Laser Pace - Granfalloon (Takoma - 1974) Wow!

Describe please!

What he said!

punk prog noise. intense space mellotron stuff. electronic fx all over the place. tons of synth/electronics in general. but also awesome guitar action. the only guitar listed is maureen's and if she played all this stuff then she should be on some list of gods. she sings a little like Anisette from the Savage Rose. But her vocals are also heavily processed for maximum whatthefuckness. some of the electroprog moments remind me of Ubu in a big way. this was recorded in 1973. D.Distorto on bass. The drummer used to be in the garage band The Opus 1. he mentions the record in an interview on-line:

"Doug Decker has had a very successful career doing recording engineering working with Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, Band of Gypsies, Roger Miller, and John Fahey among many, many others. Today he is doing sound for the "Win Ben Stein's Money" TV show. Doug and I have worked together on and off for the last 30 years. We did an album with his wife Maureen O'Connor in the early seventies for Takoma Records called "Granfalloon." The group was called Laser Pace -- very experimental, lots of electronics."

the bass playing is so Ubu too. There is an awesome instrumental on here called "Scatter" that sounds like King Crimson + Can + PIL. Until it turns into freeform jazz piano/sleighbell/electronic nod-out acid jam. then it becomes something else entirely.

my fave lyrics:

"Cherish and hold the time
scrape off the cream
it'll be so clean
as you glide into a void so strong
vessels bursting from the shit
you brought along."

man, i don't know what her voice sounds like. it's crazy. anisette is just the closest i could come as far as a comparison goes.

actually david thomas is a pretty good comparison! i wonder if those guys were fans. sure sounds like it.

scott, if u could leonardo this and set the music free many hippies and bloggers would hug u.

Wot Gott said.

i need 2 hear this i think

Sounds amazing!

did i mention that the cover is an illustration of people running from and being destroyed by a cosmic laser beam?

http://www.wirz.de/music/takoma/grafik/laser4.jpg

:-D

I just emailed Keith of Anthology Recordings about this (Anthology's re-reissue of C.A. Quintet's Trip Through Hell is verra niiice, and new to me; ditto Shoes' Black Vinyl Shoes, and they've also picked up fabulous Satwa, but a fair amount of their stuff is as obscure as Laser Pace--so maybe...?!)

they've also picked up fabulous Satwa

You mean the album on Time-Lag, or something else?

anthology would have to get in touch with these people:

http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/labels/

Yeah, it's the same as on Time-Lag, and they do seem to work out things with (artists whose rarities have previously been reissued by)other labels, so maybe they could do that with (Laser Pace and)Takoma, who mainly keep Fahey & friends in print nowadays (wonder how that Robbie Basho is; I like Peter Lang)

basho >>>>> lang!

i am very excited to hear this laser pace LP. looks killer.

side 1

closet casualty (maureen o'connor)

avatar (maureen o'connor)

(whoever)you are(you) (maureen o'connor)

sky fell (w.g. christensen, d.distorto)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-1.mp3

side 2

endless (maureen o'connor)

oh yeah? (w.g. christensen)

redemption (maureen o'connor)

scatter (d.distorto)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-2.mp3

:-D

Vonnegutty

thank you sir.

side one is like 3.7 megs, side two 19.5? just checkin'.

oh and THANKS in 72 pt impact font.

Both are labelled side one. The first file is 4:01; the second, 21:17. But um...what did John Fahey think of this?

Maureen O'Connor sings like A LOT David Thomas! Check out the 4:01 track.

Thanx!!

yeah, I think I didn't change the details on the mp3 ID3 save thingy on the second one, so they both show as side 1.

Maureen O'Connor's vocals remind me of my long-lost friend John LaCroix who people in Boston kept trying to get to attend the opera program at Berklee. He had a band called the Cauldron. I miss him.

A cool story. :-)

But Maria, is there any reason side 1 is only 3, 4 minutes long?

man. this stuff is strange. i'm always waiting for that cheesy moment, that explosion into gucky supermelodic pop or something but it always heads in another direction. also, it sounds sort of like something a cult would pay to record and release. i like it.

oops, looks like side one is just the first song! sorry. i didn't check it before posting it. you can all just blame maria. i'll post the whole side today. what do you want for nothin'?

We ain't complainin', just curious. :-)

all day i tried to import the audacity file into an mp3 and every time i tried my computer crashed. so sad. i figured i could at least send it in an e-mail to someone.
my computer is a year old and it apparently can't handle audio/video anymore. so aggravating. it's not like i do a ton of stuff on my computer. why would a computer crash playing a measly cd?

man. this stuff is strange.

