Of course if you've read any of the numerous blog posts over at A Goldfish Called Regret you'll know Xmas 83 was all about crushing on someone, receiving great albums by Eno, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Freur, and pissing around with the Casio. It just inspired me to play. I had no music training at all...actually I'd had two years of music lessons in school but none of the theory we learnt was related to music we heard so it made no sense. My dad showed me how to make a chord as a triad of notes and that was it. Off I went, chugging out tunes. I must have driven my family mad. Same old tunes chugging away. Admittedly I usually kept my headphones on, and there was more noise generated by my brother with his new electric guitar and 50 watt amp. Indeed on listening closely to some of these recordings i can hear my brother bashing out riffs in the background, the noise filtering through my bedroom wall.
Time passed slowly. My crush moved on, I started another crush and at no point did I think "Hey this may be something I could write a song about". I'd written poems in English and had written songs in my head for my imaginary band Scrabble, but never thought of writing songs with lyrics. There were exceptions and we will discuss this in time. But for months I just churned out instrumentals. Maybe I was gearing up for the big reveal.
The first actual song with lyrics turned out to be "The way we were", written on a cross channel ferry to France in the summer of 1984. Nothing much happened then until autumn 1984 brought it's own misery of unrequited crushes, threats of violence from boyfriend of unrequited crushes, diaries being read in school and being seen as a swot who won competitions for the school and got his photo in the local paper. Read all about that on Goldfish.
Out of that turmoil came "Embarrassing Situation". Written directly to my crush, it was given to her by a friend, and she walked up to me and ripped the lyrics up and threw the shreds of paper over me. After that songs just started flowing. Not all of them were about her, but some were and everyone assumed all my songs were about her even if they weren't. I recorded three songs onto a tape which was played in a German lesson while I banged on the door begging them to stop playing it. My crush hated me even more then, especially as the rest of the class were raving about how I was the new Howard Jones. 1984, you know.
So at some point in the Autumn of that year I started recording my compositions. Not sure why I decided to use a Prinz Professional C90. I'm pretty sure I bought the tape from Bessemer Road Sunday market. Of course my recording methods were pretty crap, Cherry Close wasn't Abbey Road. I didn't even borrow my brother's guitar cable. My JVC tape deck had two mics and I stuck them on the Casio's speaker. So more often than not you will hear me breathing, changing buttons on the keyboard and actually pressing the keys down. There are sections of the tape where I'm basically playing these songs straight after each other live to tape and I can hear me switching settings on the keyboard in the gaps. Most of these have been edited out.
Meanwhile a public health warning
CAVEAT EMPTOR!
This is badly recorded shit. Do not expect high quality sounds. It's mainly one keyboard. The tunes are sometimes catchy but go on way too long. Seriously, I do not expect anyone to listen to this more than once. Less than once is more likely. I will not be offended if you jump forward through most of these songs. I would. I have.
I may not have anything interesting to say about each of the songs
Side One
"Introduction"
A nice little tune. Electric piano preset. C major seventh.
"Slight instrumental 1"
Slight is right. It's a couple of chords. Do I know what I'm doing ? Hell no.
"Forget-me-knot"
This is the second song I wrote in December 83, all major chords in all the wrong places (F, E, D into B, G, E) and the waltz setting. Somehow something so wrong sounds so right. Absolutely no idea why this isn't mentioned on the sleeve. I can't remember what the actual title is of this song so I've named it today.
"Timing and precision"
The first song I wrote on the Casio. Goes on for about 90 seconds too long. I would find out two years after writing this that I had unknowingly ripped off "Stratosfear" by Tangerine Dream. Cute.
"Event"
Another tune I had knocking around and played all the time. Goes on too long and it's only 3 minutes long.
"Transit"
Another classic. I quite like this and since playing the tape last week it has been buzzing around my head constantly. On the other hand it's 8 minutes long. There's no overdubs, just straight Casio MT45. It's like a Casio demo tape. I've yet to learn how to edit myself. (Looks at notes) Still true 8-)
"Music to relax on a beach to"
Some of these titles were made up on the spot when I typed up the sleeve. This was a samba rhythm I think. Another oft-played classic. A change of pace I suppose.
"Electricity"
My first vocal on the tape. Oh God. Yes it's the OMD song. Yes it's terrible. It's not in my key and I had yet to work out how to transpose to another key. Horrible. Oh dear.
"Slight instrumental 2"
This is rather sweet. It's also short. I love it to be honest. Would work well as an ident for a radio station or something.
"Verpassen 1" / "Verpassen 2"
Fucked if I can remember what Verpassen means. (Quick Google). Oh "to miss", like missing a train. First and only appearance on the tape of my Oric. So at last stereo - I had stereo mics so one mic went under the Oric, the other went on the Casio speaker. Whatever. Part One has the Oric playing a four note arpeggio like a demented Tangerine Dream, and I improvise over the top with the Casio. Sometimes quite accidentally it turns into an odd Philip Glass Terry Riley moment of greatness. You can hear me make changes on the Oric by pressing keys on it to raise the octave. Goes on too long. Then the Oric does its "Explode" noise and we're into Part 2, Oric repeating a chord and again me improvising over it. Goes on too long.
