Jim Santo's Demo Universe

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PERSONNEL
Debby Schwartz: Vocals, guitar
Cello: ?
Bass: ?
Drums: Tom Kelly

TRACK LISTING
1. Venus
2. Revelations
3. Muses

These are the final mixes for a three-song, 7″ single I recorded with Debby and Al Houghton at the original Dubway Studios, then located in The Music Building on Eighth Avenue. Embarrassed to admit I’ve forgotten who the other players were. I’m sure Debby will help me fill in the blanks.

I’ve got quite a few of these singles packed up in storage if anyone would like one. And really, why wouldn’t you? These are magical performances of superb songs!

TRACK LISTING

1. Mosquito
2. Day Before Yesterday
3. Plague Dogs
4. Baretta
5. Longline
6. Breathcatches
7. Cottonmouth
8. I’ve Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Want Someone Like Me

Delighted to discover that Ashen Keilyn, a/k/a Scout is still in the game, oh so many years after their attorney, the formidable Matt Kaplan, got this fantastic demo tape into my hands. Here’s the early story from Allmusic:

Scout began in the early ’90s after vocalist/guitarist Ashen Keilyn and drummer Nigel Rawles decamped from Michigan, headed east to New York City, hooked up with locals Rimas Remeza (bass) and Steve Shiltz (guitar), and began gigging around town. Area indie Deep Elm took notice and issued Scout’s debut 7″ in 1996. “Plague Dogs” was dream pop roughed up by Replacements influences, yet steadied by Keilyn’s unique voice, which sometimes suggested a less strident Patti Smith. Scout jumped to Chrysalis for the 1998 EP Someplace Would be Nice and returned a year later with the full-length Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time; it was the best example yet of Scout’s charming alternative pop. Remeza and Shiltz departed in the midst of the touring and promotion for Idea, and when Scout returned with October 2003’s This Soft Life, they were as a trio. New guitarist Brian Silverman helped refine and at times toughen Scout’s sound, and Life was hailed as Keilyn and the band’s strongest, most accessible performance to date. That autumn, the trio embarked on Scout’s first nationwide tour.

And then…not much, for nine years, when Scout returned with 2012’s well-received All Those Relays. Quite a few years have again passed without an album, but I won’t judge.

This demo includes that first single, “Plague Dogs”; the flip, “Breathcatches”; “Day Before Yesterday” from the Chrysalis EP, plus five more songs that will have you wondering why you’re only hearing them now. Truly one of the great unknown recordings of the ’90s.

Scout’s playing at St. Vitus in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, this Thursday. Maybe I’ll go, and give her the cassette back!

Note: Out of respect for the artist, downloads are disabled for this post.

PERSONNEL
F.M. Cornog: Everything

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
Fan The Flame
My Life Is Wrong
Happytown
Times Square Go-Go Boy
Hit The Ground
Woody’s Car

Side 2
We’re Going To Nowhere
Axl Or Iggy
Central Park

It’s been a long time, and I’ve probably got it all wrong, but as I recall it, Fred told me his dad worked at the Colgate factory in Jersey City, forgotten today except for the Colgate Clock on the Hudson River; once a dominant feature of the skyline opposite Manhattan, now dwarfed by the shiny high-rises of the new JC.

I Used To Be Kid Colgate is the last of the three ERP cassettes; after this, Fred and Barbara started to put out 7″ singles, which led to his being signed by Sarah Records in the UK and the release of the epochal CD Shining Hours In A Can.  “My Life Is Wrong,” “Happytown,” “Times Square Go-Go Boy” and “Axl Or Iggy” are the essential tracks, but damn if “Hit The Ground” isn’t a stunner, 25 years down the road. Sigh.

you thought you were Axl
or Iggy
but you were nothing
like that…
but you looked good
with a bottle
and you smiled
like a little brat