Thanks for your patience.
The epic of what I like to call "The Second Lifestyle Album" began quite a while ago. The tracks available here are, frankly, the songs that don't quite fit. I don't want to call them the reject pile, because we're very fond of a few of them. We're working feverishly on fixing a up a couple of these numbers such that they might be more appropriate for the upcoming release that I like to call "The Second Lifestyle Album."
So, let's think of this as a kind of B-Sides-y thing, and a preview of what we think is going to be an excellent album.
The recording of this music began in 1998. Luckily for us (sometimes) our music is influenced by a variety of genres and time periods in music and i think we manage to avoid sounding "dated" (other than a couple of things sounding basically exactly like 1983). The first tune we did for the record was an upbeat, sweet but humorus number called "Changing." It was a good change of direction.
"Changing" appears on the Archenemy compilation Know Your Enemy, and got us a lot of favorable attention and radio play in various parts of the world. This was great because we were a little bewildered about the response to our first cd At the Risk of Sounding Pretentious. We got some great reviews, but in retrospect it was a very confusing record and there was no quick explanation for what we were trying to do. We were a difficult puzzle to piece together in 1997. Burt Bacharach? The Human League? Britpop? Supertramp? What the hell were we thinking? It was a tough combination of elements, although very unique and I'm very proud of most of that record.
Around that time Teen Beat were thinking about putting out a single
by us, and the whole thing kind of got blown because we had put the track in
question ("Cake and Champagne") on our album and paid to have it mastered
and Mark Robinson really wanted an exclusive track for a 45. So we did "Changing"
thinking that it might be the Teen Beat single, but they got really busy and
our own label was pretty active around that
time so we used the track on the comp.
That is where it began.
Sean Drinkwater
Boston, Massachusetts,
August 2003
songs by Sean unless otherwise noted
| > Secret Club |
This was the second song recorded for the album I think. "Shopping for Music" was done around the same time (summer '99?). We made a semi-conscious decision to tone down the kitch of our earlier incarnations and make it a little sexier. Liz from Freezepop appears as backing vocalist on this track and I'm pretty sure it was the second thing she ever ever sang on tape by herself. We had just done the demo for "Tender Lies," technically the first Freezepop song (see upcoming Freezepop Box Set/DVD), and I flirted with idea of making "Secret Club" a Freezepop track (we've played it live in both bands). She cut some vocals and I ended up using the backing vocals later on. We have opened countless shows with this song, a pretty straight ahead trashy euro-disco thing. I still really like it and I'm sure we'll play it from time to time. Seth added a shaker like a month ago, five years or so after the basics were committed.
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| > Come
On (Sean Drinkwater Mix) |
This is one of the songs we're still trying to rescue. It became a live favorite very quickly. We really like this song. Just in case we can't get it a bit more ship-shape we've decided to include it here. I specify that it is my rough mix of the song because I'm only marginally involved in mixing the record thus far, but I did this one (i.e. it's not a remix). There was an earlier version of this which was much more '70's and silly sounding. I originally wanted this to be a bit Pulp-y, like "Do You Remember the First Time." I think we're closer with this version. It would probably make a really good single in a perfect fantasy world where sounding like a cross between Journey and the Pet Shop Boys is acceptable. HA!
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| > All
That Bad (First Version) |
I can't wait until the person this song is about is present at a live performance of it. I think it will be fairly intense, and it will happen. Perilously close to the Avalon effect in places (see track 6). We're retooling this track as we speak. Enjoy a preview.
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| > Voyeur |
I flirted with the idea of releasing a solo record called Voyeur for quite a while. Originally it was to sound very organic (piano, real drums etc). We occasionally mess about with this thing called 'organic.' It is almost always a really terrible idea. This song came to life when we unpacked the Jupiter 8 and the 606. Most songs do. I think the Lifestyle version of "Voyeur" is a really well-thought-out track and I'd love to do it live sometime. Add it to our list of triplet-y 6/8-y songs that are kind of a little too weird. I guess this song is a little evil, but that's what makes it fun.
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| > Everyone's
In Love With You |
This was written around the time I was collaborating a lot with a talented
chap called Ronan Fahy. We were
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| > Revenge
Day (Drinkwater/Fahy) |
Also written during the "Everyone's In Love With You" period. I imitated the beatbox track we used on the demo of this. It was perfect. I wanted to do a big shoe-gazey ending for this but it never quite worked out. The Lifestyle version suffers from what I will call the Avalon effect (see track 3). I have a tendency to think it always appropriate to make any song sound like Avalon-era Roxy Music. It is not always appropriate to make every song sound like that. The lyrics have been 'updated' to 'keep up with the times.' I got a little closer to my shoe-gazey ending...
