All the songs on volume 1 of the Source Mirror Record series were written in 1997, but not all of them were recorded in 1997, as you can read about in the notes below. Also, there are a handful of songs that were written in 1997 that were not included in this volume for various reasons. But they will should make appearances in future volumes. And then there are other unreleased versions of songs written in 1997 but recorded later that will also appear in succeeding volumes.
1. [00:00 - 03:47] Dolores Park Me (4-track version)
This was on a tape labeled “Cubby Creatures The First Four” and dated January 1998. The tape is the original 4-track cassette on which I recorded with my little Tascam Porta05 4-track machine the songs “I Have Ebola Now,” “Hey Mister,” “Don’t in the Middle,” and “Dolores Park Me.” (“Hey Mister” unfortunately has some problems which is why it is not included in volume 1. I thought I might be able to do something with it, but then I decided to hold off working on it till vol. 2, which I thought could include as many World of Tina songs as I can find.) Our original drummer Matt left the band in December 1997 but he must’ve agreed to play the drums one last time and let me record these songs which we had been rehearsing throughout 1997 (and ended up playing at our first show at Artist’s Television Access in December 1997). In November 2017 I transferred all the tracks from the “Cubby Creatures The First Four” tape to my computer and mixed them using Audacity software. I also added some effects. Since some of the instruments were bounced together onto the same track (e.g. guitar/bass and vocals/violin), it was not possible to do as much with the songs as I would’ve liked, but they all sound pretty cool in their own way. For “Dolores Park Me” I decided to add some distortion on the guitar because it just sounded right to me. There’s another unreleased version of this song, which we recorded with Yoko Kato at a music production school she was attending in San Francisco (referred to us by the "Yoko Sessions"). That version will appear on a future Source Mirror Record volume since it seemed overkill to include two whole versions of the same song on volume 1.
2. [03:48 - 03:58] Milk for Joe
Was this milk for OG Cubby Control inhabitant Joe K.? I do remember Joe K. liked his whole milk.
3. [03:59 - 05:58] Cunanan’s Beef
Before we had a title for this track I was referring to it as “Punkish Jam” because when I first listened to it I thought it sounded very punk rock for some reason. It’s from an untitled rehearsal tape but Matt is on drums so it’s definitely 1997.
4. [05:59 - 06:55] Diseases (fragment)
In this rehearsal recording fragment, Jol sings the line “You should always know I like your penis,” which did not make it into the recorded version released on Who Remembers Kathy Barra? I also like that it’s just the two of us playing, which makes it sound especially eerie.
5. [06:56 - 10:32] Diseases (8-track version)
I recorded this version on my Tascam 8-track, date unknown since I only wrote “Diseases 8-track” on the cassette label, but Jason is on drums, so it’s definitely after 1997, and unfortunately violin and clarinet were never recorded. Not sure if Bill was in the band yet when this version was recorded, so the keyboard may or may not have been left out. I added a keyboard part myself on the middle and last parts in November 2017. Otherwise it’s all the original instruments. I transferred all the tracks to the computer and used Audacity software to add effects to the vocals and guitar and create this mix. Of course, this song ended up being one of the tracks we would record at Rodent Records for the Who Remembers Kathy Barra? EP released in 2001, but this earlier 8-track version is fun, even without the violin and clarinet and Bill’s keyboard, which would eventually become an essential addition to the song. I had totally forgotten we were playing this song with Matt back in 1997.
6. [10:33 - 12:19] Heaven’s Gate (Hale-Bopp Approaches)
I added the "Let’s Play Now" intro, which was actually from another rehearsal, because I thought it made a great intro to this jam.
7. [12:20 - 15:49] Don’t in the Middle (4-track version)
Another of the January 1998 “First Four” recorded on my Tascam 4-track. We also recorded this song during the Yoko Sessions and at Ex’pression Center for New Media (now called SAE Expression College). Those mixes will be released in future volumes. I added backup vox and synthesizer to this version in November 2017 because I felt it needed a little something.
8. [15:50 - 18:01] Dan, the Backyard Fire Breather
Another great jam from the early days.
