Mix Tapes From The Past #3
�Anti-Dreck Maneuver� (or, �I�m a Big Geek Who Likes Genesis�)
October 1994

�John Paul, how much can you really write about a mix tape?� � Ransom Briggs

CAVEAT: I found this tape in my parents� basement over Thanksgiving. It was one of the mixes I made to practice drums along with, so one would assume that if there�s a unifying theme here, it�s that these songs have good drum parts, or at least I thought they did when was eighteen. Or maybe the unifying theme is �mostly Phish & Genesis.�

I think I originally labeled this tape only Music, but then added �Anti-Dreck Maneuver,� a play on one of the song�s titles (and a quality statement about the content, I suppose). But, about halfway through, I stopped striving for any variety in the programming, as I would for a regular mix, and just started throwing on snippets of music that was fun to play drums along with. So be warned.

SIDE ONE:

1. Primus: �Intruder� ��This is from their covers EP Miscellaneous Debris. They were a band whose sound is the embodiment of adolescent wanking (both musical and otherwise), but on MD they pointed towards some unlikely influences, such as Peter Gabriel.

2. Phish: �Horn� � From my favorite Phish album, Rift. When they weren�t busy noodling themselves to death, they wrote some damn fine pop songs. The guitar solo in this song is beautiful.

3. Genesis: �Living Forever (abridged)� � Ah, see, I was wise. This song is from the last proper Genesis album We Can�t Dance, which was predictably uneven. It�s a pretty good pop song all the same. But because the ostensible purpose of this mix was to hone my drumming chops, I cut off the first three-quarters of the song and only included the ending instrumental section, which has some great drumming. I�m not such a die-hard Genesis fan that I can�t spot those moments (from 1978 to their sad (and not in a good way) 1997 swan song Calling All Stations) when they sucked. I just sift through the dreck, if you will, to find the good stuff.

4. The Police: �Synchronicity� � This song is one of my favorite Police songs. Musically, it�s not terribly interesting, but it has an edge to it that was missing from a lot of their late-period stuff. And it was good drumming. This and all the other songs from the second side of Synchronicity were vying to be the hit single, and they all won. ... Wes and I saw Vin Shende�s band Mister Fashion & The Renegades do this song at Grinnell in 1993, then asked Vin to sing on our cover of �Message In A Bottle� because Phil couldn�t hit all the high notes.

5. Firehose: �Anti-Misogyny Maneuver� � This song has a difficult drum part, but I got it eventually. Wes and I saw Firehose at Hairy Mary�s in 1993�with Wes� Mom, and then eight years later we opened for Mike Watt at Gabe�s.

6. Living Colour: �Nothingness� ��The album this is from�Stain�was just weird. I didn�t get into it as much as their previous two, which sound curiously dated and cheesy when I listen to them now, but Vernon Reid still shreds. This song has some great bass playing, tasteful use of guitar synthesizer, and a deceptively simple-sounding funk drum part. I am a very white drummer; I could not play funk when I made this tape, and I cannot play it now.

7. Fishbone: �Lemon Meringue� ��Oh GOD, I completely forgot about this song. And this album, Give A Monkey A Brain & He�ll Swear He�s The Center Of The Universe. It came out in 1993, right before Fishbone went right off the deep end and started making absurdly stupid music, with a few exceptions. ... What was I saying about playing funk? This song is so sweet. I�m going to try and download this album (sold the CD a long time ago), then drive around listening to The Reality Of My Surroundings.

8. U2: �Dirty Day� ��This is one of my all-time favorite U2 songs, and I think Zooropa is my favorite album of theirs (blasphemy, I know). I�ve always wondered what this song is about: An illegitimate child? Rape? Third World debt relief? Either way, it�s got a nice drum part and the lyrics at the end, while they may be lifted directly from Bukowski, make for a great ride-out section.

9. Phish: �Weigh� ��This is where the mix�s variety ends and the repetition begins. ... Let me just say something about Phish: I loved them in high school, before I knew that it was not cool to like them unless you were a hippie or a frat boy (or worse, both). Long before I ever got drunk or stoned, I would listen to their albums, dissect the drum parts, and marvel at their virtuosity. So I am a bit of a closet Phish fan because I know the sort of stigma one inherits by liking their music. But I am not ashamed to embrace much of their earlier albums, especially Rift, as big influences on my drumming. Not that I could ever hope to be as good, or good-looking, as Jon Fishman.

10. Genesis: �Can-Utility & The Coastliners (abridged)� � Not only did I break the cardinal rule again, I also abridged this song, cutting out the first section, during which there is no drumming. I guess since the purpose of this mix was to practice the drums, my priorities were more ultilitarian than aesthetic.

11. Yes: �Owner Of A Lonley Heart� ��I�m not sure what the hell this is doing on here. I think I just needed filler because I was getting to the end of the first side. Maybe after all that Phish and Genesis I needed practice playing painfully straight 4/4.

12. Genesis: �After The Ordeal (abridged)� � What the hell? I guess I had given up any pretenses towards variety in the program, and just decided to put a bunch of instrumental snippets on to play along with.

SIDE TWO:

13. Genesis: �Riding The Scree����Jesus. Here�s another impossible 9/4 drum workout courtesy of early Genesis. You must understand that, throughout high school, every fiber of my musician's being strained towards being able to play every one of Phil Collins� drum parts note-for-note. So that�s what I spent five years learning how to do. And then I moved on ... I think.

14. Phish: �Sample In A Jar� � This is the worst mix tape ever.

15. Genesis: �In That Quiet Earth� � Of all time.

16. Phish: �Mound� ��God. I�m not even posting this.

17. Genesis: �Supper�s Ready (second half)� � At least not without a big caveat at the beginning. ... I should mention that anyone who�s ever been curious about early Genesis (probably as a result of hearing me yammer on about it) but needs a good point of entry, should probably start with the album Foxtrot, which contains the epic �Supper�s Ready� and is as beautiful and complete a statement as I think the band could have possibly made.

18. Genesis: �Dancing With The Moonlight Knight� � How�s about I just turn my discussion of this mix tape into a treatise on the early work of Genesis. The band immediately followed Foxtrot with another perfect album, 1973�s Selling England By The Pound. Can you imagine any band these days releasing two albums in as many years, both of them excellent? Someone should try that. Maybe a high-concept English band with an eccentric frontman and a penchant for experimentation.

19. Genesis: �Cinema Show� � Now you know where I got the name for my blog.

20. Genesis: �Los Endos (live)� ��From 1976, after Peter Gabriel left, but when they were still good.

So anyway, I'm sorry about all that. I'll update soon, and then we can forget any of this ever happened.

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