If YOU think that, I gotta hear this. thanks Scott!

maria bought me a cd player at radio shack today. god bless her. i've got doom metal to write about! i can't be anxious about CDs. satan didn't put me on this earth to worry about digital audio.

i gotta tell you, it's a cheap teac cd player and it sounds great. way better than my computer's player. mark hollis is now 5 star audio instead of just 4 and a half star audio.

if no one's up to the challenge, i'm down to separate the mp3s into separate tracks and reupload tagged and everything.

that is if we can get the full first side :D

i'll try again.

xpost I heard back from Keith of Anthology Recordings about this: he's def interested in hearing it, and who knows, maybe it will indeed end up on Anthology (although now that Concord Music Group's near the end oftheir glorious 50th Anniversary of Stax[through calendar-wise at least], maybe they'll start excavating Takoma treasures themselves)

Oh and speaking of Teac (and yeah, CD players usually sound better than computers to me, esp bass), the aforementioned Anthology reissue of Shoes' Black Vinyl Shoes was recorded on a Teac 4-track in their living room, and sounds amazing--come to think of it, Becker & Fagen said they recorded a lot of Steely Dan demos on one of those--

jaxon, you around? i think i actually managed to make an MP3 of the first side. I can try and e-mail it to someone. anyone around? Just e-mail me. I don't know how you can share with the class though. Although I guess I can just e-mail it to anyone who wants it. But I'm also kind of afraid that just trying to e-mail the file might crash my computer. we shall see!

e-mail it to me, scott
i'll be home in an hour or so

scott, if you can upload either the mp3 or the audacity file to megaupload.com and email me the link it spits out (jason @ art-ificial.com - minus the spaces) unless maria takes care of it.

I've got 7/8 of the tracks as separate mp3s (the one I'm missing is "Scatter"). I'll upload them in a minute.

ah there ya go!

i gave up. i need to take an audacity course. i thought i was turning the first side into an mp3 and it turns out i was making the whole album a big mp3. i couldn't e-mail it. too big for me.

so colin has the rest. and scatter is on that side two up there.

First seven songs here

scott and colin, i declare you co-mayors of ILM for november.

^^^
this

Yeah, extra-special thanks to Colin, Scott and Maria!

Everything about this reminds me of Annette Peacock. The slow, bluesy funk rock. The moog - especially on Sky Fell, that tone. And while her voice doesn't exactly sound like peacock's, her singing through effects does.

Howdy! This is John "Chris" Christensen from Laser Pace. I've really enjoyed watching (and listening to) your dialogue about our album Granfalloon. If you have any questions about the group or our music, I can be contacted at: www.myspace.com/johnchrischristensen

Thanks for keeping the music alive!

JC

Whoa, hey there! Glad you could find us.

Yeah! (having those Laser Pace tracks posted makes me paranoid about downloading, though--visions of black vinyl helicopters landing on my bank statements--visually hep, otherwise not so much)

Great stuff, John! You rock!

I wonder if John knows what happened to Maureen. And what he thought of her guitar playing.

Sky Fell

Black vinyl RIAA sky!

Maureen and I are still in touch. I ran into her and Doug aka: D. Distorto, at the NAMM Show last January. We joked that if we had about ten more fans we might stage a reunion tour!! We have heard that the album is supposed to be a minor cult classic in Europe, although it would hard for us to know for sure.

As to Maureen's guitar playing, I appreciate it a lot more in retrospect than I did at the time. I always thought that she was a brilliant lyricist, and her chord vocabulary and their use in composition were amazing. At the time I was much more impressed by her abilities as a rhythm player, which were extraordinary. I've always been disappointed that we didn't actually write some songs together, although the three of us did all the arranging together. Granfalloon was very much a group effort. Looking back, I can see that our individual approaches to lead guitar playing have more than a few similarities.
JC

Everything about this reminds me of Annette Peacock.

^^^ OTM.

John, if you want me to take down the mp3s, just let me know.

Thanks for the info, John!

One more question, if you don't mind. What inspired the use of electronics? What were you guys listening to at the time that might have contributed to the sound of Laser Pace. I can hear different jazz and progressive rock elements in the sound, but not everyone at the time was rocking the synths/electronics like you guys were.

Please don't take the clips down!

I actually sent out a bulletin from my Myspace (www.myspace.com/johnchrischristensen) telling people where to find the links. Right now, I'd just like to have more people hear it. The record hasn’t been heard much in the last 35 years except for a few playings here and there on alternative/college radio stations. Granfalloon isn’t currently in release, so I don’t really see a conflict. If it were out there legitimately, then it would be a little different.

JC

Good question Scott!

I think germ was actually planted in '66.

Doug, his brother Brian, and I were in a band called Opus 1. We recorded for Bob Keane (Ritchie Valens, Bobby Fuller, Barry White, etc.) on Mustang Records. The Deckers father was James Decker, a world class french horn player and studio musician, supposedly Stravinsky's favorite musician.

One day Jim (James) called and said that we had to come to this rehearsal of Stockhausen music he was going to perform in Ojai. At the rehearsal we met either Beaver or Krause, I can’t really remember which one anymore. They were working with one of the first Robert Moog synths. We were knocked out! I know Doug was profoundly affected by it, and so was I. From then on I was trying to incorporate tape effects etc., into my own music in an attempt to get that sound, which of course didn’t work!