"Whatever happened to timing and precision?"
Now I've discovered how to overdub that's it now, I'm off! This is pure shit. Do not listen to it. In fact the best part is right at the start with just the drum machine where the attentive listener can hear my brother playing power chords from his bedroom next door.
"My world"
Yes, you know this one. This turned into "Monday will never be the same" on "Presence and Proximity" ten years later. And yes back in the 80s there was a lyric. No you're not hearing it.
"Technical fault"
This is what happened when I caused feedback on my JVC tape deck. The VU meters went nuts. And I plunk guitar strings. Avant Garde.
"Mixed up all wrong"
First appearance of my brother's guitar. Two overdubs, the guitar as bass, second guitar as "I don't know how to play a chord" and I think I'm playing the Casio at the same time as I'm strumming.
"And so onwards"
Recorded on 28th December 1984. How do I know? Cos that's when I bought my Casio VL-tone. New sounds! The chance to programme in melody or sequence, an ADSR lead sound... Fucking hell I thought this was it. And as if to prove it, the VL-tone bass sound here is absolutely immense! This is really cute and I'm still fond of it.
End of side one
Pause to turn over tape
Side two
"Statues"
Yes THAT "Statues". Already established by 1985 as my favourite song ever, it's the heartbreaking OMD song. And I substitute all that gorgeousness with a Casio. At least the vocal is subdued.
"Neither either way"
A genuine Scrabble song. At least the idea of it was. The initial first minute or so. Then I just drive the ideas (which are pretty shit) into the ground. Too bloody long.
"Fall from grace"
Cute. Three minutes too long.
"Lovesick"
And AT LAST the actual songs start. I have a notion that I wrote "Lovesick" after hearing "Sleepless" by Microdisney on Peel in late 83 and in my head I can hear it. It's a song with lyrics and an actual melody and I rerecorded it in 1989 (where's the fucking tape of that, eh?) and Final Ecstasy played it in 1987 when I wasn't singing, and this recording doesn't do it justice. I programmed the melody into the VL-tone then played it with the step buttons which is why it's so stilted. Live recording of music, overdub of quiet vocal. Not about anyone. I should rerecord this properly. Second verse is shite.
"The way we were"
Written on the first day of a holiday to France on Bastille Day 1984. Not about anyone. I always played this on the tango setting, not sure why I recorded it like this. Goes on too long. Also I don't remember the third verse at all.
"Fond regards to the bitter end"
Great title, Rob. Not about anyone but as I said, everyone assumed these songs were about my crush. They weren't. I quite like this one, though it's a bit bitchy.
"Haywire"
The first alarm bells should have sounded here. Am I describing myself? There's hints of truth here, but the final verse is just stupid. Shame. Stupid end too. I sound like Vini Reilly.
"Distress signals"
This should have been "The happy couple", a bitchy song about my crush and her boyfriend. Only she found out I was recording my songs and basically threatened to have her boyfriend beat me up if I recorded any songs about her. So bye bye "The happy couple" and instead "Distress signals", a song about drowning and nobody noticing. METAPHOR ALERT! Again a piss poor third verse. Could I not write third verses? (Cue for Paul K to shout "Or middle eights!") Of course the original lyrics are lost in time somewhere. I quite like this one too.
"Western Avenue"
A hymn to the M4. In terms of music and melody, probably the best song on the tape. At some point I just list places on the M4. "Route 66" or "Autobahn" this is not. The music would be adapted in 1991 to become "Leave me alone", which was then rerecorded in 1993 for "It doesn't matter", the master tape of which was thrown away by my wife around 2001. Shame, it was great.
"Talk to me"
Actually this is about someone. Whether it's about my crush.... Maybe maybe not. Still, sounds pretty heartfelt. Catchy.
"Distance fades between us"
Definitely not the OMD song of the same name. This was "Embarrassing Situation", which always made me think of the Magic Roundabout for some reason.I changed the lyrics but this time I kept the originals somewhere,cos I recorded "Embarrassing Situation" in 1991. Worst lyric here, utter nonsense.
"Oriental"
And then the songs stop, and I realise I've still got more tape to fill up. This is a shite instrumental with messy overdubs and shit.
"Untitled"
Shit I've still got tape to fill up. So here's a pure improvisation. It's shit. Don't bother.
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So that was "Robert Morgan Learns To Dance", a title I made up on the spot. It was IBM T1 - Industrial Beat Music was my tape label and there would be more.
The tape was finished in January 1985, I typed up a cover on my mother's typewriter (starting a tradition which would last until 1988) and let my friends know that it was available if they wanted to hear it. There was only one copy, and this was it. I can't remember many people actively wanting to hear it, in fact I can only remember one person commenting on it (Hi Nigel!). He said the songs all sounded the same (true), the vocals were too quiet (true) and the songs went on forever (true). "It's like every song is a 12 inch mix" was the line which stuck with me. He was completely right of course. Would that stop me? Hell no, now I knew how to express myself I would keep chugging out tapes (see other posts here and on Goldfish). Download the album here
