One, 2 cases of Bud will be needed to sufficiently ransack the performance by the time it's put to tape;
Two, the song idea, originated by talented musician (and Athens music groundbreaker) Eph Tunkle, would be morphed into a sick metaphor of the Immaculate Conception, courtesy of my arrangement and lyrics ("OK- Rudolph represents the one sperm of God that made it to the egg, played here by Jupiter's RED SPOT! Yep. And of course now, the ROCKET.."- words read in horror by the unsuspecting Northeast Georgia God-fearing brethren, in the write-up about it in their local paper).
Assembled largely on the spot in the studio, this tune, alas, was captured on tape as an unfinished symphony.. Eph the guitarist, who named and co-founded the band with soulful Sax player Bill Oglesby, was to lay down the guitar solo in the "fours" section, and then the second verse was to be recorded. Only problem, we had eaten up so much clock by the time the 2nd case of Bud was cracked open that we ran OUT of clock before getting the guitar solos or even laying down the second verse. It was all we could do to stay musically intact at that point, hanging on to that beat by our splintering fingernails. So, instead of a second verse, the song just fades away as the reindeer scamper off into deep space, all in all giving the song a much cooler signature than we'd planned..
This was a good time that gave birth to a crazy tune.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Mark Smith at Full Moon Studio outside of Athens (Watkinsville), GA.
Vocals, Perrish D'Andrea.. Horn section (4-part harmony) is Perrish D'Andrea's 3 tracks on trumpet ('85 Yamaha 6320S with Callet 10SS Varicup) and Mike Bolin on Soprano Sax; Guitar and intro call by Eph, Percussion by Keith Block and Tony Oskar, Bass by David LaBruyere (now bassist with John Mayer), all driving together in a vehicle I envisioned as "Jim Morrison meets the Andrews Sisters, backed by a Mickey Mouse horn section."
The Strange Attractors, by the way, which was truly Eph's brainchild, was one of the most enjoyable, campy, unique bands to grace the stages of Athens and Atlanta, and I am a fortunate man to have been involved with it from its embryonic stages. It spawned a thriving scene of jazz-based bands, each having its own specialty. What followed was a genre-morph-o-rama, spun from a perpetual crossbreeding orgy (musically, at least for the purposes of this webpage) among these groups with occasional infusions from the indy rock scene as well. The Strange Attractors provided plenty of fuel, playing multiple weekly gigs throughout town at a time when Athens was experiencing its height of influx of musicians from around the world- players and singers who came to add their spice to the mix. What an exciting period for live music in Athens, a micro era, totally supported by tons of indy-scene clubs, a micro era that was swiftly bumped by the proliferation of sports TV bars, following the '96 Olympics. Hopefully, this pendulum will swing back to a more diverse nightlife of delicious substance once again..
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To really get what I did with this tune, you should listen to the above Beck version first.
Inspired by the "Exotica" records of the late 50's and early 60's (Dick Schory's "Wild Percussion and Horns A-Plenty," in particular), I sliced and diced isolated pieces of Mixed Bizness (including some of the sung lyrics, changing "Do you wanna ride on the Baltic Sea" and "Pour champagne on a honey bee" to "Do you ride on a honey bee") and rearranged them in a way that more accurately reflects the twisted mind of Perrish.
I played all the upper-register trumpet parts (as opposed to the original horn tracks which you hear in the lower register), building the trumpet section by recording one track at a time into Cubase 5.0 (trumpet: '85 Yamaha 6320S w/ experimental Callet 23S Magnum mouthpiece) and includes the only decent double high A I've recorded.
All synth parts were taken from the original tune (and rearranged) except the three bubbling synth crescendos which I crafted in VAZ Modular software synth. I recorded all the trombones, tuba, bongos, tympani, marimbas, vibes, and orchestral snare and cymbal, via midi keyboard, including a new patch I created for the shattering glass effect. The girl's voice is my grrl tamara. Audio files were managed in Acid 1.0, Edited in Wavelab 3.0 and sequenced in Cubase VST/32 5.0.
Note: By design, this remix will never be submitted for monetary profit. It is just an example of my use of the computer to remix a tune, my first remix ever.
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-Satchmo's ghost, in recent seance