In about ‘71 or ‘72 Doug bought a Buchla synth from Morton Subotnik. It was the one used to record “Silver Apples of the Moon.” We already knew even before we started writing songs for Laser Pace that it would be all over our as yet unnamed record. The Buchla would be played by Jim Divisek (who had studied with Subotnik), Doug (the rock and roller synthesist) and pianist Larry Parsons, who really didn’t program it, he just played it while Doug did the various processes. I think Maureen may have played some stuff on it as well, but I don’t really remember for sure.

We all listened to everything. Our tastes were diverse to say the least. I was (and still am) a huge Crimson fan, and was always bringing these records around for Doug and Maureen to listen to; some Airto, some Miles, Cathy Berberian, etc. At first they were a little bugged, and then once they got into it, they responded by ‘buying stock’ in Tower Records! The really good thing about Doug and Maureen back then was that they, like me, were influenced by what they heard, but they NEVER tried to copy it. We also hated it when Synths went from being synths, to being used to copy other instruments. That really was the death of synthesis, the way we saw it.

JC

Thanks again for the information and the memories! I love hearing stuff like this. I'm wondering if the album would have found a bigger audience if it had been on another label. Takoma was mostly known for acoustic/folk records(experimental acoustic/folk records to be sure - and don't get me wrong, i'm certainly glad that someone put it out),but here's this wildly creative progressive/experimental rock record...well, you get what I'm saying.
In any case, all these years later, thanks for the music! It's an inspiring listen. And certainly unique.

It would be great if someone like Anthology Recordings put it out there for more people to hear. It definitely deserves to be heard by more people.

This is really good stuff!

But none of the links above have included "Scatter" yet. Scott's first link matches up with "Endless" from Colin's upload, and the 2nd link matches up with all of Side 1 from ditto. So "Scatter" is the track that hasn't been put up yet. The speed/pitch differences betw. Scott's uploads and Colin's are pretty pronounced, which is closer to "correct"?

Holy shit, I suspected that had to be a Buchla or something equally exotic, so bizarre were those sounds! Not that I really know what the hell I'm talking about; but I completely agree with the "death of synthesis" sentiment.

Anyway: Cool record, JC! Thanks for getting in touch.

so, wait, that link up there that says side 2 is all of side 1? oh god, i'm so confused. i thought it was all of side 2. i don't know what the heck we were doing.

as far as pitch and all that, i have no idea. i have a brand new turntable. it sounds good to me. we put it right into the computer and into audacity.

I think it's side 2! I thought I heard all eight songs.

okay, it is side 2. and it ends with scatter. phew. i just downloaded it again.

About the Buchla. It played in Quadraphonic Sound! Too bad it had to be tracked in stereo. Doug still has the multitracks from the sessions. I always thought it would be really cool to remix the album 5.1 in surround sound.

Also, Sky Fell (Too) is one of my two vocals on the record. I think I began the composition of that song while I was in Vietnam in ‘68. I know it was finished while i was serving in Germany in 1970. D. Distorto got co-writer credit for the improvised bass solo at the beginning of the song that he played reluctantly (and brilliantly) at my urging. D: “Was that what you wanted?” JC: “Absofringinlutely.”

Yeah, great point about synthesizers aren't meant to imitate other instruments; Brian Eno also said in the 70s that he was determined to stay away from that (and also from the synth as just one more instrument, which was why he sat behind the sound board at Roxy concerts and used the synthesizer to texture the overall mix), and I think it was Chick Corea (or maybe Herbie Hancock) who said he finally realized he had to give up treating it as piano or organ, and start from scratch, which is what Miles was trying to get him to do.

In about ‘71 or ‘72 Doug bought a Buchla synth from Morton Subotnik. It was the one used to record “Silver Apples of the Moon.”

!!! wow

I loved what Herbie Hancock was doing with the band "Sextant" when he had Patrick Gleason doing all the synth stuff. It was textural and environmental, not necessarily tonal. Catching that band live was like the best psychedelic experience you could ever have without drugs! That's the stuff we loved!

JC

Patrick Gleason! Yeah, forgot about him--wonder what else he's done...also that guy, Roger Something? who did the album Cosmic Furnace, and worked with Todd Rungren, I think.

And speaking of Silver Apples Of The Moon, Chris, did you listen to the band Silver Apples? Or United States Of America?

who's chris?

is the roger you're talking about Robert Margouleff of TONTOS Expanding Headband (with Malcolm Cecil)?

That would be Roger Powell. And "Chris" is presumably Mr. Christensen.

Catching that band live was like the best psychedelic experience you could ever have without drugs!

Sextant is pretty good WITH drugs too!

And speaking of Silver Apples Of The Moon, Chris, did you listen to the band Silver Apples? Or United States Of America?

No, I don't know Silver Apples, but I bought The Unites States of America when it was originally released; I still have my copy of it. Was it Joseph Byrd that was in that band? I know Doug and he became friends years later........ something in the back of my mind says he did something for Takoma, American Band Music, or something like that... Music Box? Shit! Things are getting cloudy in here!