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| > Shopping for Music |
I always wondered if Mike Lencioni heard this before he wrote and recorded his Don Lennon track "Jean-Michel." That would've been pretty unlikely I guess. I don't know how he would've gotten a copy of it. Our mutual friends were few and far between by that time. I really ripped him off on "I'd Really Like to Make-Out With You," and that charted in France, so whatever. He probably owes me one. It really does make things easier if two people aren't always arguing about music.
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| > Love
In Degrees (Drinkwater/Fahy) |
The original version of this was a bit slower and more moody and it was *exactly* right. Ronan wanted a lot of space in the track and we did it that way. When it came time to do a Lifestyle version I decided it should be a little dancier and "fuller." Oops. I really went the wrong way with this version. The poppiness of the chorus loses something when it's actually, well, poppy. Aubrey Anderson, who is mixing THE ALBUM thinks this should be on the record, but ermm, no. The vocals at the end are some of my worst....I mean...most soulful? Heartfelt! The bridge is a little reminiscent of what this should sound like. This is close to suffering from the Avalon effect.
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| > Cheerful |
Oddly, this was the other song we were considering using on "Know Your Enemy." We chose wisely. People were (probably correctly) a little wary about some metal stuff going on the comp and I thought it would be a hoot if our track was, well, perhaps a teensy bit rock and roll sounding by the end. It would certainly have been unexpected, but also a stupid selfish joke (my specialty). This song is one of our organic experiments –- sigh. When you put Seth and Tony and I into a room together with guitars and drums, it just comes out rawk. This is one of the rare examples of having cut the basics live as well. It was pretty intense that night. This song goes out to Jim Healey and Johnny Rock.
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| > The Day and The Night |
I personally really struggled with whether or not to even incude this track on the web album. It is unoffically known as "I love you, Dawson," and is referred to by that title 90% of the time. I think this would be a really sweet song if the Thompson Twins had recorded it for a John Hughes movie or something. Again our experimenting in the organic world. I think it was supposed to be a little Cure-like. Oops. Lyrically and even melodically there are a few Tears For Fears references in there. Maybe we'll re-record it in the style of the Thompson Twins doing a John Hughes song. We probably should've done it that way in the first place. Whenever we start something with Oasis-style drums someone should cut us deep with a razor or a pointy knife. If you're listening to this track in mono, you're in luck. The drums are phase-cancelled. Cool, huh?
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| > Duchess (Noel Scott Engel) |
A song by Scott Walker originally found on his brilliant Scott 4 LP. That third verse makes me have an actual feeling. Goosebumps. We didn't quite live up to his version (surprise) but I like how this came out a lot. There's another version with each of us (Tony, Seth, Me) singing a verse that we might release someday.
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| > Denying
Autumn (Hatfield/Drinkwater) |
I always credit the primary lyricist first, is that wrong? Convienently, this is our tribute to Scott Walker. Tony, Aug, Seth, Me, and a bunch of our friends all went through some kind of Scott Walker madness around fall '01. We were listening to this stuff non-stop. Especially when we were travelling. Seth wrote 80% of the lyrics to this, and I think it's one of his best. We in Lifestyle all do well when we're kind of making a pastiche of something (see "Glorious Pilgrimage" or even dare I say "My Favorite Song"?). In this case the 'joke' turned into a really heartfelt, although admittedly cheesy song in the style of Scott. Enjoy.
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| > High
Drama (Drinkwater/Fraser) |
This was a collaboration with one of my favorite all-time collaborators, Ted Fraser (Sinclair Starr) from the band Polystar. The best living songwriter, Ted really tied up a few loose ends on this track. He and I tend to work best when one of us has about 75% of a song done. We have a harder time starting from scratch. Ironically this song is kind of about Tony, and one of his lost crushes...ahh drama students....another triplet-y, 6/8 type of deal. I really can't wait until like 40 years from now someone releases a box set of the hundreds of songs i've made with all these people and it's like mastered in like 3-D with fucking holograms of the orginal musicans. So many songs...
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| > Seemingly
Non-Stop July (Waaktar-Savoy) |
This was originally recorded by the great Norwegian pop group a-ha, arguably the second most under-rated band ever anywhere. The problem with being a one-hit wonder is that if you're a real band like a-ha, you still have to make another seven or eight albums. They're not exactly hurting for cash, so I won't whine for them too much, but their last two full-length records, from 2000 and 2002 respectively, are their best. Seth sings this and I played guitar. It was recorded live, although I added effects and things later. Seth doesn't like the vocal, but I think it really captures the mood of the song. |