This album began with a phone call from an agent Nick Camas, who at that time represented producer David Hentschel. He wondered if we would be interested in doing any recording with Hentschel. We jumped at the chance to record with one of our musical heroes. That session, recorded recently at two separate studios in Los Angeles, contained six songs and was recorded in seven days. Drums were recorded at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank and everything else was completed at Scott Frankfurt Studios in Woodland Hills. Hentschel then mixed and produced the songs at his studio in London, England. The last three songs of the album were recorded at Cloudborn Studios in Dearborn, Michigan, 1983. The engineer on those sessions was Mark Wisney. AIA ran through first take recordings of a total of 17 songs that day, and we have included four of them on this album. AIA bassist on the recordings, Jim Kuha has re-mixed and produced these last three songs. The three other remaining songs were recorded by guitarist/singer Chris Flynn at his home studio in Los Angeles, California.
Notes on the songs from guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Chris Flynn:
A Tale of the Unexpected: My working title on this piece was "Throwing Shapes" but that title was claimed by a band called Dirty Vegas, so we searched for a new name. The name was finally suggested by David Hentschel (from an old Sci-Fi show on British television). We liked the title very much and it had a double meaning for us, in that it alluded to our unexpected alliance and recording with Hentschel. The phone ringing at the beginning of the piece (after the Charles Laughton clip) was David Hentschel's cellphone ring, and he had me record, in my voice, a "Hello" for that beginning. In regards to the composition, I wrote the song in a linear manner starting at the beginning and moving forward without any kind of outline. You can hear Tony Levin's bowed electric string bass in this intro. I very much love the choir mellotron in this. I've always been a fan of it, since it's early use in the 70s by bands like Genesis , Beatles, YES and King Crimson. Interspersed throughout are various clips from movies and a few even from Hentschel's neighborhood children outside his home. I view this one as a mixed media piece. These are my impressions of living life in America with all the loud voices, arguments, television, media and general vocal clutter that flavors our lives. There isn't any harp in this song though Shishonee actually had composed a very nice harp part for it, but Hentschel (and myself) felt the song needed to stick to a mellotron expedition with the melody being provided by my guitar line. That guitar melody was recorded using a very cheap Ibanez guitar with extra light strings, (I normally play light gauge strings starting with a .10 on my Fender Stratocaster ), in order to give that melody a vibrato that resembled a rubber-band type wobble. I ran it through an Analog SunFace pedal (a type of fuzz tone). The "liar" clip is again from a 1958 Charles Laughton movie called "Witness for the Prosecution". I've always loved his screaming of that script line. -- Chris Flynn
I Am I: The spring board for this song started with a New Yorker cartoon I once saw that was rather obtuse. Two men were looking at a hole that was surrounded by what appeared to be worshipers, and one man said to the other; "I don't know George. It just looks like one big hole to me". That started me off and I messed with that sentence a bit until I arrived at the guitar part and vocal melody for the verses. This lyric discusses the many phases of one man's life-journey. And that man would be me. The first verse is about my rather reckless youth of drugs drinking and living life without a plan. That amount of imbibing led to a rather depressed and alienated state of mind. The second verse is the start of a life change due to having children and responsibilities that ensue from that choice. The catch me if you can, delight dweeb deranged, it just a sort of a lyrical vamp about my brother Dan (Art in America's drummer). Those of you who know Dan know his sweet but sometimes wild nature. Whatcha gonna do? After all, he is a drummer! The last verse is the eventual gain of emotional control, purpose and balance that I found in my later years.
I love Shishonee's harp parts in this song! They float right over the top of those Leslie Strat guitar parts. And they syncopate nicely against the vocal verse lines. If you listen closely you can hear that David Hentschel doubled some of her harp parts with a violin section. Tony Levin play a strong foundation bottom on this and I just love his playing. -- Chris Flynn
Someday: David Hentschel played the piano solo while mixing the album in England. All the string synth parts are also performed by Hentschel. It was his intention to score this for orchestra and we would certainly like to see that happen at some point. Tony Levin plays a beautiful upright bass for this song. My wife Nina Kahle, went through two drafts for the lyrics. It's just what I wanted and is simply stated - a song about sadness and hope.