And yes, Sextant was good in an altered stage of consciousness as well........

JC Aka: "Chris"

I think there is still some confusion over what's been posted. if someone has all eight tracks can you reup them as a zip file? this music is incredible.

best as I can tell from comparing titles with the tracks Colin posted, the file Scott put up labeled Side 2 contains Closet Casualty, Avatar, Whoever You Are You, and Sky Fell

the 4-minute file labeled Side 1 is only the song Endless

and then Colin also posted Oh Yeah and Redemption ... no Scatter

(so either Colin's titles are all wrong or the stickers on Scott's LP are on the wrong sides, basically ... both totally possible. hope this helps get things straightened out. sorry if I am just being dense.)

Was it Joseph Byrd that was in that band?

yep Joseph Byrd was in USA ... not sure if he ever recorded for Takoma but he did a post-USA record for Columbia called "The American Metaphysical Circus" under the name Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies

dmr, the full side i have posted up there is definitely the 2nd side. disregard any tags or anything. so, if you just download colin's first four songs and my second side, you'll have the whole album.

Not if Colin's first four songs are mislabeled! The four songs in the full side you uploaded match the songs that Colin has labeled with side 1's song titles.

Are the track times on the LP anywhere? If you could post them, that would help with the confusion.

i have to join the admirers crowd.amazing.
the first song sounds to me like an underground,progressive,more eccentric version of steely dan .

all right, let me put it this way, this is what i actually posted:

side 1

closet casualty (maureen o'connor)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-1.mp3

side 2

endless (maureen o'connor)

oh yeah? (w.g. christensen)

redemption (maureen o'connor)

scatter (d.distorto)

http://wvvy.org/listen/content/laser-pace-side-2.mp3

i mean, that's what you'll hear if you download those links. you'll miss three songs on the first side after closet casualty.

The four songs that you have listed as Side 2 are the same as the four songs that Colin has given Side 1's song titles. Do you have the track times?

only 158.50 $ on ebay

thanks guys for the uploads; not feeling this except for "Sky Fell", and the odd groove here and there between the wankery, but i'm hung over so who knows. i'll listen to side 2 later.

xpost John introduced himself as John "Chris" Christensen and that's the name on his myspace, so that's why I addressed him that way. How did this get on folkiecentric Takoma, did Fahey sign yall up? (Since some of his own 60s-70s albums featured electronic experiments, I thought maybe--?)

$124.01 from Vinylstorage in Italy!

Laser Pace was invited to be on Takoma by John Fahey.
John and Doug Decker worked together on a lot of projects with Doug as his engineer of choice. There is a letter that I wrote to Acoustic Guitar Magazine a while back that details the revolutionary way that Doug approached recording Fahey's guitar. Anyway, they were compadres! When Doug told Fahey about our project he wanted to hear it. Fahey described it as "Running through an electronic jungle."

JC

love this record! far too few people used the Buchla in a rock / songs context. the only other band I can even think of that did was Chrome, and that was later.

some non ILMer tried to DL this from me on slsk last night. the word is out.

ILMer? DL? I think DL must be downlaod.... Translate please?

JC

that's d-o-w-n-l-o-a-d. Where's my spellcheck!
JC

Geez, ILMer= I Love Music. Pardon my geezerness!
JC

Joseph Byrd put out a record on Takoma called Yankee Transcendoodle. It's solo synthesiser classic Americana. It doesn't measure up to the rock band records, imo.

The mp3s I uploaded were from soulseek, so dmr is probably right that they're mislabeled. Sorry for any confusion!

OK, due to various confusions I've only heard five of the eight tracks, but I'm remedying that right now!

There is an awesome instrumental on here called "Scatter" that sounds like King Crimson + Can + PIL

And it reminds me of this band here:

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/43549.jpg

Right, I'm still confused:

1. I assume first mp3 from http://wvvy.org is the track "Closet Casualty"?

2. I assume second mp3 from http://wvvy.org is Side 2, i.e, the following tracks: Endless / Oh Yeah? / Redemption / Scatter

3. If that is the case then the tracks on C0L1N B's upload are wrongly titled?

4. So the first four tracks are actually Side 2 and the remaining three tracks are Side 1?

5. In which case one track is missing? And that track is "Sky Fell"?

... oh and...

the first song sounds to me like an underground,progressive,more eccentric version of steely dan

OTM!

I believe that is the case.

will someone just please upload the whole thing again with all the tracks ?

...

could someone start peeling this orange for me?

OK, so this is doing some pretty good internal damage to my cortexes. Which file has "Scatter" in it? That's apparently the last track I need.

I thought it was in the side two file Skot posted but after all the confusion I doubt everything.

The Side 2 that's the length of a whole side or the Side 2 that's only one track?

The former.

The missing track is "Sky Fell"

I read about this thread on Ned's blog (which I never read). It's famous now.

