancouver
10. You & I.

 

I placed the last three tracks in the same spots as they were on Sketches to round things out.

Have got to say, listening to this playlist, this is a pretty damn strong collection of songs that work well together as a whole. A grimier, but worthy follow-up to Grace (with two good shots at single success in Forget Her and I Want Someone Badly) had it actually come to pass.

Here is the Spotify link for you listening pleasure.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6wzJ0y4P5LGpwDtiHbyVU1?si=39fa5dfac8c84b24

Let me know what you think!

Also considered: Calling You (Bearsville version) Andy Wallace felt this one could've easily made it on Grace. Jeff always slayed this song, and I thought about slotting it in for Opened Once, but ultimately I tried to keep cover songs off my "album" with I Want Someone Badly being the only song on the playlist that Jeff didn't have a hand in writing. All Flowers in Time Bend Towards The Sun - the live version of this, which I prefer over the duet, simply sounds too shitty for inclusion. I could've included the version with Liz, but felt with Morning Theft and You & I we were covered as far as mellow songs go, I wanted this to rock. Lost Highway - one of my favorite Jeff covers/b-sides but it didn't fit stylistically and I quickly remembered it had already appeared on the So Real cd-single, so it got eliminated. 

In spring 1997, Matt Johnson and Mick Grondahl provided backing on a tour that Elysian Fields did in Europe.

This is after (obviously) Matt had quit Jeff's band and while Mick was waiting for Jeff to finish up writing the second album in Memphis.

So, I guess whatever issues Matt and Mick had while Matt was still in the band were eventually ironed out and the two were able to tour together again.

Elysian Fields guitarist/bassist Oren Bloedow eventually ended up as part of Black Beetle with Michael Tighe, Parker Kindred and Joan Wasser.