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Your Favorite Spoon

by Tony Castellano

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Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) thumbnail
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) This album is quite different from the releases it's encompassed by chronologically - maybe because it consists of material written for the Bud Collins Trio, which was, as far as I can assess it, a nicely peculiar alternative rock band. The songs are generally much more guitar-oriented, with less dominant keyboard arrangements, and by and large void of the marked art rock influences in the vein of Steve Hackett, which are prevalent on "Fun-Size" and "Walking Like Rudy", for instance. Please don't mistake this as criticism - the truth is that I like this album pretty much, exactly because of its more oddball writing style and sound. Favorite track: The Maze.
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1.
White Out 03:55
I don't like looking at my past mistakes I can't stand to see the mess it makes why should I suffer if I can do without I'll just take out my bottle and white it all out sure you can see it if you hold the page to light but put it on the desk and it looks alright the old parentheses and line just don't do it for me I'd rather erase it entirely well yeah sometimes it gets out of hand I should just crumple the page and start all over again I start thinking about it then I look at my watch dip in that brush and wipe out that splotch so what if it gets a little heavy so what if the page cracks and breaks who cares if it's hard to write on just a little dab is all it takes all it takes you say if I used pencil I wouldn't have to worry well when pencil smudges it looks pretty sorry you know I'm getting pretty tired of arguing with you so you'd better get lost or I'll white you out too
2.
I'm using a fork for a spoon just for fun I'm hunting a moose with an elephant gun got a piece that's too big but I made it just fit got a creaky old staircase that's always unlit looking for that permanent tangle have to use a wrench as a hammer sometimes like to let those logical connections dangle got to add that line that doesn't really rhyme I'm trying to vie for that pie in the sky a man with a clawhammer jammed in his eye one foot in the freezer the other in coals wanting to put the square pegs in round holes trying to get it in at an angle shooting for some distance on that power drive fuming 'cause I'm stuck behind that orange triangle crawling at a speed of only twenty-five
3.
the impossible playmates are sitting in the sandbox having some fun on a september day everything's fine until one grabs a big rock and throws it at a spider to chase it away throws it so hard that it bounces instead hits the other kid hard in the lower jawbone dumps his bucket of sand on the first one's head as their mothers come running to carry them home the impossible playmates are there in the bedroom having a bout about the telephone bill she swears that she just would never call cancun he thinks that she's getting over the hill she thinks that he's had too many martinis and is running around with that blond down the hall he thinks her brain's in a permanent deep-freeze and heads for the alley after grabbing his ball the impossible playmates at the negotiating table trying to make the world a safe place to live white says that it will do all it is able but black just won't take what it's willing to give black says that white's chemical research must go or it will never accept such an outrageous offer white wants those missles taken out of rio as each side gets up and walks away blaming the other
4.
(Instrumental)
5.
dial up a face it all depends on just how I'd like you to react you think you know me you only know the part of me that's dealing with you give a little sign and I can hopefully select the right thing to say say don't point at me 'cause you're guilty of it too the diplomatic approach has begun to erode my identity and I'm not sure how to be myself anymore guess I'll just have to stick to the repertoire and just blend in it really can be fun to have to be someone who'd actually make me ill call me what you want say I'm a yes-man coward totally insincere but I'll get what I want and sadly you'll end up looking like a stubborn fool
6.
when are you going to get a little mud on get a little oil on get a little grease on those clean white shoes I've never seen you yelling out the window spitting in the condiments dropping fragile objects from the second floor you ain't see fun 'til you've got a staple gun and I'm just about to flatten out your favorite spoon let's go put some ketchup on your pillow burn some toast so the smoke just billows through the house howza 'bout a little raid on your grinder set the rug on fire stick a piece of wire in the microwave you ain't lived yet 'til you've terrorized your pet and I just cut a slice with a kitchen knife from your spotted tie so come on take a hammer to the mirror smash it into slivers throw it in the river impress your friends hope you don't mind if we muddy your sofa bury your loafers blow your stove up the fun never ends you ain't seen a thing 'til the fat lady sings and I just froze your formal clothes in the ice machine
7.
The Maze 04:20
(Instrumental)
8.
I know I said that you could count on me to help I know I said that I was behind you all the way well I don't know what I was thinking but now I think that I've changed my mind about it so sorry if I got your hopes up put visions in your head but I can't be held to what I say when I'm too drunk to function well I thought it was a good idea at first but now I think that you've lost your touch somehow so go ahead and hate me if you want to I never liked you anyway you can always find someone else to do the job someone who thinks like you 'cause I have to live with my conscience but that's a problem you don't seem to have too bad
9.
It's time to leave the fair you've had plenty of time to prepare in school you had it made now you've got to work to get paid you seem to be caught off guard well this is where life gets hard one thing must be made clear there'll be no more free lunches 'round here no more big checks from home gotta pay off that student loan gotta pay the bills and the rent wonder where your childhood went that degree's just a paper card working as a lowly guard never seem to have enough money welcome to the real world sonny a pile of clothes on the floor the stove doesn't work anymore a mound of dishes in the sink the trash is beginning to stink so we desperately dream of success to pull us all out of this mess if it wasn't for practice each week the future would look pretty bleak
10.
(Instrumental)