As I said earlier, I told Keith of AnthologyRecordings.com about this thread, and now John Christensen says that Keith sent him a contract, which John is passing along to the other Laser Pace alumni. So maybe we'll soon have a nice download of the whole platter, served up piping hot (but meanwhile, *listen* to what Skot and C0L1n have offered and stop whining)

WTF...I don't see any whining on this thread.

It's not whining, dow, just some justifiably honest confusion! We've all heard the music at least and know that this = roxor, so no worries.

Really, like I mentioned in my blog post (thank ya Rockist), more than anything I'm just tickled pink at how neat the Net can be for this kind of thing. From barely known obscurity to prospective reissue with the involvement of the original band in under three weeks.

the whole 8 tracks are on soulseek now anyways

Been looking for a few days, no luck yet, but they'll show up eventually I'm sure.

Hi There!

I'd just like to give you all a big thanks. Scott and Dow especially. Although it's too soon to know exactly whether this deal with Anthology will pan out or not, it couldn't have happened without all of you and this thread, and the ripples going out from it. I think I said earlier that there has been a very slow re-analysis of Granfalloon over the last decade, but you ILMers just kicked it over the top. I'll be meeting with Maureen and Doug this week and hopefully you'll see this out legitimately soon. We will owe you a big debt of thanks! Please keep in touch - www.myspace.com/johnchrischristensen

John "Chris" Christensen

every time i open soulseek, a few people try to download this from me.

A nice Myspace blog post up from John C. about all this, along with links and discussion about his current work, which y'all should check out too.

this shit is AWESOME

todays diary entry : a warm fuzzy glow emits from an excellent ILM thread, this reader is rather concerned.

Yesterday I went to a transfer lab to get the 1985 masters for the "Adrenaline Drum" album by Hot Food To Go restored and digitize. Doug and Maureen were unable to go with me at the same time, but Doug is going to that facility today with the 30 ips stereo masters of Granfalloon. Moving forward!

John "Chris" Christensen

P.S. I understand that some of you may be music writers; is that true?

It is indeed! And great news to hear! :-D

Keith says that Anthology will indeed be re-releasing Granfalloon in '08, whoo-hoo! Asked for your email, Skot, figuring you might wanta write something, so I gave him the addy I had. Cheers ever'bodeh!

sweet. good work, don.

I missed the confirmation of this! Wonderful news. Thanks dow! You and Skot definitely deserve all the credit here. :-)

Couldna done with without Skot;also dig decisive action by Keith and Laser Pace alumni--no shilly-shally there, yo!

Doug Decker called over the weekend suggesting a listen-in for the three of us to the now transferred and re-mastered mixes. We actually couldn't make it happen because I was really down with some sinus infection/flu/food poisoning crappazoid shit! What a drag - but I am feeling better and I'm trying to make it happen this weekend if at all possible.

One of the amazing coincidences (of many) about this thing is that in about ten days it will be time for the NAMM show. A year ago is when we Laser Pace Alumni hooked up at NAMM and spent a very nice time talking about the slow build of interest in Granfalloon. During our chat I made the remark that if we if only had ten more fans we could do a reunion tour. Maureen said for me to go ahead and book it! I knew at the time that she was just kidding, but who knows? I'd certainly be up for it. We're all so much more seasoned now, I think we would kick ass on that material.

Of the re-mastering Doug says, "Big Bottom End, and Contemporarily Compressed." Knowing Doug the way I do I know he means it's gonna sound round and fat, and in-your-face, without sacrificing any of the dynamics of the original. I can't wait to hear the results!

Mr. D. Distorto was always disappointed in the original mastering, even though the engineer was Johnny Golden, one of LA's best. Doug said Johnny was freaking out at all the various sign waves generated by the Buchla, and it caused John to master the levels way too conservatively. This time there will be no surface noise!

Thanks again all! I'll keep you posted on the progress as it happens.

if even Johnny Golden was freaked out, imagine lesser lights--might be one big reason there weren't more *records* like this. Yeah, please tour, or at least play out enough for a righteous live album-- and don't forget SXSW!

I'd really LOVE to do Texas!

I think I'll play the entirety of side 1 during my radio show Psychedelarrythmia on Wednesday morning 9 - noon (GMT -5)
You can listen in at wvvy.org

I dunno if I have expressed this to you before, but I am very jealous of your lifestyle.

Finally found all the tracks on slsk -- sweet.

Don't be jealous - I'm pulling an all-nighter translating real estate legalese from Dutch because I'm running a radio station (for no money) and having two small children and not leaving time for paid work... po po me

Hey Maria, I'd love to check out that show, since I have never ever heard ANY of our record on the radio-internet or otherwise EVER! But if my math skills are correct, I'd have to be listening at 6 AM my time (West coast) to catch it. Yeow!