9. [18:02 - 18:48] I Have Ebola Now (fragment)
I love the line Jol sings in this rehearsal recording, "You have your head in the sand because you're dead." I think that's why I had to include this snippet. But also just the three of us (Jol, Emily and me) playing sounds really nice.
10. [18:49 - 22:56] I Have Ebola Now (4-track version)
Another song that was on the January 1998 "First Four" 4-track cassette tape. It’s a shame we never recorded this song in a studio, but I think this version captures well the spirit of the song. We later reworked this song as “I Have No Irony Now” after 9/11 (after Jol had left the band), and played that version live a number of times, but still never recorded it in a studio setting. The vocals and violin were bounced to the same track on the 4-track cassette and therefore I could not mix them separately. The delay effect on them was a happy accident, as I applied some delay but not with the intention of it being so drastic, with preverb and all, but when I sat back and listened to it for a little bit, I thought, “Wow! Perfect!”
11. [22:57 - 23:57] Indian Summer
I stumbled up on this track on the b-side of a tape labeled “Coolidge Collective.” The b-side was not labeled, so I'm glad I listened to that side as it contained a rehearsal from 1997 (which I could deduce because Matt’s playing drums, but I guess Emily didn't make it to this rehearsal). Before we gave it a proper title, I was referring to this track as "Fun Jam" because it's light and upbeat unlike a lot of the other songs we were composing in that Harrison Street rehearsal studio.
12. [23:58 - 26:16] Scratched by an Alien (4-track version digital remix)
I found the original 4-track recording of this song and transferred the tracks to my computer and mixed them using Audacity. So you could say this is a digitally remixed version. The original mix of the song, which I mixed down directly from my Tascam 4-track to cassette tape back in 1997, was included on The Satanic Embryo 4-track Adventure. It is the first song we ever recorded and the first song we ever released. It was initially titled “Evon Weaver” after my mom, since it’s a song about moms and since I think we liked the way her name looked and was spelled, but later we renamed it “Scratched by an Alien” because after playing the original mix for my mom and seeing how nonplussed she was, I thought it best we rename it. We ended up recording this track again during the “Yoko Sessions” and released that version on The Blessed Invention. For this digitally remixed version I added some reverb on the vox and on the guitars. And I was excited to find a recording on one of the rehearsal tapes of Jol introducing the song as "Evon Weaver" which I tacked onto the beginning.
13. [26:17 - 28:55] Peter Popoff (I Like Everyone)
Wasn't Peter Popoff a televangelist who ran some scam claiming he could heal people? I'm not sure how or why he made it to our rehearsal, but he is a pretty intense dude, and he really makes me laugh, and he's really, really passionate about liking everyone. However, I'm still a little concerned about him, especially since he has hemorrhoids on his fingers.
14. [28:56 - 32:08] Dali the Sheep
I actually combined three different versions of this track into one. The first version is just Emily and I playing; then there's a version of the whole band playing; and then at the end is the version of Emily and me again but with lots of reverb and delay on it. It's a really pretty tune, and it's too bad we never turned it into an actual song and recorded it properly, but at least it exists in this form.
15. [32:09 - 32:43] I’ll Never Learn
This singing answering machine message from Tristy was a pleasant surprise to find. It was on the same tape as "Landmines Are Forever" (see below), which was basically a hodgepodge of various recordings from 1997. I must've held a microphone up to the answering machine in Cubby Control to record this message. Otherwise I'm not sure how it ended up on this tape.
16. [32:44 - 36:22] Obi-New One
This is a song we never recorded in a studio or on one of my multitrack cassette tape recorders, but this rehearsal recording version is quite nice. I had completely forgotten about this song until I came across it on the tape, and as I kept reviewing our rehearsal tapes I was surprised to realize that it was one of the earliest songs we were playing in 1997. However, this version is from a rehearsal when Bill was in the band (playing keyboards), so the date is probably 1998 or 1999. Unfortunately Emily and Karl were not at this rehearsal, but it’s interesting how well we had this song down but just never got around to recording it even though we were playing it for years. I'm still not sure about the title. I guess the reason I thought it was called “Obi-New One” is that the cassette tape on which I found this version was labeled "Obi-New One," but there were also a number of other tracks on that tape – it seemed a sort of "greatest hits" from various rehearsals of that time period, but this track was the only one I did not recognize, so I guess I thought the label on the tape was referring to this song, but I'm not really sure about that now.