about

This album is a bit of a period piece recorded about 10 years after the period in question. When I first started working with Bruce Brown and his fledgling indie Cleefo label in 1996, we came up with a multi-year multi-release plan that we generally stuck to. The idea was that in early 1998 I would release an EP ("Fun-Size") to serve as a teaser for the full-length "The Red Hour" which would follow in early 2000 and would contain all of the best pieces I had at the time. But we also recognized that I had written a bunch of good tunes while a member of The Bud Collins Trio in 1987-1989, and not surprisingly these tunes all had a generally similar overall sound and approach. So what we decided was that concurrently with the recording of "The Red Hour", I would also work on an album of songs from the Bud Collins period for release at a future time. Guitarist Pat Guiney was about to move to New York City and both he and drummer Chris Weinland (at whose studio we were recording the projects) were agreeable, so we jumped at the chance and within a period of about a week had some brush-up rehearsals and then recorded basic tracks for ten songs and all of Pat's guitar solos in his last days before moving. In keeping with the way these songs were originally performed, Pat played bass and I played guitar on "White Out", "Orange Triangle", and "Impossible Playmates" (I played much more guitar in those days than I do now). Pat played solos on all tracks and Chris played drums and percussion on all tracks except "On Second Thought" (where I played them instead). So then I had the luxury of adding overdubs to these songs at the same time I was doing so for "The Red Hour". This album was originally mixed in December 1998 (a year before "Red Hour"), probably because I had so many guest guitarists on RH that I probably had not yet recorded all their parts by the time this album was ready. Chris was instrumental in adding many of the special sound effects (heard mostly in the title track) and the hidden bonus track dub-mix of the title track, the crunchy fade-in of which was obtained by turning on the tube preamps Chris had in the studio while recording through them. Although the original mix was pretty good, since I've gotten better at mixing lately I decided to remix and remaster the entire album for this Bandcamp release.

credits

released January 1, 1999

All tracks written and produced by TC
Arranged by TC, Chris Weinland, and Pat Guiney
Computer miracles performed by Chris Weinland
Recorded and originally mixed and mastered between December 1997 and December 1998 at The Asylum in East Hartford CT and Dog-in-a-Sub in Rockville CT.

Chris Weinland: Drums on all tracks except "On Second Thought"
Percussion on all tracks
Harmony vocal on "White Out"

Pat Guiney: Guitar solos on all tracks
Bass guitar on "White Out", "Orange Triangle",
"Impossible Playmates"
Rhythm guitars on "Cabin Cruiser", "Your Favorite Spoon",
"All Good Things..."

All other instruments and vocals were played and sung by TC.
No Auto-tune!

All songs were remixed between February and April and mastered April 20, 2015 by TC at The Asylum in East Hartford, CT.

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Tony Castellano East Hartford, Connecticut

Progressive-rock-influenced multi-instrumentalist and singer who has played with many different bands, including The Bud Collins Trio, Holding Pattern, Ludent Tremmel's Gno, The Realm, and Magnetar, on either bass or bass and keyboards. In recent years he has been playing mostly drums, for several different recording projects and also as a member of his sister's band, Anne Castellano & The Smoke. ... more

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