John "Chris" Christensen

P.S. There's a very cool new interview about Opus 1, Time of Your Life, and some of my other early "Garage Bands" at www.garagehangover.com

So there's an official site now:

http://laserpaceband.com/home.html

And CD Baby is the route they took with the reissue!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/laserpace

Also, plenty of photos:

http://laserpaceband.com/photos.html

huh. wonder what happened with anthology. in any case, it's out there and that's a good thing. and those pictures of maureen, be still my heart.

huh. wonder what happened with anthology.

Was wondering that myself! John, if you're still tracking the thread, let us know...

I thought I clicked on that "If you actively dislike Creedence Clearwater Revival, then I can never respect anything you have to say about anything" thread here and for one full minute, I was extremely confused. Time for bed (apparently).

John just dropped me a line indicating that an Anthology release is still on the cards. The watchword is patience, apparently!

This kicks all manner of ass.

we should have a "takoma one-offs and obscurities" thread; so many weird things on that label. i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."

was just listening to this yesterday!

u can buy yourself a copy now
http://cgi.ebay.com/LASER-PACE-Granfalloon-rare-rock-pop-vinyl-LP_W0QQitemZ350279763423QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item518e4d05df

that craig moerer has everything, doesn't he?

less than pretty copy has no bids:

http://cgi.ebay.com/LASER-PACE-GRANFALLOON-TAKOMA-PSYCH-LP-LISTEN_W0QQitemZ380213870939QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item588683415b

sheesh, vg- :(

i am so tempted to buy a clean copy of "Down Here On Earth" from Craig fuckin' Moerer, but I don't want to give him any of my money.

we should have a "takoma one-offs and obscurities" thread; so many weird things on that label. i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:51 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

HOMEGAS!!!!!

http://grown-so-ugly.blogspot.com/2007/06/homegas-released-on-takoma-records-in.html

^^ seriously loving this record.

The circle complete! Skot and Maureen O'Connor today, as he just posted on FB:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/77641_10151852005437137_2043696155_o.jpg

And with Doug Decker:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/194426_10151852010147137_1467893312_o.jpg

they are so awesome. can't believe doug did all that engineering work. if you like those early 70's john fahey takoma records, doug produced/engineered them! lots of takoma stuff. and working for wally heider studios he did all the remote work. he recorded band of gypsies and tons of other stuff. the stones at madison square garden in 1969! seemingly, he went everywhere and recorded everyone.

plus, the hollywood garage rock roots!

doug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YprEf1iwkrQ

maureen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLzbR-EEiY

did i mention that they recorded a laser pace album in 1975 that was never released?

!

As suggested more than once upthread, an excellent trans-Takoma thread was later homegrownm, and still ready for the sewing, fertilizing and picking:
Takoma's one-offs and obscurities How'd they come to be in your emporium, Skot? On a Laser Pace mission, I hope.

they had to go to new york and took a trip to massachusetts partly to see me! do some sightseeing. i would have loved to hang out with them more, they are staying nearby, but i am going up north tomorrow morning to hang with my parents. we had a wonderful visit though. we chatted and listened to records for a couple of hours. it was great. they inspire me. and they brought me copies of the AMAZING 1980 single they put out under the name New Math. punk funk! its soooooo good. maria played it on her umass radio show tonight.

i wish i knew someone a la numero group with money who would put out a reissue that is worthy of their stuff. they have live tapes, unreleased album, that cool single, the takoma album. wish i was rich.

we talked about joe byrd. doug worked with him and he was a big fan of laser pace. i put on a silver apples record and they dug that. they'd never heard them. i even played maureen some cocteau twins. john fahey really dug the band apparently. and he loved maureen's voice and playing. i gave them a harmonic choir album to take home.

An unreleased Laser Pace album!!!! Someone really needs to do these guys justice and reissue a box set. The market is out there!!

The first time I played Laser Pace for Tera was while driving around rural Pennsylvania, looking for records. It was a damp fogging day and the places we stopped were almost scary, people having thrift stores out of their basements and homes. Laser Pace was perfect was the day.

yeah, lots of intriguing backstory re Fahey etc. when John Christopherson was answering our questions on this thread. If you get a chance, Scott, I'd suggest that you suggest they check with Mumero (the Asterik series might be a good fit; don't know how electronic Numero wants to get, but they def like female voices). Also maybe Light In The Attic? Some of the labels distributed by Forced Exposure? Anyway, since they dig Joe Byrd, might also suggest they might like Broadcast, sometimes compared to the United States of America.

Would love to hear any unreleased stuff - surely we can mobilise the ilx army to get some interest?

Hmm...hold all these thoughts, let me check around here.

Original LP mix is streaming on YouTube--John C. asks if it's the mono version---so they're aware of this, apparently don't mind (it's been up since April). Prob like the attention, as indicated re uploads linked from this thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LogZn8sQGUY

Speaking of attention, they may not have continued past the remaster cos figured wasn't so much of a potential audience--and without an expert indie publicity campaign, they may well be right, depending on expectations, required financial return, etc. Maybe Kickstarter, if Granfalloon gets more publicity? But seems like a series, rather than a box set, might work better at this point--does anybody still buy boxes, other than diehard fans of Registered Cult Figures--?