Drool: This is a song about alcoholism, which was something my father struggled with his entire life. He was a binge drinker and his preference in the 1950, 60s and 70s was gin. I even remember his brand (Gilbeys) It smelled nasty to me back then, but these days I don't mind an occasional ice cold gin and tonic. Again, we have movie clips in this song. Many of you will recognize them. My own demo on this one was quite good but we completely re-recorded the song including the guitars, during the session. The song structure is simple here, with a basic acoustic guitar blues riff. David H. was very keen on my slide guitar work. He said it took him back to recording ALL THINGS MUST PASS by George Harrison. The keyboard synth pad was mine from the very beginning, and we flew that in. It changes the chordal structure of that simple blues lick, to a diminished 9th. A 1970 Stratocaster and Marshall 100 watt amp provided that slide sound. Dan Flynn is playing his FIBES drum set. He's had it since the 70s and it is a rare find these days. Incidentally, Tony Levin plays two bass parts in the break sections of this song (between verses with the movie clips). So on the bottom is Tony's low root bass part, and on top of that he also added a bowed fuzz bass part which fits into the fabric of that break section. David Hentschel thought it was so cool, he included both bass parts. Listen closely and you'll hear it.
The New Swami: Originally titled "The 5th Swami," David Hentschel nixed the title since the word fifth and Swami did not sing particularly well. I then went with The New Swami. This song is tongue-in-cheek and a humorous take on living in La La Land (Los Angeles, California). I am a bit proud of this clever lyric.
Someone Called My Name: The painting that accompanies the lyric sheet (see the Cloudborn Lyrics page) is another piece by our drummer and brother, Dan Flynn. This is actually from an animated work he created that, sadly, is lost. The breakout section in the middle was originally the ending of the song and that change was suggested by David Hentschel.
For Shelly: I wrote this song after hearing that a good friend of our band had tragically lost her daughter. The funeral was to be Wednesday and on a Saturday morning I wrote this song for the funeral and quickly recorded it that day, then FedX'd the CD to her on Monday. The recording is a moment in time with no later overdub or any change to the vocal or any of the instruments. I very much wanted to preserve this song as a moment-in-time.
When We Were Young: A year or two ago, I was deep into reading a novel by Charles Dickens called "A Tale of Two Cities". It's a dark novel and it left me in a dark, pensive mood. The music was written first, and as I nailed down a lyric I found the lyrical arc presented itself to me as a melancholy look back at our upbringing in a small town: Lakewood, Ohio. Incidentally, the song's intro and the very last ending bit between harp and guitar are from two works by classical composer George Butterworth. The intro is from "A Shropshire Lad"; and the ending is from "The Banks of Green Willow".
Facelift: I wrote this song around 2007 and presented it to the band. Jim Kuha (AIA bassist) was not entirely into the song after the intro section, so I wrote another song, along with keyboardist Garry Galloway to follow the intro section. That song was called Targets. I have posted here https://tinyurl.com/y6pquv4b . FYI, Targets has two blazing guitar solos from yours truly. I have music posted in quite a few sites for free download for anyone interested. Grab it while you can.
I digress, this version, FACELIFT, is in it's original untouched form. It's another mixed media piece with movie clips and television show clips (even some from the Bozo children's TV show of the early 60s). The subject matter however is about World War II. The main riff is reminiscent of a Jeff Beck riff. That song is: Rice Pudding, on the Beck-Ola album.
Don't Look Down: From the Cloudborn Sessions in 1983. This is a rock song and I'm rather proud of the music. It's a very tight form and you need to bring it if you are going to play this kind of music. I'm not very fond of the vapid lyric, but perhaps some of you might find a place for the song. Great drumming from Dan Flynn and the blistering Squire-like bass playing is by Art in America bassist: Jim Kuha. The guitar solo features my Strat run into a Maestro Fuzztain pedal. I was and still am, a big fan of Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs album, and this sound for the guitar solo was my version of that swirling, bending and powerful guitar texture.
Apologies to Jim Kuha. He is not credited with producing this song on the physical CD and we are deeply sorry about that. It's my error. When we decided to remove the song "Sorry to Say" from this album, it messed up the producer credits. I should have caught it before it went to pressing.
No Wonder: From the Cloudborn Sessions in 1983. This was Jim Kuha's writing. He did not have a vocal melody and in those days that was something I was pretty good at developing. I contributed a few sections to the music. It's possible the middle 8 section, "I think about her now and then" was my contribution. The song was remixed and produced by Jim Kuha, last year, and he really nailed it.
Goodbye My Love - Mind's Eye - Peace of Mind: From the Cloudborn Session in 1983. All 17 Cloudborn Studio songs, from 1983, were all one take recordings from a one day session at that now defunct studio named Cloudborn located in Dearborn, Michigan. This is actually two songs, with a musical interlude added last year, as a bridge between the two. The interlude, called "The Mind's Eye, was Jim Kuha's idea, and Garry Galloway, Chris Flynn and Jim Kuha wrote this bridge as an improvisation - on the spot. Jim Kuha mixed and produced this ending trilogy. We feel that this trilogy perfectly captures the spirit of what the band was back then. Dan's powerful drumming, Shishonee's cool harp parts adding texture, Jim K's powerful bass part and my Stratocaster guitar, vocal and lyric for added focal point. Keyboardist Garry Galloway added two spot-on Moog synth parts in both songs, and an overlay of mellotron, to the ending of P.O.M. Total coolness. FYI, the ending climb is a chordal homage to the band "The Who". Goodbye My Love was written by Chris Flynn and Peace of Mind was written by Jim Kuha and Chris Flynn.