17. [36:23 - 37:54] Launch at Puerto Alegre
I had to include this since Jol introduces me using my full name, but I also I love this tune, which I guess we never played again.
18. [37:55 - 38:27] Fish Fingers
I have no idea what fish fingers was all about, and what those strange sounds everyone’s making, but they sound great with a little echo added to them.
19. [38:28 - 40:21] Landmines Are Forever (Candle in the Road ‘97)
I love this track and Emily's spooky, ear-splitting violin.
20. [40:22 - 47:51] Earthquake Preparedness
I found this series of recordings on a 4-track tape labeled the "The Coolidge Collective Sept. 30, 1997," but the tape included Cubby Creatures songs in addition to some early Poopdeck Pappy experiments as well as some collaborations between Matt and myself. This is also the tape that includes the original “I Like Christmastime” 4-track recording. I thought of transferring and digitally remixing that track, but then I thought that that track is maybe not really a rarity since it’s technically still available for purchase as a CD-R on cubby.net/ccr. However, it’s not currently available for download anywhere. Maybe that can be a special Christmas release sometime in the future. Perhaps even this Christmas? Anyway, the title “The Remains of Until the Day” is what I was calling this series of tracks because that is the title I wrote on the cassette insert, but which was really just intended for the song that would become “Until the Quake Comes.” I have no recollection of recording any of this stuff, but I didn't take good care of the tracks on here. Jol's guitar comes in late because I must've recorded over the first part of it. And that piece that comes in after "Until the Quake Comes" was entitled "guitar, organ, sampler" and was all bounced to one track alongside "Until the Quake Comes" so there was no way to remix it. And then there's that mysterious piece at the end, which I was really excited to find. I guess I was getting all avant-garde, recording Emily and Karl over some droney sounds I created with the sampler I used to have. Not sure if it was intended to be a Cubby Creatures track or not, but it was nice to transfer it to the computer and mix it with Audacity. It turned out sounding much better than what I could have ever done just with what was on the 4-track. Definitely some movie soundtrack music there. I decided to keep all these tracks together as one track, even though they may not technically all be "Cubby Creatures" tracks, because I just loved how they sounded flowing one into the other as they did when I first listened to them on the original 4-track tape.
21. [47:52 - 50:53] The Giving Song (digital remix)
Another song that was recorded for The Satanic Embryo 4-track Adventure, this was on the same tape as “Scratched by an Alien,” so it was nice to be able to digitally remix both those tracks. This was a tough one, though, because on the “funny voice” track, I was singing too close to the mike and my vocal kept popping, which was difficult to clean up. I guess I didn't care too much about that on the original version included on The Satanic Embryo 4-track Adventure. I was totally LOL-ing when remixing it, especially at the end when we're making each other laugh. Too funny.
22. [50:54 - 52:35] What a Friend We Have in Jesus
I have no recollection of us playing this, but I really love the bass rhythm I came up with. Also, I found a clip of Jol welcoming the audience to the Boomerang, so I thought it would be cool to include that since we have him thanking the Boomerang after the last song, so it's kinda like these last three songs are part of a performance at the Boomerang, which was that venue on Haight Street that I guess had a kind of an uncool reputation because they would pretty much book any band, and they never had "cool" touring bands play there. But that’s where Coolidge played one of only two shows ever played, and Dolores Haze played there. It was a great place if you just wanted to play a show.
23. [52:36 - 53:16] March of the Sperm Ladies
I only found a version of Jol and Matt playing this, but I felt it needed to be included because it’s maybe the greatest title ever.
24. [53:17 - 59:230] Final Thought (Kiss My Butthole)
OK, this has the greatest title ever. This track has me LOL-ing every time I hear it. Music that can make you laugh is really something special. And I love that there is shout-out to Mission Viejo!