According to this article lots of people buy box sets.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-03/numero-group-soul-revivers?chan=lifestyle+small_business+channel_etc

weird, spin just did a big feature on those numero guys. impression i got was most sell 1000 & break even due to label fanbase, the big successes are once in a while.

We all had a great time last night at get bent's birthday get-together with Maureen and Doug! Much chat had about all sorts of things. We also all agreed that Scott is the coolest.

i don't think i ever saw ned's post. very cool.

i put up the 1980 New Math single. Maureen & Doug and their faithful Buchla doing up post-punk Los Angeles in fine style. i love it.

"Whiplash"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w-IfQ8T7VA

"Hometown Meltdown"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCR-2NhYdBc

Now that is weird, I was just thinking about this album today

I'm planning on interviewing Maureen and Doug soon, and have ideas about where to place the results...

i'm glad you're finally doing it. took you long enough! :))))))))))))

rest in peace, maureen. so glad to have known you. you were truly special and an inspiration.

Absolutely.

I was listening to Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies today, and searching provided this thread, which I had never seen. What a great series of conversations and events! And I'm listening to Laser Pace now, and it is blowing my mind.

this is finally happening. very happy. only took 10 years. nice to talk to doug today. did i mention that there is an unreleased second album? but first things first. i wish you guys could have met maureen. she was so awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLzbR-EEiY

She was indeed.

it's coming! a mere ten years after this thread started. it pays to be patient. get yours on Record Store Day!

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29496038_10156743727132137_4901683891786941658_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeHXq7P-v6Ndmsbn_HUjOtG2y-YDzrcy8cRiHbfxBmG_PduXcsm_3N7veDDzKYI629N76JjZVl0nHBCfJOS4pw-1rgMYFJ95VtcM1QUVcWFliQ&oh=330ef54ce29fe04e5e25b13f3930d1f4&oe=5B48A93F

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/29468339_10156743730907137_6350818970591875468_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeEypmhChZribfbxU0ErxJZ4GFcJLGOuzhVnwxBYmEY5baoIkZlx43CmJq-iQIxcPU8cnBGXel5AznUEeOsillOuaGWc0-oduKggU89Ptf3izA&oh=3907c61bcb78c6190e509b337b8898bb&oe=5B2F549B

awesome

i am a proud owner of the CD reissue thanks to you

wow!! awesome skot

i swear off RSD every year and then there's always one thing that gets me out....

you should be able to get it from Feeding Tube direct after RSD if you don't see it in a store. or Forced Exposure. pressing of 500.

Amazing work indeed. :-)

WOW!
great work

!

you the man, scott

liner notes by me and doug decker and also chris who posted on this thread so many years ago! his piece on the band is amazing and hilarious.

just really happy to have it happen for real. and really happy that more people will be able to hear it. listening now and it sounds great.

Picked up a copy at Cheapo today
What an amazing, demented record

Good job on the liner notes skot

thanks!

oh shit i gotta pick one of these up just for scott's notes

i mean also for the record itself

i was chatting a little with byron coley at his feeding tube table at wfmu. he said the reissue did really well -- he sold them all out. so grab one from a record store if you see it.

One unending tautology that kicked around the early pirate community was whether or not something was worth pirating automatically gave it cred. So with that in mind, I noticed that a lossless copy of the 2008 remaster was made available on D3m0n01d. (and no it's not me)

I don't listen to extreme music as a matter of practice, but sometimes things come up on shuffle that provokes reactions in surprising ways. For example, side one of the first Flying Saucer Attack album: I've often noticed that when people don't know that it's playing, some will go to the window looking for a car accident. Spacemen 3's Dreamweapon unyielding frequencies will sometimes crush anothers and they just have to get out.

And then there's Granfalloon. No other album clears a room full of humans faster than this. Even the most experienced Diamanda and Jandek listeners accelerate from "what...is...this?" to "what the FUCK is THIS?" zero to one hundred instantly. Awhile back, I was in a line of cars all charging and within seconds of a Granfalloon coming on, the cars on either side of me rolled their windows up.

I think the last time I listened to the album start to finish was when I bought the reissue. Ever since then - it's just there on my phone and whenever one of these tracks come on it's always "oh shit, hold on!!" like some big psychic rollercoaster. Ride it if you dare; I'm glad it exists. Well done everyone!