Notes on the songs from guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Chris Flynn:
A Tale of the Unexpected: My working title on this piece was "Throwing Shapes" but that title was claimed by a band called Dirty Vegas, so we searched for a new name. The name was finally suggested by David Hentschel (from an old Sci-Fi show on British television). We liked the title very much and it had a double meaning for us, in that it alluded to our unexpected alliance and recording with Hentschel. The phone ringing at the beginning of the piece (after the Charles Laughton clip) was David Hentschel's cellphone ring, and he had me record, in my voice, a "Hello" for that beginning. In regards to the composition, I wrote the song in a linear manner starting at the beginning and moving forward without any kind of outline. You can hear Tony Levin's bowed electric string bass in this intro. I very much love the choir mellotron in this. I've always been a fan of it, since it's early use in the 70s by bands like Genesis , Beatles, YES and King Crimson. Interspersed throughout are various clips from movies and a few even from Hentschel's neighborhood children outside his home. I view this one as a mixed media piece. These are my impressions of living life in America with all the loud voices, arguments, television, media and general vocal clutter that flavors our lives. There isn't any harp in this song though Shishonee actually had composed a very nice harp part for it, but Hentschel (and myself) felt the song needed to stick to a mellotron expedition with the melody being provided by my guitar line. That guitar melody was recorded using a very cheap Ibanez guitar with extra light strings, (I normally play light gauge strings starting with a .10 on my Fender Stratocaster ), in order to give that melody a vibrato that resembled a rubber-band type wobble. I ran it through an Analog SunFace pedal (a type of fuzz tone). The "liar" clip is again from a 1958 Charles Laughton movie called "Witness for the Prosecution". I've always loved his screaming of that script line. -- Chris Flynn
I Am I: The spring board for this song started with a New Yorker cartoon I once saw that was rather obtuse. Two men were looking at a hole that was surrounded by what appeared to be worshipers, and one man said to the other; "I don't know George. It just looks like one big hole to me". That started me off and I messed with that sentence a bit until I arrived at the guitar part and vocal melody for the verses. This lyric discusses the many phases of one man's life-journey. And that man would be me. The first verse is about my rather reckless youth of drugs drinking and living life without a plan. That amount of imbibing led to a rather depressed and alienated state of mind. The second verse is the start of a life change due to having children and responsibilities that ensue from that choice. The catch me if you can, delight dweeb deranged, it just a sort of a lyrical vamp about my brother Dan (Art in America's drummer). Those of you who know Dan know his sweet but sometimes wild nature. Whatcha gonna do? After all, he is a drummer! The last verse is the eventual gain of emotional control, purpose and balance that I found in my later years.
I love Shishonee's harp parts in this song! They float right over the top of those Leslie Strat guitar parts. And they syncopate nicely against the vocal verse lines. If you listen closely you can hear that David Hentschel doubled some of her harp parts with a violin section. Tony Levin play a strong foundation bottom on this and I just love his playing. -- Chris Flynn
Someday: David Hentschel played the piano solo while mixing the album in England. All the string synth parts are also performed by Hentschel. It was his intention to score this for orchestra and we would certainly like to see that happen at some point. Tony Levin plays a beautiful upright bass for this song. My wife Nina Kahle, went through two drafts for the lyrics. It's just what I wanted and is simply stated - a song about sadness and hope.
Drool: This is a song about alcoholism, which was something my father struggled with his entire life. He was a binge drinker and his preference in the 1950, 60s and 70s was gin. I even remember his brand (Gilbeys) It smelled nasty to me back then, but these days I don't mind an occasional ice cold gin and tonic. Again, we have movie clips in this song. Many of you will recognize them. My own demo on this one was quite good but we completely re-recorded the song including the guitars, during the session. The song structure is simple here, with a basic acoustic guitar blues riff. David H. was very keen on my slide guitar work. He said it took him back to recording ALL THINGS MUST PASS by George Harrison. The keyboard synth pad was mine from the very beginning, and we flew that in. It changes the chordal structure of that simple blues lick, to a diminished 9th. A 1970 Stratocaster and Marshall 100 watt amp provided that slide sound. Dan Flynn is playing his FIBES drum set. He's had it since the 70s and it is a rare find these days. Incidentally, Tony Levin plays two bass parts in the break sections of this song (between verses with the movie clips). So on the bottom is Tony's low root bass part, and on top of that he also added a bowed fuzz bass part which fits into the fabric of that break section. David Hentschel thought it was so cool, he included both bass parts. Listen closely and you'll hear it.
