Le gout de gouffre... a taste of the abyss! Clare Moore throws you poor saps a few frickin' bones as to what key holds the door to the underworld so tightly shut down! What key they sing in down there where we all are!

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Alphonsus will get you!
This song tackles the weighty issue of the use of fear as a tool to manipulate the weak and naïve..Anyone who attempts to do this via poxy fridge magnets really needs a few lessons from the nuns that taught us back in the sixties .Terror was their middle names!!!!

I recorded the horror vibes intro bit on a small cassette recorder and added the out of tune, childish "singing" to give it a Dario Argenta "Suspiria" feel. Rather than frighten folks to death by basing the entire song on this motif,I lay down a slow disco beat and got Dave to play some light guitar and bass over which I placed organ,rhodes and sound effects including Bill Millers amazing whiplashes to remind the listener of the subject matter..
Out of where?
Charles Manson was being interviewed by a journalist in the slammer who asked him .."what will you do when you get out of here?" to which Charles replied …"out of where?"
Something for those who are feeling a little trapped to ponder (…see "I wanna get lost again" Dave Graney "Hashish")
I also get to play my melodica.

The Town Bike Song
An update of the 60's hit song that "even your parents could sing along to" (which meant it was terminally daggy ..see "Sadie the cleaning lady" Johnny Farnham etc…).It features the tale of two hot dames "The Town Bikes" who are hell bent on turning this town upside down and brightening our dull lives with the light from their illumunated breasts .

This song was written fast around my bass line.I wanted to have two completely different "feels" in the tune to remind of the way the Town Bikes constantly switch modes during their performances.Hence the "Noel Cowardesque" intro and end coda.

A Lot to Drink About
My arch nemesis comes to town wreaking havoc and pinching my clothes. I get to feel what it's like to have that power for a moment.

The Big Band sound of "a lot to drink about" was recorded at a session with Adele Pickvance on bass,Stuart Perera,Dave and Bill Miller on guitars , Glyn Hickling on trumpet and Ben Grant on sax.

pic Tony Mahony

The Long Train of Misery
When you are not a regular visitor to the town where you grew up ,the past ambushes you when you arrive and constantly jumps out of the dark to bite you on the arse. The longer you stay, the worse it gets.These events are amplified at xmas time due to the fact that there are many other jumpy expats there with bite marks on their asses.Should you be in the unfortunate position of having to catch the train there ,you're gonna have a long cold sleepless night to contemplate your fate while being stared at by hundreds of stuffed toys.

Originally this song was called "a bunch of fives" and was a personal dare to write something in 5/4. Not many people do it as it can be an uncomfortable time signature for folks to tap their feet to. Apart from Dave Brubecks "Take Five" and The Birthday Partys,"Nick the Stripper" ,of course.
To make things more interesting ,I placed two bars of 6/8 in one of the middle 8 sections (RDRR) ,which caused Dave to throw the bass down in protest! This meant that I then had to play everything myself.
To add to the downbeat atmosphere I found that I had a vinyl record of different steam trains that travelled through Victoria in the 1960's and that track 8 was the Melbourne to Adelaide train leaving Ballarat at 11pm on 24th December 1960 ..the year I was born !!!
A Taste of the Abyss
"Women do not posess a taste for the abyss" a nineteenth century philosopher once said in answer to a question as to why there were no female explorers…. I beg to differ. ( See Isabelle Eberhardt, pictured below)

Recorded at the same session as four of Daves tracks with Mark Fitzgibbon on piano ,Dave on bass ,Stuart Perera on guitar and myself on drums and strings.

Fearless Freds Shack
A vivid recollection of a particulary unsuccessful holiday my poor parents had to endure with 5 kids in an isolated shack loaned to us by a bloke who drank in our pub.I was thinking about Chad Morgans "The Fatal Wedding" whilst writing this song.

When telling a story ,it's best to simplify the music and this I did ,using only a log drum and some strings. The reprise is fuller and tells the story again ,but in sound effects.

Tomorrow Incorporated
J.G.Ballard,Phillip K.Dick and Telstra (well any business that puts you on hold I guess) are inspirations for this epic tale of the horrors that await us. Forget about the "40 minute album"…ring tones will be the only recorded music that the "attention poor" will be able to digest.

Another song that was written fast.I had a deadline and only 7 songs. Dave was tapping his foot violently ,while waving the overnight post bag in which he was to send the final cds to the record company . The mournful clarinet line came to me first and after layering it with some plush keyboards I slammed down a drum track and got Stu D in to pluck out some bitchin bass. Bill and Dave helped mix in the "end of the world" sound effects.

lyrics

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