Still hoping for release of thee follow-up!

yeah I picked up the feeding tube reissue mostly because of the John Fahey connection, there really truly is nothing like this record

Amazon has Feeding Tube vinyl (currently 1 copy) and digital:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/611uEjTBZjL.jpg

Editorial Reviews
Special Thanks to all who helped with this recording and release. ************************************** from the WOW! Blog: Fantastic stuff! i haven't even listened to the second side yet and i'm already in love. Just amazing. Why isn't this album world-famous? did maureen o'connor ever do anything else? i can't find much info. 'avatar' is the jam! Even the lyrics rule. More later. ............ Describe please! ........... punk prog noise. Intense space mellotron stuff. Electronic fx all over the place. Tons of synth/electronics in general. But also awesome guitar action. The only guitar listed is maureen's and if she played all this stuff then she should be on some list of gods. She sings a little like Anisette from the Savage Rose. But her vocals are also heavily processed for maximum whatthefuckness. Some of the electroprog moments remind me of Ubu in a big way. This was recorded in 1973. D.Distorto on bass. The drummer used to be in the garage band The Opus 1. he mentions the record in an interview on-line: ................... The bass playing is so Ubu too. There is an awesome instrumental on here called 'Scatter' that sounds like King Crimson + Can + PIL. Until it turns into freeform jazz piano/sleighbell/electronic nod-out acid jam. Then it becomes something else entirely. My fave lyrics: 'Cherish and hold the time scrape off the cream it'll be so clean as you glide into a void so strong vessels bursting from the shit you brought along.' .......... man, i don't know what her voice sounds like. It's crazy. Anisette is just the closest i could come as far as a comparison goes. .......... actually david thomas is a pretty good comparison! i wonder if those guys were fans. Sure sounds like it.

the feeding tube reissue common as pyrite out here. i had one for a real long time because when i play downtempo records i generally also end up playing drifty krauty prog along the lines of sensations fix, maybe the more ambient gong or soft machine type records. i was always in a panic though because it was imperative to get out of the mix before the vocals started, every time i forgot about the singing it was like in a movie when someone interrupts an opera and the band stops and it's dead silent except for the twang of a breaking harp string as everyone turns to look ....

there's been a glut of 70s uhhh free folk type private press from educational programs. like a community college in imperial valley decides to put out a record as a semester capstone for the music majors with ppl taking electives doing session work for course credit. or high school jazz bands doing covers of heavy 70s rock. i really want to thank granfalloon for teaching me not to look twice at those records

sorry laser pace*

http://www.elkbugles.com/2018/12/the-unexamined-life-is-not-worth-living.html

https://www.discogs.com/release/4956461-Mohs-The-Unexamined-Life-Is-Not-Worth-Living

^^ i've seen people trying to hock this for $500 (or $1000, but they're drop shipping) which makes sense if it includes the amazing hand typed liner notes you can check out at discogs

parts sound like stone harbour other parts sound not good

Found a Takoma copy of Granfalloon yesterday in the wild for $15. Pretty stoked about it, even if I’m fairly sure I’ll play it once and hate it.

Turn It UP!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qVjQ993nOk

woah! look at this from the comments on that youtube upload:

@jason698
8 months ago
Sounds like they were listening to a lot of Zappa when they made this.

Reply

The Gladiator Of Rock
·

2 replies
@thegladiatorofrock1572
@thegladiatorofrock1572
8 months ago
F. Zappa was already a legend "Laser Pace" They arrived later, but very good. I greet you✌

Reply

@jchris3227
@jchris3227
8 months ago
Nope - although we were very aware of Frank, our influences were extremely diverse. I can’t really point to one point of reference….it was all over the place. Our ears were open, and we cut a few more commercial songs and then dumped them. Avatar was originally a straight ahead rocker and was morphed and warped at our final recording session which also included Scatter, which was a concept by D. Distorto — it was then it improvised in three connected sections and some overdubs added for flavor. All the other pieces were practiced, rehearsed and arranged by Distorto, Maureen, and myself over a period of months; tweaking and tweaking until we could play them effortlessly in the studio and embellish as we wished so they’d still be fresh. By the way my credit was W.G. Christensen, not VW. I was avoiding Union conflicts. John “Chris” Christensen

Reply

Didn't see that last, thanks! John "Chris" Christenen also joined us way upthread, setting off first attempt at reissue (I told the Anthology Recordings dude about Granfalloon and he got excited but yadda yadda anyway LP eventually got it remastered and reissued on FT), and was informative as always---queried about his previous combo Opus 1 he also provides a chronicle of all or many other bands he's been in on this page (which incl link to interview all about Opus 1)
https://garagehangover.com/opus1/
--ending with this comment:

t seems that something I’ve done in every decade since the sixties has seen renewed interest this past year. Domenic Priore’s book has a couple of paragraphs about Opus 1. SJ McParland has interviwed me extensively for his book on Mustang Records/Bob Keane/Bobby Fuller; it’s due out in ‘08. 1974 band Laser Pace’s album Granfalloon will most likely be reissued through Anthology Records in ‘08 due to an recent internet feeding frenzy.
My ‘94 CD “Songs from The Xenozoic Age” by Christensen/Schultz is finally seeing wider release, and I am putting out a complete unreleased album by Hot Food To Go, recorded in ‘84; it’s called “Adrenaline Drum.”John “Chris” Christensen

And indeed, both of those albums are on YouTubeMusic, Apple, and others.

Granfalloon is still available as download on Amazon, which currently also has a few copies of the LP.