The New Swami: Originally titled "The 5th Swami," David Hentschel nixed the title since the word fifth and Swami did not sing particularly well. I then went with The New Swami. This song is tongue-in-cheek and a humorous take on living in La La Land (Los Angeles, California). I am a bit proud of this clever lyric.
Someone Called My Name: The painting that accompanies the lyric sheet (see the Cloudborn Lyrics page) is another piece by our drummer and brother, Dan Flynn. This is actually from an animated work he created that, sadly, is lost. The breakout section in the middle was originally the ending of the song and that change was suggested by David Hentschel.
For Shelly: I wrote this song after hearing that a good friend of our band had tragically lost her daughter. The funeral was to be Wednesday and on a Saturday morning I wrote this song for the funeral and quickly recorded it that day, then FedX'd the CD to her on Monday. The recording is a moment in time with no later overdub or any change to the vocal or any of the instruments. I very much wanted to preserve this song as a moment-in-time.
When We Were Young: A year or two ago, I was deep into reading a novel by Charles Dickens called "A Tale of Two Cities". It's a dark novel and it left me in a dark, pensive mood. The music was written first, and as I nailed down a lyric I found the lyrical arc presented itself to me as a melancholy look back at our upbringing in a small town: Lakewood, Ohio. Incidentally, the song's intro and the very last ending bit between harp and guitar are from two works by classical composer George Butterworth. The intro is from "A Shropshire Lad"; and the ending is from "The Banks of Green Willow".
Facelift: I wrote this song around 2007 and presented it to the band. Jim Kuha (AIA bassist) was not entirely into the song after the intro section, so I wrote another song, along with keyboardist Garry Galloway to follow the intro section. That song was called Targets. I have posted here https://tinyurl.com/y6pquv4b . FYI, Targets has two blazing guitar solos from yours truly. I have music posted in quite a few sites for free download for anyone interested. Grab it while you can.
I digress, this version, FACELIFT, is in it's original untouched form. It's another mixed media piece with movie clips and television show clips (even some from the Bozo children's TV show of the early 60s). The subject matter however is about World War II. The main riff is reminiscent of a Jeff Beck riff. That song is: Rice Pudding, on the Beck-Ola album.
Don't Look Down: From the Cloudborn Sessions in 1983. This is a rock song and I'm rather proud of the music. It's a very tight form and you need to bring it if you are going to play this kind of music. I'm not very fond of the vapid lyric, but perhaps some of you might find a place for the song. Great drumming from Dan Flynn and the blistering Squire-like bass playing is by Art in America bassist: Jim Kuha. The guitar solo features my Strat run into a Maestro Fuzztain pedal. I was and still am, a big fan of Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs album, and this sound for the guitar solo was my version of that swirling, bending and powerful guitar texture.
Apologies to Jim Kuha. He is not credited with producing this song on the physical CD and we are deeply sorry about that. It's my error. When we decided to remove the song "Sorry to Say" from this album, it messed up the producer credits. I should have caught it before it went to pressing.
No Wonder: From the Cloudborn Sessions in 1983. This was Jim Kuha's writing. He did not have a vocal melody and in those days that was something I was pretty good at developing. I contributed a few sections to the music. It's possible the middle 8 section, "I think about her now and then" was my contribution. The song was remixed and produced by Jim Kuha, last year, and he really nailed it.
Goodbye My Love - Mind's Eye - Peace of Mind: From the Cloudborn Session in 1983. All 17 Cloudborn Studio songs, from 1983, were all one take recordings from a one day session at that now defunct studio named Cloudborn located in Dearborn, Michigan. This is actually two songs, with a musical interlude added last year, as a bridge between the two. The interlude, called "The Mind's Eye, was Jim Kuha's idea, and Garry Galloway, Chris Flynn and Jim Kuha wrote this bridge as an improvisation - on the spot. Jim Kuha mixed and produced this ending trilogy. We feel that this trilogy perfectly captures the spirit of what the band was back then. Dan's powerful drumming, Shishonee's cool harp parts adding texture, Jim K's powerful bass part and my Stratocaster guitar, vocal and lyric for added focal point. Keyboardist Garry Galloway added two spot-on Moog synth parts in both songs, and an overlay of mellotron, to the ending of P.O.M. Total coolness. FYI, the ending climb is a chordal homage to the band "The Who". Goodbye My Love was written by Chris Flynn and Peace of Mind was written by Jim Kuha and Chris Flynn.
